Joseph Süß Oppenheimer is led to the gallows on February 4, 1738, and given a final chance to convert to Christianity, which he refuses to do.

Thereafter, he is hanged with his last words reportedly being "Hear, O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord is one".

His corpse is gibbeted in a human-sized bird cage that will hang outside of Stuttgart in the Pragsattel district for six years until the inauguration of Karl Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, who will permit the hasty burial of his corpse below the gallows.

As a financial advisor for Duke Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, Oppenheimer had also gained a prominent position as a court Jew and had held the reins of the finances in his duchy.

He had established a duchy monopoly on the trade of salt, leather, tobacco, and liquor and founded a bank and porcelain factory.

In the process, he had gained a number of envious enemies who, among other things, claimed that he was involved with local gambling houses.

When his protector, Karl Alexander, suddenly died on March 12, 1737, Oppenheimer had been arrested and accused of various things, including fraud, embezzlement, treason, lecherous relations with the court ladies and accepting bribes.

The Jewish community had tried unsuccessfully to ransom him.

After a heavily publicized trial during which no proofs were produced, he had been sentenced to death.

When his jailers asked that he convert to Christianity, he had refused.