A 60-Year Secret Unveiled at Cannes with "The Turkish Passport"

Filmed with the academic consultancy of Bahçeşehir University and the sponsorship of the Tekfen Foundation and the Jewish Community of Türkiye, the documentary "The Turkish Passport" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. An Interfilm Istanbul production, the documentary offers a different perspective on a shameful period of recent history.

The documentary film, which tells the story of "a handful" of Turkish diplomats who extended a helping hand to Jewish citizens in German-occupied France during World War II, "The Turkish Passport," was screened at Cannes.

Produced by Interfilm Istanbul, the film is produced by Bahadır Arlıel and Güneş Çelikcan and directed by Burak Arlıel. Brought to the big screen after extensive research in Türkiye, Israel, France and the USA, "The Turkish Passport" premiered on 18 May as part of the 64th Cannes Film Festival.

Focusing on how Turkish diplomats during World War II provided passports to Jewish citizens of Ottoman origin and helped them escape to Türkiye by train, the documentary film also reveals a 66-year-old secret.

IT HAS A HAPPY ENDING

For the hundreds of Jews who were given "Turkish Passports" by a handful of Turkish diplomats who refused to be part of the shame of the German genocide in France during the war, and who were sent to Türkiye by train, these wagons carried humanity's last hope in a geography where all hope was thought to be lost. Starting from this point, the documentary tells not just another of the thousands of genocide stories told before, but "a story with a happy ending."

"The Turkish Passport" wants viewers to witness a dark period everyone is ashamed of and to remember how, in the midst of terrible atrocities, "some people" once fought for the lives of others at the risk of their own. Through the voices of witnesses who are still alive, the documentary loudly reiterates "how meaningless later-constructed concepts such as religion, language, race and social status become in the face of human values."

A 66-YEAR-OLD SECRET IS REVEALED

For "The Turkish Passport," brought to the big screen after four years of research in Türkiye, Israel, France and the USA, 25 witnesses who were rescued at the time and are still alive speak for the first time in 66 years. While the witnesses opened their private archives for the first time for this documentary, 20 Turkish Jews rescued from France by the Republic of Türkiye during the genocide and still alive today, 6 living in Türkiye and 14 in France, were reached and interviewed. In addition, contact was made with more than 20 other Jews rescued by Turkish diplomats.

Historical consultancy for the project was provided by Naim Güleryüz, President of the Quincentennial Foundation in Istanbul, and project direction by Yael Habif, while the project was filmed under the academic consultancy of the Bahçeşehir University Faculty of Communication. Sponsored by the Tekfen Foundation and the Jewish Community of Türkiye, the film was shot in France, Romania and Türkiye.

Topkapı Museum Director, historian, researcher and author İlber Ortaylı is also among those supporting "The Turkish Passport."

COOPERATION WITH THE WORLD'S LARGEST HOLOCAUST MUSEUM

For the documentary, which involved extensive archival research, some important documents were brought to light for the first time. More than 3,000 documents were obtained through research in the French state archives in Paris and the German state archives in Berlin and Hamburg, while the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye were also searched.

For "The Turkish Passport," cooperation on sharing written and visual documents was also established with Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, the world's largest Holocaust museum with 80 million documents from the period. In addition, all necessary permits were obtained to film in the concentration camps in France and the Auschwitz extermination camp in Poland.

You can find all the details about the film at www.theturkishpassport.com .