Yair Mintzker. The Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017. 344 pp.

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew by Yair Mintzker Dean Phillip Bell Yair Mintzker. The Many Deaths of Jew Süss: The Notorious Trial and Execution of an Eighteenth-Century Court Jew. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017. 344 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419000230 In this thoughtful and well-researched book, Yair Mintzker examines several accounts of the trial of Joseph Süss Oppenheimer in order to uncover the motivations underpinning and unique dimensions guiding those accounts and their authors. While the subject of the book is the trial, the focus is simultaneously narrower—concerned with the context and texture of the individual sources—and broader—piecing together a range of observations to address issues related to the long history of Jewish and Christian relations and Jewish integration in the Holy Roman Empire. Mintzker notes that none of the sources related to the trial solely present "the facts" of the case, since they often disagree about the basic details and, upon closer reading, reveal differing concerns, agendas, and even notions of truth itself. Minzker suggests a new approach to the topic and the sources, which he terms a "polyphonic history," by which he means taking different sources individually and in conversation; combining elements from previous approaches to the topic; and redirecting attention back to the sources, including taking fiction seriously as a historical source. For each of the four sources he considers, Mintzker applies a consistent approach that focuses on the lives and writings of the individuals who provided different genres of narratives about the case, as well as on illustrative passages from the sources. In order to further clarify his approach, at end of his presentation of each of these four sources Mintzker appends "conversations" between him and an imaginary reader. While these conversations do, in fact, surface some interesting methodological and interpretative questions and relate closely back to the chapters they close, they are largely unnecessary and at times even distracting, largely because Mintzker admirably implements his useful approach within the body of the work. The Oppenheimer trial serves as a valuable foil for several larger questions that emerge, Mintzker notes, because of the immense contemporary interest in the story. The trial encouraged as many interpretations as it did interpreters, providing a perfect case for exploring how people understood and leveraged the story for their own purposes. At times, these interpretations appear to have been rather conscious constructions that served specific goals; at other times, they presented significant themes that the narrators may hardly have thought about directly, but that, precisely for that reason, allow us windows into their world. [End Page 226] The first figure Mintzker examines is Dr. Philipp Friedrich Jäger, the judge who composed the verdict in the case. Particularly valuable is Mintzker's juxtaposition of the Oppenheimer case with a previous case involving Christina Wilhelmina von Grävenitz, the mistress of Duke Eberhard Ludwig. Mintzker makes a compelling argument that the similarities between this trial and Oppenheimer's are not only coincidental and structural, but reveal larger concerns. Perhaps more importantly, Mintzker provides evidence that the Oppenheimer trial was not simply a case of anti-Jewish machination—after all, Jäger had earlier in his career been concerned about the treatment of court Jews in Württemberg, and the voluminous materials related to his work on the trial never reference classical blood-libel accusations. Demonstrating a deft reading of inquisitorial sources, Mintzker argues that Jäger had a preconceived idea of what Oppenheimer did, which he drew directly from his experience with the previous case. At times Mintzker teases out some of Jäger's personal background in the sources. Especially poignant is Mintzker's assertion that Jäger ignored or responded violently to evidence that contradicted his preconceived story and that he "edited, amplified, and dramatized" (81) evidence that only partly corroborated his predetermined narrative, at times altering the evidence beyond recognition. What emerges is a nuanced reading of the sources that provides insights into the legal and criminal system of the time and the unique aspects of one of the central figures in the trial. Mintzker then...