VIRTUAL: The Story of Jud Süss, Oppenheimer, and the Film that Fueled the Holocaust

Made at the behest of Joseph Goebbels, the vicious 1940 Nazi propaganda film Jud {Jew} Süss was based on the popular 1925 historical novel by German Jewish writer Lion Feuchtwanger, about an 18th century German court Jew named Joseph Süss Oppenheimer. The Nazi propaganda machine manipulated the original story and character to intentionally misrepresent and malign Jewish people. Jud Süss was obligatory viewing for SS members, it was screened across Europe, and it became the most successful anti-Semitic film the Nazis made. The film was banned in Allied occupied territories, and after WWII, it was banned in Germany. This two-part virtual lecture series will explore the background and development of this damaging film, as well as the post-war issues and consequences.

This virtual program/series will be recorded.

Dr. Joseph Gilbert is a retired physician, researcher, research administrator and hospital executive. As a lifelong fan of classical music, Dr. Gilbert has in recent years concentrated on studying the interface of Judaism and Jewish subjects with opera, music and history. He has lectured on these subjects in Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Florida, in addition to his hometown of London, Ontario. Some of his lecture topics include The Music and Legacy of Felix Mendelssohn; French Opera and Anti-Semitism; The Dybbuk and The Golem, The Portrayal of Jews in Opera, Shostakovich, Stalin and Russian Jews, recently presented at Jewish Music Week Toronto 2022. For the Miles Nadal JCC, Dr. Gilbert has spoken about Jewish Folk Tales that Have Become Operas, Entartete Musik – Degenerate Music and presented the virtual lectures Salamone Rossi and Jewish Music in the Italian Renaissance and The Shtetl: The Real, The Fictitious and the Nostalgic – Parts I and II. We are very pleased to welcome him back for this fall’s virtual series. For more information, visit https://www.josephgilbertmusic.com/about

Co-presented by MNjcc’s Adult Daytime Culture and Education and the Toronto Jewish Film Society. Presented in partnership with: Jewish London and The Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Toronto.

Toronto Jewish Film Society (TJFS) is a movie series operated by the Miles Nadal JCC that offers an outstanding variety of Jewish film events every year. Films are discussed before and/or after the screenings by noted guests who are critics, teachers, filmmakers, writers, or performers. For more information, please visit https://www.mnjcc.org/film

Jewish London is the Federation in London, Ontario, dedicated to growing and strengthening Jewish community life through social, educational and cultural programming. For more information, please visit https://jewishlondon.ca/

The Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany, Toronto has consular jurisdiction for the whole of Canada; the administrative district for all other duties includes the provinces of Ontario and Manitoba. Consul General Thomas E. Schultze represents the Federal Republic of Germany in these two provinces. For more information, please visit https://canada.diplo.de/