film "Jud Süß"
In the Hungarian capital Budapest, the public screening of the anti-Semitic Nazi film 'Jud Süß' (1940) by a neo-Nazi organization has led to protests. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a lawyer told the newspaper 'Népszabadság' that he would initiate legal proceedings against the organizers. The lawyer, who said many of his family were victims of Nazism, said the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty, signed by Hungary amongst other countries, contained a provision banning the dissemination of fascist ideology.
Meanwhile, a local chapter of the Hungarian Free Democratic Party said it would file a complaint to the authorities over 'Jud Süß' as the film can only be screened in Europe with permission from the German Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau Foundation which holds the screening rights. The foundation said it was unaware of the screening and wants to take legal action itself. Approval for the screening of 'Jud Süß' and other Nazi propaganda movies is granted by the foundation under certain conditions, including an introduction about the propagandistic aims of film the before the screening.
The infamous German movie adaptation made by Veit Harlan under the supervision of Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels is considered one of the most hateful depictions of Jews on film. The 1940 film about 18th century Jewish finance Joseph Süß Oppenheimer, who is greedy and sexually abuses women, was shown to concentration camp guards, to SS units about to round up Jews, as well as to non-Jewish populations of areas where Jews were about to be deported.
