Turkey and the Holocaust

Over fifty years of research have produced extensive literature on Nazi persecution of Jews, yet little is known about Turkey's role as a neutral country and haven for Jews during the Holocaust. This work uncovers previously hidden documents from the Turkish Foreign Ministry, National Archives in Washington, and the Turkish embassy in Paris, along with materials from Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld. It reveals the desperate pleas of those fleeing persecution and examines Turkey's response, highlighting individual stories through letters from Jewish refugees, SS and Gestapo officials, and Turkish diplomats. The narrative illustrates Turkey's significant yet underreported involvement in sheltering prominent scholars, physicians, and thousands of refugees. It details how Istanbul became a hub for the Jewish Agency and other organizations dedicated to assisting Jews in Eastern Europe, and how Turkey exerted diplomatic pressure to prevent the deportation of its 70,000 Turkish Jews to Germany. Shaw contextualizes the plight of refugees within Turkey's overall reaction to the Holocaust, the impact of the Varlik Vergisi wealth tax, and the efforts of the Jewish Agency. This compelling history, based on unprecedented primary research, sheds light on the tragedies of Jewish persecution under Hitler, appealing to those interested in Turkish, Jewish, European history, and World War II.