Joseph Süss Oppenheimer

OPPENHEIMER JOSEPH

n.p

1738

Single printed broadside. Eight engraved vignettes of the life and death of Oppenheimer. Each depiction with poetic prose narrrating the scene below. German text

Not in Rubens

Joseph Oppenheimer (1698-1738) was the notorious Court Jew and confidential financial advisor to the Duke of Württemberg. Oppenherimer sought to enrich the State Treasury and concentrate governmental power in the hands of the Duke. Exercising his authority in an autocratic fashion, he imitated the life of a contemporary nobleman, dwelling in luxury and splendor. Oppenheimer’s efforts to establish an absolute rule based on a system of mercantile economy aroused the fierce opposition of conservative elements in the country. When the Duke suddenly died, on the same day Oppenheimer was arrested, his property confiscated and he was condemned to death. He was hanged on April 2nd 1738 and his body were publicly exhibited in an iron cage. See EJ XII, cols. 1428-30 Oppenheimer’s story became the subject of one of the most inflammatory anti-Jewish films produced by the Nazis