Jud Sü� is a 1940 Nazi anti-Semetic propaganda film that was widely loved in much of Europe, especially Germany (and also vilified and banned in various places). The production and showing of this film was a significant moment in the development of the widespread German hate of the Jewish People that facilitated a nearly successful attempt at their utter extermination.
In other words, Jud Sü� played a measurable role in the development of mid 20th century racism to the ultimate conclusion which racism, unfettered, always leads: Holocaust.
John Ubele is a hate-mongering white supremacist who is respected enough among some Floridians to get so far as to actually run for elected office (though not yet successfully) and who is a major player in a hate group called the “Nationalist Coalition.” The National Coalition’s motto is to “do whatever is necessary to achieve white living space a to keep it White.”
From their website:
In order to continually stimulate and facilitate local and national activism and to provide strong continuity for all White activists at all times, the Nationalist Coalition was created to network White activists within a cooperative infrastructure with the goal of pooling and coordinating all of our skills and resources towards a common self-evident cause; we promote whatever is good for our people, whatever strengthens our people, whatever increases the survivability of our people.
Doesn’t that just make you want to click your heels together and snap your hand up into the air in some sort of salute or something???
Anyway, Mr. Ubele sent a copy of the movie in question to the Governor’s office, and the Governor’s office sent back a nice letter, signed by the governor, that …
…praised the Pasco County resident’s thoughtfulness and generosity and said Crist would be delighted to share the DVD with the people of Florida.
[msnbc]
Well, it turns out that the letter from the gov was auto-signed, and Crist’s office is quickly back pedaling and claiming that they are not in to this white supremacy stuff and that this was a big mistake.
I assume the staff member that decided that an anti-semitic tool of the holocaust was an OK thing and should be redistributed by the governor’s office will be fired. Right?
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Never ascribe to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
Someone (an intern?) has the task of sorting through the mail. After going through the security procedures, packages probably get categorised something along the lines of; junk, inventory and immediate attention. My guess is that the individual is not an underemployed historian nor old enough to have lived through the period so the title meant absolutely nothing to them.
Even supposing a poli-sci background for our intern, I doubt there are many US college programs that cover this particular film.
Mr. Ubele is a provocateur. He sent the material hoping for exactly this standard kind of ‘thank you, please elect me’ letter. He then contacted the media hoping they would shine the spotlight on him and sure enough, they did. Should he become aware of it, I am sure he will be quite pleased to be given attention here as well.
Meanwhile, the staffer may well be fired. It’s an old political tradition, sacrificing an innocent scapegoat to satisfy the bloodlust of the pack. Since you put forward no evidence that the staffer knew what the film was, let alone that they actually intended to actively copy and redistribute it, I put you in that pack, somewhere near the front. You took the bait and ran with it. Mr. Ubele is good at what he does; manipulating the media.
Here is a link to the film:
WNTube Jud Sü�
Jonnie: I’m sure your analysis is exactly correct. I still want the Republican Intern fired.
Unless the Republicans stop demanding Obama’s birth certificate. Then we can talk.
..and burst into song?
Wow! Don’t the governor’s aides ever read any mail they get, before they reply to it? If they don’t, they’d better start now. No official can afford these days, to be tarred with a “racial” brush.
Anne G
Wikipedia.de
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jud_Sü�_(Film)
has an article on this film. The actor (Ferdinand Marian) who played the role of Oppenheimer, attempted to sabotage the purpose of this film by making his character more sympathetic; “Während der Dreharbeiten soll Marian teilweise versucht haben, die Absicht des Films zu â??sabotierenâ??, indem er Oppenheimer einnehmend dargestellt habe. Das sei der Grund dafür gewesen, dass der Film Marian trotz seiner Darstellung eines Juden bei der deutschen Bevölkerung noch beliebter gemacht habe, was stehende Ovationen für Marian bei vielen Aufführungen und zahlreiche Liebesbriefe an den Schauspieler belegen”. (During the filming, Marian partly attempted to “sabotage” the film’s intention, by portraying Oppenheimer as likeable. That was the reason why Marian became more popular in the German population in spite of his portrayal as a Jew, demonstrated by standing ovations for Marian during many showings and the many love letters to Marian).
At least this film was nowhere as bad as “der ewige Jude”, which is banned for all time in Germany. “Jude SüÃ?” is allowed to be shown in Austria and Switzerland, and in closed sessions in Germany.
Just a warning to anyone tempted to click on the link to the film provided by Bill James in post #2: WNTube is a project of the white supremacist group Storm Front. Just a Google search for “WNTube” brings up enough sublinks to sicken a normal person.
thinkoplex #7:
Why do we need a warning? Or for that matter, succumb to “temptation?” The film is integral to the story and the blog post. It is also historically significant.
The WNTube copy was the first link on Google (using alternate spelling “Jud Suss”) and after ten minutes review found the quality acceptable, subtitled in English and full length. It was therefore found suitable.
As far as WNTube itself? I’m not familiar with the site nor need be. We take our examples where we find them. If you have an alternate link to this content located at a less controversial site then by all means post it.
His name is Ubele? Really? The German word for “evil” is “Ã?bel”; this is about as subtle a name as Cruella DeVille.
Wow! Try to be helpful…
I’m quickly learning the futility of that approach.
thinkoplex: What you said @#7 was helpful, thank you. Those of us using the web at work with our surfing monitored need to be careful what we click.