Monday, November 02, 2009

The Role of Turkish Diplomats in Saving Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944

"The Role of Turkish Diplomats in Saving Turkish Jews in France: 1940-1944
By Arnold Reisman

During World War II, Turkish diplomats saved Turkish Jews living in France (many were French citizens others were holding Turkish passports) from certain death, a fact of which the Anglophone world was ignorant until Stanford Shaw first revealed the historical data in 1995.1 Up until that time, this important piece of history had been ignored by historians. Mistakenly however, Shaw attributed the actions of Turkey’s legations in both occupied and Vichy France to a well articulated policy created by the Turkish government in Ankara, when in fact these brave acts of heroism were devised by the diplomats themselves as a matter of conscience."

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