Conrad Veidt was a movie star whom the Nazis would have liked to keep in Germany. However the actor, who was married to a Jewish woman, clearly rejected the anti-Semitic regime by taking up a role in a film produced in England in 1933. He played the main character in the first film version of Lion Feuchtwanger's novel Jud Süss.

The production was preceded by a diplomatic crisis between Germany and the United Kingdom. During the shooting of William Tell, it was announced that Veidt wanted to play Jud Süss next. Apparently he was then asked to reject the role, but refused. He was subsequently arrested in Germany and his family and the British production company were told that he was ill and would not be able to travel. Only after the diplomatic intervention of the British government was Veidt finally able to leave. He never returned to Germany, where he was not offered work anyway on account of his recent roles. In the newspaper Völkischer Beobachter it was said of Veidt in 1934: “It is known that the Jewish film production in England produced two coarse, sensational films for purposes of Jewish propaganda: the film Wandering Jew and a second film - Jud Süss. [...] Conrad Veidt plays leading roles in both. [...] Conrad Veidt was paid for this betrayal of his country – by the praise of the Jewish public. As such, he no longer possesses enough human dignity that even one single person should utter a word of praise for him.”