Righteous Among the Nations Award: A Second Nomination Brief for Turkish Diplomats Who Saved Turkish Jews Living in France During World War II
22 Pages Posted: 11 Dec 2009 Last revised: 13 Dec 2009
Date Written: December 8, 2009
Abstract
Turkish diplomats saved Turkish Jews living in France from certain death during World War II. The acts of heroism and decency of the Turkish diplomats were assumed to have been given guidance by their government in Ankara. The totality of recent findings of contemporaneous documents from various US government archives confirms that the intervention in behalf of French Jews with Turkish origins was not the policy of the Government of Turkey at all but the determined undertaking of members of the Turkish diplomatic corps in France acting independently against the extant policy of Turkey’s government. Their actions risked the wrath and ire of their own government as well as those of Germany and Vichy France. This paper juxtaposes the life-saving role of Hiram "Harry" Bingham IV an American diplomat who served as a Vice-Consul in Marseille, France, during World War II, against the individual and collective deeds in this regard of the Turkish legation in France.
Keywords: Yad Vashem, righteous gentile, righteous among the nations, International Raoul Wallenberg foundation, Shoah, Turkey, Vichy, France
JEL Classification: Z, N45
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation