The Irony of the Jud Suss saying, “I was only following orders”!

It is very ironic in the last scene of the film Jud Suss that Joseph Ben Susskind Oppenheimer says, “I was only following orders”.  If only Joseph Goebbels could have known that these very same words would be mouthed by some of his fellow Nazis at the Nuremberg War Crimes trials.  In every Army in the world the new recruit is taught for endless hours drill and ceremonies.  Why?  There are a number of reasons.  Marching is an orderly and efficient way of moving large numbers of soldiers from point A to point B; this is especially true if you are moving them from the rear to the front lines of battle.  The more subtle, insidious reason is that you want obedience to commands without anyone questioning why.  The command is, “Left Face!”, you turn to your left.  It is embarrassing to do otherwise, everyone else has turned to their left.  You are a paratrooper in an aircraft flying at 1200 feet.  The command is, “Stand up…Hook up….. GO!”.  You exit out the door like everyone in front of you has done and everyone behind you will do.  Add to this the mentality of the Fuhrer prinzip1. and your poor little mind is overwhelmed.  You do as you are told!  To do otherwise would be dishonorable and honor is everything.  When an American joins or is drafted into the military he or she takes an oath to, “Uphold and defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic”.  This is swearing an oath to the ideological ideals written by our founding fathers not to some mad man.  Gott Sie Dank!

1. Holocaust Museum website, https://s media-cache-akO.pinismg.com/originals/al/b
2. Jackson Spielvogel and David Redles. Hitler and Nazi Germany. Pearson. Boston. 138