After the war Harlan was charged with participating in the anti-Semitic movement and aiding the Nazis. However, he successfully defended himself by arguing that the Nazis controlled his work and that he was obeying their orders and should not be held personally responsible for the content. There was no proof shown that backed this, on the contrary, it was said that it was well-known that Harlan made his works more antisemitic than the regime had asked, for example, a script for "Jud Süß" which Harlan put more antisemitic messages in was praised by Goebbels. In 1949, Harlan was charged with crimes against humanity for his role as director of "Jud Süß". The Hamburg Criminal Chamber of the Regional Court ("Schwurgericht") controversially acquitted Harlan of the charges. This decision was upheld by the court of the British occupation zone. Both acquittals remain controversial to this day since the ruling judge had previously worked as a judge for the Nazi regime and since Harlan's works had been proven to have contributed hugely to spreading the antisemitic sentiment in Germany, which enabled the Holocaust. Nazi camp guards who watched "Jud Süß", Jewish survivors told the court, had become more cruel towards inmates after the film, clearly affected by the propaganda contents which made them hate Jews more (although this allegation could not be proved). The film was deemed in one court to be unsuitable and highly problematic and to have contributed to enabling the antisemitism and genocides, but neither Harlan or his antisemitic supporters who insulted Jewish victims in the courts, was ever sentenced.