Harlan wasn’t the first to exploit Süss Oppenheimer’s story, as Singer discusses; the first major book about him, published in 1827, was also anti-Semitic. But a second major book, publihed in 1925 by Leon Feuchtwanger, depicted Süss as the victim of split loyalties to his Jewish and German heritages. It was Feuchtwanger’s version that Harlan supposedly used as the basis for his 1940 movie, although Harlan later told the Nuremberg court that he meant to vilify Süss Oppenheimer's enemies, he knowingly altered facts and forced Jews to act out negative stereotypes. Singer concludes that the tragedy of Jud Süss is not only the racial violence it inspired (and in neo-Nazi circles, still does), but also that positive interpretations of Süss Oppenheimer’s life (like Feuchtwanger’s) have been completely overshadowed by the famous anti-Semitic Harlan version. It is a testament to, and a warning of, the power of filmmaking.