After
Adolf Hitler came to power, Harlan - unlike many German film directors - stayed in Germany. He embraced the new Nazi regime and directed several pro-Nazi propaganda films for the new government, with his wife
Kristina Söderbaum in the main parts. Considered to be the worst of these was the universally reviled
Jud Süß (1940), a virulent anti-Semitic propaganda piece masquerading as a period piece melodrama. After the war, he was charged with crimes against humanity because of this film, but in 1950, after several court trials, was released.