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"Desperate
Hours"
A documentary by Victoria BARRETT
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"Desperate
Hours" is based on authoritative scholarship
by American, Israeli, Turkish, and Italian
historians as well as interviews with survivors,
former diplomats and clergy in Israel, Italy,
Turkey and the United States. It is presented
by Main Street Media in association with the
Berenbaum Group and Shenandoah Films. The
documentary directed and produced by Victoria
Barrett. Ronald Goldfarb is the producer for
MainStreet. Michael Berenbaum is the executive
producer, writer and historian.
Photo
of Michael Berenbaum>
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On Monday 18 & also Tuesday 19 of February, a
new documentary "Desperate Hours" was shown
the Turkish community at the Turkish House in New
York. The World Premiere was held on September 5th,
2001 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
in Florida. The documentary recounts the little known
story of how Turkey rescued Jews from the Holocaust
WWII.
Razzia
of August 20, 1941: The Jews were arressted in the
XI Quarter, surrounded
by French police and the Germans. Afterwards they
will be transfered to Drancy.
(Photo Credit: Bibliotheque Historique de la Vile
de Paris, courtesy of USHMM Photo Archieves.)
DESPERATE HOURS tells the story of:
- How Turkey recruited some of the intellectual elite
being forced out of German life to revamp Turkish
sciences, architecture, music, medicine, legal education,
and art;
- How Turkish diplomats in France and Rhodes, acting
on their own without instructions from Ankara, rescued
Jews of Turkish origin and even when their citizenship
was in doubt;
- How the Yishuv valiantly and daringly used Turkey
as a base for illegal immigration to Palestine and
the rescue of as many Jews as possible;
- How Monsignor Roncalli (who later became Pope John
XXIII), then the Apostolic Delegate in Istanbul, worked
with delegates of the Yishuv to get information of
the fate of Jews and to rescue the few who could be
rescued; and
- How the Brand Mission - the attempt in 1944 to trade
one million Jews for 10,000 trucks, and evolved eventually
collapsed.
Due
to its neutrality until near the end of
World War II
A
Haven for a Discarded Elite
In
the years preceding the Holocaust, Germany began dismissing
and ultimately persecuting and killing its Jewish
professors, architects, musicians, scientists, and
physicians. Under the leadership of Turkey's president,
Kemal Attaturk, Turkey actively recruited these men
(and women) to serve as agents for modernizing the
new Republic. Three sons of the professors tell their
stories of a life of tranquil and productive refuge
as those they left behind fell victim to the Nazis.
Neutrality but not Indifference
In
both occupied and Vichy France, Turkish officials
vigorously defended the rights of its Jewish citizens
abroad. Diplomats
followed up on individual cases of Turkish Jews being
deported to transit camps, extended Turkish citizenship
to many Jews who had lost it, and at times mounted
daring and dangerous rescue missions on behalf of
their beleaguered citizens. Vice Consul Necdet Kent
who was assigned to Marseilles and Vice Consul Namik
Yolga assigned to Paris, now men in their 80s and
90s, recount their stories, along with Turkish Jews
they rescued. The story of the Turkish Consul in Rhodes
Selahattin Ulkemen, the only Turk to be awarded the
honor of Righteous Among the Nations by the State
of Israel for his work is rescuing Jews of Turkish
origin, is explored as well.
Rescue Efforts
As
the closest neutral country to occupied Europe and
a vital bridge between Europe and Palestine, Istanbul
was the natural place for emissaries of the Jewish
Agency to attempt rescue operations.
Teddy Kollek, who later achieved worldwide
fame as the long-time mayor of Jerusalem, was one
of the officials involved in these operations.
DESPERATE HOURS tells the story of the attempts at rescue, those that
succeeded and those that did not.
Jews
for Sale
In
Hungary during the last days of the war, Jews were
being deported to death camps on a massive scale. Amidst the deportations, Joel Brand, a Jewish emissary, was
sent by Adolph Eichmann to Turkey to contact the Allies
with a daring proposition - the exchange of Jews for
money and supplies. The strategic location of Turkey and its
role as a bastion of all intelligence networks became
vital in the intrigues behind Brand's mission, a mission
that
has remained controversial to this day.
Monsignor Roncalli (Pope John XXIII) and the Jews
of Hungary
Monsignor
Roncalli (who in 1958 became Pope John XXIII) was
the Apostolic Delegate in Turkey. He pleaded with
the Vatican to become actively engaged in saving Jews,
he met with Jewish Agency Representatives in Istanbul
to offer assistance and to obtain desperately needed
information, and undertook rescue efforts himself
by helping to provide Jews with documents to help
them escape the Nazi web. Throughout his long life, he never forgot
his experiences in Turkey nor the importance of the
Holocaust - memories that that would later shape his
actions as Pope when he would lead a dramatic revolution
in the relationship between the Church and the Jews.
At a time when millions were murdered
This
is a unique chapter of the Holocaust that is little-known,
and we think you will find it both engaging and informative.
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About
the Producer & Director:
Victoria BARRETT has
been in the entertainment industry for the
past 20 years as a producer, director, writer
and actor. Her most recent production is Desperate
Hours, a little
known story of World War II - Turkey and the
Holocaust. She is director, producer and co-executive
producer. "Desperate Hours" was
shot in Super 16mm in five countries: Israel,
Turkey, Italy, Austria and the United States.
Previously
living in Turkey for several years, her experiences
inspired her to produce, co-write and host
the film The Forgotten Holy Land, the history
of Christianity in Turkey. She was Executive
producer, Producer, Co-writer and Host. This
film was shot in Super 16mm in 15 locations
through out Turkey in a challenging schedule
of five weeks. Locales included remote areas
in the east such as Mt. Ararat, the Aegean
and Mediterranean coasts, Ephesus and Istanbul.
As an actor, her films include starring roles
in "Russian Roulette", "Three
Kinds of Heat", " America 2000 and
Over the Brooklyn Bridge. She was a guest
star on the hit television program Cheers.
Ms. Barrett has written numerous travel and
news articles that include a piece on Istanbul
for the New York Times. She has also written
various articles on Russia, beginning with
her eyewitness account of the coup in 1991
in the then Soviet Union, and the many social
and economic reforms that followed.
Now
living in Vienna, Austria, Ms. Barrett may
be contacted at: shenandoah@attglobal.net
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For Further Information Contact:
Michael BERENBAUM
E-mail: Michael@berenbaumgroup.com
About
Michael BERENBAUM
http://www.berenbaumgroup.com/ber_about.html
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