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The Many Deaths of Jew Süss is a compelling new account of Oppenheimer's notorious trial. Drawing on a wealth of rare archival evidence, Yair Mintzker investigates conflicting versions of Oppenheimer's life and death as told by four contemporaries: the leading inquisitor in the criminal investigation, the most important eyewitness to Oppenheimer's final days, a fellow court Jew who was permitted to visit Oppenheimer on the eve of his execution, and one of Oppenheimer's earliest biographers. What emerges is a lurid tale of greed, sex, violence, and disgrace - but are these narrators to be trusted? Meticulously reconstructing the social world in which they lived, and taking nothing they say at face value, Mintzker conjures an unforgettable picture of "Jew Süss" in his final days that is at once moving, disturbing, and profound.
About the author
Yair Mintzker is professor of history at Princeton University. He is the author of The Defortification of the German City, 1689–1866.
Summary
A groundbreaking historical reexamination of one of the most infamous episodes in the history of anti-Semitism Joseph Suss Oppenheimer--"Jew Suss"--is one of the most iconic figures in the history of anti-Semitism. In 1733, Oppenheimer became the "court Jew" of Carl Alexander, the duke of the small German state of Wurttemberg. When Carl Alexander
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"Yair Mintzker has performed a herculean labour unearthing the lengthy, tendentious and opposed accounts."---Patrick Madigan, Heythrop Journal
Report
"I couldn't put this book down. Revisiting a notorious case of anti-Semitism, Mintzker excavates a mountain of contradictory evidence with penetrating intelligence, great erudition, and rich human sympathy. This is a resonant and profoundly original book." - Keith Michael Baker, Stanford University
