A propósito do Dia Internacional do Holocausto

“Quem salva uma vida, salva o mundo”

Esta é uma frase comum ao Talmude e ao Alcorão

Começa assim o folheto de apresentação do filme "Passaporte Turco", do realizador Burak Arliel, e que nos conta as histórias dos vários diplomatas turcos na Europa que, ao conferirem a nacionalidade turca a muitos judeus europeus, os salvaram de uma morta certa; eles não foram mais um nome acrescentado à longa lista dos seis milhões de vítimas do holocausto

Doze combóios levaram estes judeus turcos para Istambul e salvaram-lhes a vida. Entre eles, havia também judeus europeus sem qualquer ligação à Turquia.

Diplomatas turcos deram passaportes turcos a judeus que não eram turcos, salvando-lhes a vida durante a segunda guerra mundial.

Em entrevistas com alguns dos judeus ainda vivos que assim foram salvos, os diplomatas que os socorreram e o seus familiares,  ficou claro que quando se quer agir, se pode evitar o mal.

A Turquia e estes seus diplomatas merecem, sem dúvida, um lugar de destaque entre aqueles que são  honrados no Museu do Holocausto em Jerusalém pela sua ajuda ao povo judeu.

O filme "Passaporte Turco" lembra esta história - a história esquecida dos diplomatas turcos estacionados em vários países europeus que salvaram muito judeus durante a perseguição dos nacional-socialistas. Estas histórias de compaixão são ilustradas por entrevistas, excertos de arquivos e de filmes históricos.

“Turkish Passport” foi exibido pela primeira vez em Cannes, em 18 de Maio 2011

O filme concorreu ao Festival Europeu de Filme Independente na categoria de Documentário em 2012.

Este projecto de seis anos, revela um segredo bem guardado durante 66 anos. O segredo sobre como cidadãos turcos salvaram centenas de judeus.

Righteous among the Nations Honored by Yad Vashem

Ulkumen, Selahattin 1989

Até 1 de Janeiro de 2011

copyright © Berlim Janeiro 2014 de Cristina Dangerfield-Vogt

'No state involvement in film'

 

Unbeknownst to many, Turkish diplomats on duty around Europe saved hundreds of Jews during World War II by giving them Turkish passports, enabling them to travel to safety in Turkey. This little known episode is told in an independent documentary entitled "Turkish Passport", being promoted as finally revealing "a secret kept for 66 years".The film recounts memories known mainly to 19 diplomats and the Jews they saved from German Nazi death camps. It is based on testimonies by witnesses and their relatives.

"To remember and never to forget," said Gunes Celikcan, 30, one of the producers, as he talked about why the film was made.  

"There is not much about what the Turks did during that period of history," Celikcan told AFP, as Turkey remained neutral during World War II.  

He said the diplomats saved around 2,000 Jews from the Holocaust but the exact figure is unknown. "We wanted to show this for the very first time and commemorate those diplomats," none of whom survive today, he said. The docudrama directed by Burak Arliel was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May. It has since been screened in Istanbul and other Turkish cities and made the rounds of festivals in the US and Europe. And though the buzz is quiet, it's building – and not all is favorable.

 Celikcan said the film has been six years in the making and "has nothing to do with the changing political spectrum".  But not all agree, including former Israeli cultural attaché in Turkey Batya Keinan. "The Turkish press office is using the movie for propaganda," Keinan said. "They are trying to say 'we are good people who protected Jews in the Holocaust and Palestinians now, and yet you shoot at us.' Shame on you." The comments have angered the movie's backers. "This film is not propaganda. ... There is no state involvement," said Asli Sena Genc, a representative for the Istanbul promoters. "This is a historical fact." Celikcan said the Turkish foreign ministry gave the filmmakers access to official archives, but ministry officials told AFP the film was a private initiative and the ministry made no official contribution. The docudrama recounts how the diplomats, including ambassador to Vichy France Saffet Arikan, found a way out for Turkish and foreign Jews, sending them to Istanbul on 12 trains at different points during the war. Behic Erkin, Turkey's ambassador to Paris from 1940-43, and Kudret Erbey, consul-general in the German city of Hamburg from 1940-45, were also involved. "Turkish diplomats did their best to save Jews amid the raging brutality against Jews during World War II," said Naim Guleryuz, a historian and onsultant on the film who heads a Turkish foundation that promotes the history and culture of Turkish Jews. "This part of the story is actually known by historians but we wanted to make it public knowledge through this documentary," he said. Researchers went to the United States, Israel, France and Germany, tracking down survivors or their relatives, some of whose tales are told on the film's official website. In one, Arlette Bules recalls when her father was arrested by the Germans and sent to the internment camp of Drancy, outside Paris."My mother immediately went to the Turkish Embassy and asked for help rescuing my father. Thanks to the letters written by the ambassador, my father was rescued," she said. Celikcan recalls another testimony about a Jewish father who called his two daughters to his deathbed after the war. "He told them 'never forget that it was the Turks who saved us' and then died making a military salute."

Written in January 2012