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JEW SUSS1,
by Leon Feuchtwanger
(Yiddish: Yid zis)
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Introductory Note: "The present play 'Jew Suss,'
like Feuchtwanger's famous novel 'Power', deals
with the meteoric rise and fall of that amazing
German Jew, Joseph Suss Oppenheimer (1698-1738).
Born at a time when the Jews of Germany were
treated as pariahs, the son of humble parents
who were strolling actors, he rose by virtue of
his financial genius, magnetic personality,
handsome appearance, and sheer bravado, to
dizzying heights of wealth and power, becoming
the virtual ruler of the Duchy This shows Suss
at the height of his wealth and power, becoming
the virtual power, though even then sitting on
the ruler of the Duchy of Wurttemberg during the
reign of the profligate Duke Karl Alexander
(1733-1737). The fact that he, a Jew, wielded so
much power, gained him many enemies, and all
kinds of charges, ranging from embezzlement to
high treason, were made against him. But
invariably he succeeded in disproving these
charges, and the Duke heaped fresh honors upon
him. When, however, Karl Alexander died suddenly
on the night of March 11, 1937, Suss's enemies
saw their opportunity and were quick to seize
it. By a ruse he was arrested that very night,
charged with high treason, and nine months later
he was sentenced to death. Several attempts were
made to convert him to Christianity, but he who
had all his life violated the laws and practices
of Judaism refused to obtain his freedom by
turning renegade, and to all these overtures his
answer was, 'I will die as a Jew; I am suffering
violence and injustice.' He was hanged at
Stuttgart on February 4, 1738, his last words
being the Jew's immemorial avowal of faith in
the unity of God: Shema Yisrael Adonai
Elohenu Adonai Ehad ('Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God the Lord is One'). Today all German
historians agree that his execution was an act
of judicial murder.
So
much is history. Around this historic nucleus
Feuchtwanger, with the magic hand of his poetic
genius, has woven a story of extraordinary power
and beauty shot through with mordant irony and
sardonic humor, -- 'a wondrous story of greed
and lust and vanity and love,' -- which bids
well to rank among the great novels of the
century. The present play likewise deals with
Suss's life, though of course, in a concentrated
form, and with certain divergences from the
account given in the novel. Naturally, this
synopsis is based not upon the novel, but upon
the play, or rather upon Maurice Schwartz's
Yiddish adaptation of it.)"2 |
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"Jew
Suss" is a drama in thee acts and
four scenes, by Lion Feuchtwanger.
Direction and Jewish Version by
Maurice Schwartz. Settings by Boris
Aronson.
The
music was composed by George Teuller.
The
play was staged by the Yiddish Art
Theatre in New York City on 21
October 1929.
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photo: Anna Teitelbaum, in "Jew Suss",
1926. Courtesy of the Museum of the
City of New York. |
The cast members
who acted in this play were:
Izidore Casher,
Maurice Schwartz, Louis Weisberg, Pincus
Sherman, Morris Strassberg, Michael Gibson, Mark
Schweid, Lazar Freed, Jacob Mestel, H. Frank
Joseph Greenberg, Anna Appel, Judith Abarbanel,
Bertha Gerstin and, Stella Adler.
Scene
of the play: The Duchy of Wurttemberg. Time:
1736-1738.
So, here is the
synopsis of Feuchtwanger's "Jew Suss". The
name of the actor or actress who portrayed a particular
role is indicated in parentheses:
SYNOPSIS
2
ACT ONE
This shows Suss
(Samuel Goldenburg) at
the height of his power, though even then
sitting on the top of a volcano. His antechamber
is crowded with delegations and individual
callers, all waiting for an audience with the
all-powerful Privy Financial Councillor. The
first to be ushered into Suss's presence is
Schultheiss Binder (Michael Gibson), a burgher of Settinfels, who
wants Suss to set aside a heavy fine imposed
upon him by the judicial commission of his home
town, one of the bodies set up by Suss
throughout the Duchy in order to obviate lengthy
and costly court proceedings (or, as his enemies
charged, to sell justice to the highest bidder).
Suss denies his petition, and from Binder's
remarks we get an idea of the bitterness which
exists in the country against the Duke's
oppressive rule, for which the Jew is blamed.
The next to be
admitted is Weissensee (Izidore Casher), newly appointed
President of the Church Council. Well he knows
that the post was given to him because his only
daughter, the profoundly religious Magdalen
Sibylle (Berta Gerstin), had become the Duke's mistress, for
which he blames the Jew. But not daring to
display the bitterness that consumes his heart,
the oily prelate assumes an attitude of
gratitude and humility and thanks the Jew
for the honored post conferred upon him. But from
a certain hint dropped by him regarding a
mysterious castle near his country estate he has
just discovered (and where unknown to the world
Suss's beautiful and only daughter [Judith
Abarbanell] is living),
we know that he is plotting revenge.
Master Schober
(Mark Schweid), a
timid but crafty poetaster, is admitted next. He
aspires to the post of librarian in his native
Brackenheim, but complains he cannot raise the
200 gulden demanded for the post. (All civil
service posts were for sale under Suss's regime,
for which purpose there was created a Patronage
Office.) If he secures the post, he will then be
able to marry the girl he loves, Magdalen
Sibylle. Suss ingratiates himself with the young
man by promising to advance the money required,
and the latter, growing confident, recites to
the Jew some of the rhymed lampoons against him
which circulate throughout the country. A
delegation from the Estates, as the smaller
offshoot of the Wurttemberg parliament was
called, enters next with a complaint against the
government's attempt to Catholicize the army.
They are interrupted by the arrival of the Duke
(Maurice Schwartz), who has 'but one answer to
the delegation's complaints and pleas, namely,
that he is the ruler of the country, and
dismisses them brusquely. When the duke and his
Privy Councillor are left alone, the latter soon notices that
the Duke is rather hesitant about carrying out
the Catholicization of the army and surmises
correctly that this change of front is due to
the influence of the pious Protestant Magdalen
Sibylle. Refreshments are served and the Duke
expatiates upon the charms of his latest
mistress, warning the Jew not to try to "lick
out of his dishes" this time. Graziella
(Stella Adler), the
opera singer and another of the Duke's
innumerable flames, enters and poutingly
expresses her jealousy of Magdalen, and pretends
she is going to leave the country now the Duke
loves another. Suss's uncle, the Magus (Lazar
Freed), is
announced. The Duke, remembering how Suss's
uncle had once predicted his accession to the
ducal throne, though at that time the heir
apparent was still alive, insists that the Magus
read his horoscope, and particularly what luck
he will have with women. The Magus begs to be
excused, but as the Duke is insistent, he
foretells that one of them will cause his death.
The Duke and Graziella depart, and Suss's
uncle urges his nephew to go to see his
daughter, who is longing for him. Suss expresses
his misgivings over Weissensee's remarks
earlier in the day, and been the Magus begs Suss
to remove his daughter to another country, and
also is overjoyed to leave the country himself.
This Suss will not hear of, for to him life is
worthless without power and influence over the
destinies of a whole people such as he enjoys
in Wurttemberg, and all of his uncle's
cabalistic pleas as to the vanity of this world
are unavailing. He insists, moreover, that he sticks to his present post not merely from love
of power, but from the desire to protect his
brethren and to avenge the wrongs they have
received at the hands of their Gentile neighbors.
His uncle declares that Suss will soon find out
his life is one of self-deception. Suss promises
to visit his daughter soon and his uncle leaves.
A delegation of Jews, headed by the Rabbi of
Frankfort (Jacob Mestel), enters and pleads with Suss to use his
good offices to secure the release of a
coreligionist named Jecheskel Seligmann who is
being held unjustly in the Free City of
Esslingen on a charge of ritual murder. Suss
declines to intercede, pleading reasons of
state, whereupon they leave. Magdalen Sibylle
enters next, having come against her will at the
request of Suss. She is still bitter against the
Jew for having forced her into a life of shame
as the Duke's mistress in order to ingratiate
himself with his master. Suss declaims against
her middle class notions of morality and
declares that he has placed her in her present
position in order that she may come into the
possession of life's most precious treasure,
Power. She and he alone are worthy of power and
of each other, and between the two of them the
destiny of the land will now be shaped. Elated
because he has at last explained himself
to the one woman he loves and honors, Suss
reverses his previous stand and dictates a
letter to the Esslingen authorities demanding
that the Jew Seligmann be turned over to
Wurttemberg on the ground that the prisoner is a
subject of the Duchy.
ACT TWO
At Suss's country
retreat, Tamar, a beautiful, poetic, dreamy girl
of seventeen, and her grand uncle, the Magus,
are engaged in their favorite topic of
conversation; the hidden, inner meaning of the
Scriptures.
Suss arrives, and
the girl, who has been pining away because of
his long absence, is overjoyed. She tells him of
her distress because people are saying such bad
things about him, but he tells her to have faith
in him. When Tamar withdraws, the Magus once
more urges his nephew to take his daughter and
go with her to another country. Suss refuses on
the ground that his destiny as avenger of Israel
makes it necessary for him to remain at his post
in Wurttemberg. Thereupon the Magus plays his
trump card. He brings in Suss's mother, who,
unknown to Suss, has arrived from Frankfort, and
the latter confesses to her son that his father
was not a Jew, but a Christian nobleman and
general, Georg Eberhard von Heydersdorff, with
whom she once had an affair, and who afterwards
died in disgrace. But even this does not shake
Suss in his determination to remain at his
present post of power. Magdalen Sibylle is
announced. Suss is surprised that she should
have known his present whereabouts, to which she
replies that she learned it from her father. She
informs Suss that the Duke has decided upon a
coup d'etat to Catholicize the whole country,
and that the execution of the coup has been
entrusted to Suss's enemy, General Remchingen
(Louis Weisberg).
Suss is touched by her fidelity to him, and
there follows a brief but touching love scene
between the two.
After Magdalen
leaves, Master Schober, obviously in his cups,
intrudes, and drunkenly calls Suss to account
for having sold the soul of Schober's beloved,
Magdalen Sibylle, to the devil. Suss gets rid of
him, only to receive infinitely more unwelcome
and dangerous company: the Duke, Weissensee,
Remchingen, Graziella, etc. Refreshments are
served, and Graziella entertains them with a
song. The Duke's servants push Tamar into the
room. At the sight of the young girl's virginal
beauty, the lascivious Duke is at once filled
with lust. Presently he and his entourage leave.
By a ruse the Duke lures Suss away from the
house, then returns to attack the girl, at a
moment when the Magus is away and she is all
alone in her room. Tamar escapes from his
clutches and seeks refuge on the roof of the
house. The lustful Duke pursues her, whereupon
she jumps off and is killed. The Magus returns
and presently Suss also comes back. The Duke
makes humble apologies to Suss for having caused
his daughter's death and graciously offers to
pay the funeral expenses. Suss mechanically
mumbles words of forgiveness to his master, but
his heart is consumed by grief, hatred, and the
desire for revenge.
ACT THREE
Scene 1: The Duke
and his entourage -- Remchigen, Suss, Graziella,
etc. -- are gathered at the Castle of
Ludwigsburg and wait for word from Stuttgart,
the capital of Wurttemberg, for on this night
the coup d'etat is to be carried out. A fierce
storm is raging outside, and the atmosphere
inside the castle is equally depressing, despite
Graziella's efforts to cheer up the company.
Schober, who has
meanwhile become Suss's confidential secretary,
and through whom Suss in order to avenge his
daughter's death has betrayed the Duke's plans
to the Protestant populace, is filled with
compunction because Suss has pledged him to
absolute secrecy, for in the event the Duke's
conspiracy is frustrated, Suss will be arrested
as the chief instigator and he, Schober, will
not be able to testify in his defense. Suss
silences him with a jest.
Magdalen Sibylle
approaches and vows her love for Suss, but Suss
can only think of revenge and of the courier
from Stuttgart who is speeding along with word
that will crush the Duke. Weissensee draws near
and congratulates Suss on the great triumph
awaiting him with the imminent success of the
coup. The Duke issues orders for all church bells
to be rung as soon as the news about the coup
arrives. The courier finally arrives and hands a
message to the Duke, who summons everybody to
hear the good news. When, however, he reads
that the conspiracy had been discovered and
frustrated by his Protestant subjects, he is
stricken with paralysis. "Was it you who
betrayed me, Jew?" he asks Suss. "Yes, your
Grace," answers the latter.
Scene 2: Suss has
been sentenced to death for his complicity in
the conspiracy. We see him now in his death cell
with all traces of his former elegance gone, the
while the hangman is entertaining him with his
ghastly jokes. Weissensee arrives and expresses
his incredulity that the Jew will submit tamely
to his fate out of a foolish sentiment, when by
merely speaking out he could save himself. As
Suss refuses to enter into conversation with
him, he leaves. Schober enters and implores his
master to release him from his pledge and permit
him to tell the truth so that Suss's life may be
saved. Suss refuses to do so. Weissensee,
accompanied by the Magus, returns with word that
Sturm, the Chief Secretary of the Estates, is
coming to see Suss, and judging by Strum's wry
face, he must be bringing good news for the Jew.
Sturm comes in and announces on behalf of the
Regent that the latter is ready to pardon Suss,
in view of his past services to the country,
provided however, [that] he will turn state
evidence, disclose the names of all who were
implicated in it, as well as the names of
Christian women with whom he has had carnal
relations. Suss refuses the offer and asks only
for the privilege of being permitted to see once
more the stricken Duke Karl Alexander. Sturm
promises him that and departs, after which both
Weissensee and the Magus take Suss to task for
his obstinate refusal to save himself, but to
all their pleas Suss answers that his only
desire is to join the spirit of his daughter
Tamar.
The stricken Duke
is wheeled in, but Suss's words of compassion
for the "wounded soul which lies buried in your
body," find no responsive echo in the Duke's
heart, and the two are not reconciled. The Duke
is taken away, and Suss has a vision of his
daughter and hears her voice calling him to her.
Magdalen Sibylle
enters and telling him that the jailers have
been bribed to enable him to escape, pleads with
him to save himself, offering to flee with him
wherever he might choose to go. Again Suss
refuses, and Magdalen, overwhelmed by grief and
despair, denounces him for having strengthened
her soul while he himself is too weak to resist
his own dreams.
The rabbi of
Frankfort now arrives to minister spiritually to
Suss, following which the latter is led away to
his execution.
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