The 17th century in what is now Germany saw the emergence of “court Jews”: Jewish businessmen who served local potentates by procuring arms and supplies for the military, providing financial backing, and often giving advice. By far the most famous court Jew was Joseph Süss Oppenheimer, the subject of anti-Semitic legend, of an infamous Nazi film titled Jud Süss, and now of a scholarly study by Yair Mintzker. Jonathan Steinberg writes in his review:
Oppenheimer . . . was a very wealthy and powerful figure, who served a number of princes in southwest Germany, most notably Duke Carl Alexander of Württemberg, for whom he acted as financial adviser and master of the mint. Shortly after Carl Alexander’s death in March 1737, Oppenheimer was arrested and accused of numerous crimes, including embezzlement, adultery, debasement of the coinage, and treason. After months of imprisonment and interrogation, he was put on trial. He was found guilty and publicly hanged in Stuttgart on February 4, 1738. . . .
What really happened? Was Oppenheimer guilty? What was his trial like? The complexity of the story has led Yair Mintzker to adopt a very unusual technique. He calls his book “a polyvocal, critical work of scholarship: a polyphonic history.” He provides four accounts, each with its own dedicated chapter, of the trial, examining the case in turn from the perspectives of four individuals connected with it. . . At the end of each chapter, Mintzker answers methodological questions and defends his technique in a dialogue with an imaginary critic who raises doubts and difficulties. . . .
Whatever approximation to the truth the polyphonic method yields, it brings the society and its protagonists to life in a way I have never seen before. On account of the rich texture of the evidence, the ancien régime becomes real, while Mintzker’s lively prose turns the case into a detective story.
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