DOCUMENTARY
Desperate Hours
“Desperate Hours” is a truly unique work of documentary film-making, combining a compelling story with thorough historical research and outstanding directorial skills.”
-Carol Bidault, Director and Founder – DCIFF
“relying much on eyewitness accounts for this mostly unaccounted history of uncharted heroism, fast-forwards the past through the eyes of survivors… and makes for a movie of timeless appeal”
-Jewish Exponent
“I strongly commend all those associated with the film “Desperate Hours”… directed and produced by Victoria Barrett… for helping to elucidate and publicize one of the most important chapters in the long, dramatic, and mutually rewarding history shared by the Jewish and Turkish peoples.”
-Hon. Tom Lantos of California in the House of Representatives
“In the annals of World War II heroism, Turkey’s work in saving over 20,000 European Jews has been neglected, a slight this refreshing old fashioned documentary seeks to correct.”
-Chuck Wilson, LA Weekly Review
“My immediate reaction was: everyone must see this! … if it were not for a small crew of dedicated workers, we still would not have been able to bring this story out of the archives of forgotten history.”
-Ayse Sumer, Editor in Chief – ATC Conference Magazine
“Desperate Hours, a new documentary about Turkey’s role in the Holocaust, is proof that there are still stories to be told and people to be applauded.”
-Jerusalem Post
At a time when millions were murdered before the eyes of an indifferent world, there were some men, and at times, some governments, who chose to act – not for praise, not for glory, but in the name of simple human decency. In doing so, they dispelled the myths that people were powerless to resist the Nazis.
Desperate Hours tells the stories of those precious few who, in the face of utter darkness, never lost their sight. In telling these little known stories from WWII, the film documents this moment in time, when groups of Muslims, Jews and Christians all worked together to save lives.
Some of the areas explored in the film are:
- How Turkish diplomats in France and Rhodes put their own lives at risk rescuing Jews of Turkish origin
- How Turkey recruited the talented men and women Hitler discarded to revamp Turkish sciences, architecture, music, medicine, legal education, and art
- How the Yishuv –Jews from Pre-State Israel- daringly used Turkey as a base to rescue Jews in locales such as the famous Pera Palace Hotel – terminus of the Orient Express
- The tragic sinking of the Struma Refugee Ship with 760 refugees aboard and the odyssey of its lone survivor- David Stoliar
- How Monsignor Roncalli (who later became Pope John XXIII), then the Apostolic Delegate in Istanbul, worked with delegates of the Yishuv and whose experiences there later inspired him to change Catholic teaching towards Jews
- The infamous “Jews for Sale” deal – the attempt in 1944 to trade one million Jews for 10,000 trucks
Desperate Hours is based on authoritative scholarship by American, Israeli, Turkish, and Italian historians as well as interviews with survivors, former diplomats and clergy in Israel, Italy, Turkey, Austria and the United States.
Shenandoah Films produced Desperate Hours in association with The Berenbaum Group and Shenandoah films. Desperate Hours is directed and produced by Victoria Barrett. Dr. Michael Berenbaum is the Executive producer, historian and writer. Ronald Goldfarb is the producer for Mainstreet.
END CREDITS
Directed and Produced by
VICTORIA BARRETT
Executive Producers
MICHAEL BERENBAUM
VICTORIA BARRETT
Producer for Mainstreet
RONALD GOLDFARB
Editor
HENRY ANGLIN
Historian and Writer
DR. MICHAEL BERENBAUM
Writer
DAVID FRIBUSH
Additional Writing by
HENRY ANGLIN
Director of Photography
DENNIS BONI
Music by
FAHIR ATAKOGLU
Narrator
DAVID BRYAN JACKSON
POST PRODUCTION
Personal Assistant to Ms. Barrett
ELIZABETH SPATZ
Production and Research Assistant
VICKI HILL
Post Production Services Provided by
HENNIGER MEDIA SERVICES
Account Manager
DANA LOY
Map Design
IAN ROBINSON
Sound Supervisor and Designer
ROB FRITTS
Voice-Overs:
French LAURENT MEILLIER
Italian FRANCESCO PARISI-PRESICCE
Hebrew TERESA POLLIN
Turkish FAHIR ATAKOGLU
Translators
INEKE WINKLER
DANA JACOB
HUSNU BAKI
Negative Cutter
DOMINICK BONO
Picture Animation
BERLE CHERNEY
Title Design
CYNTHIA BONO
Titles
HEAVYLIGHT DIGITAL
Opticals
SOUND ONE
Film Processing
COLOR LAB
FILM CREWS
TURKEY
Production Manager
ARDA ERKMAN
Assistant Camera
ERCAN OZKAN
EYUP BOZ
Second Assistant Camera
TARIK HAN KOC
Sound
SERHAT SAHIN
BULENT KILIC
Assistant Sound
DUYGU CELIKKOL
Gaffer
KAAN GUNER
Assistant Gaffer
LEVENT KARA
Grip
RIZA KADAIFCIOGLU
AZIZ KISKANC
Lighting
ALDIM CEMAL
Personal Assistant to Ms. Barrett
JAYNE CAKICI
Production and Research Assistants
ASLI BODUROGLU
LUTFU KATAPCI
ANIL SUREN
Still Photographer
FERDA CAGLAYAN
Lighting
ORION
Ankara
Production Services Provided by
MONITER
ISRAEL
Production Services Provided by
TEL-AD BROADCASTING (CH. 2) JERUSALEM
Director of Photography
YORAM MILLO
Production Manager
LISA AXELRAD
Assistant Camera
RONEN AZU
AYAL ZAHAVI
Sound
AMOS ZIPPORI
AMIR BUBERMAN
Gaffer
OFER WALLERSTEIN
Driver/Assistance
ODED HOROWITZ
UNITED STATES
Washington, D.C. and Baltimore
Assistant Camera
MAX FISCHER
TOD EVANS
TIM FABRIZIO
Sound
RICHARD KANE
BOB SILVERTONE
ED JENNINGS, JR
Gaffers
CHRIS WILLIAMSON
DOUG WALLICK
Grip
DAVE MIKUTSKY
Second Grip
JIM JONES
Personal Assistant to Ms. Barrett
ELIZABETH SPATZ
Production Assistant
KATHI OVERTON
Still Photographers
SEAN CARROLL
VERA BRITTO
Production Manager for Boni Productions
CHRIS CARDNO
Portland
Production Services Provided by
PICTURE THIS PRODUCTIONS
Director of Photography
PERRY LOVERIDGE
Assistant Camera
DENVER WOOD
Sound
MICHAEL GANDSEY
Gaffer
GEORGE WELCH
Production Assistant
ANDRAY ABRAHAMIAN
Still Photographer
KIP KAUFMAN
ITALY
Production Services Provided by
DIAVIA
Director of Photography
CESARE DANESE
Production Manager
GIULIO D’ERCOLE
Assistant Camera
ROCCO COLOMBO
Sound
OSCAR TOPAZZINI
Gaffer/Grip
ANDREA MICARONI
Driver
LUIGI DI GIOVANNI
AUSTRIA
Director of Photography
THOMAS KIENNAST
Production Manager
AHU SUN
Assistant Camera
MATTHIAS MEISSEL
Sound
ERIC SPITZER
Gaffer
NIKI GRIEDL
Production Assistant
KIVANC ONDER
Still Photographer
THOMAS SCHINDLER
SPECIAL THANKS TO...
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation
The Simon Wiesenthal Center — Beit Hashoah/Museum of Tolerance
Yad Vashem – Jerusalem
The Central Zionist Archives – Jerusalem
The Turkish Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The Quincenntenial Foundation – Istanbul
President- Jak Kamhi
Curator- Harry Ojalvo
Association of Turkish Jews in Israel
David Angel
Hans and Nera Ziffer
Lily Mizrahi
Edward Mizrahi
Edmund Sidi
Itzhak Mais
Mevlut Akyildiz – “The Embrace of Freedom”
Erol Osman
Muharrem Ozguven
Louise Bahar
Staff of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Genya Markon
Raye Farr
Sharon Mueller
Chris Sims
Paul Howe
Dr. Radu Ioanid
National Council of Bishops
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C.
Basilica of the National Shrine of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, Baltimore, MD
Reinsch Library, Marymount University
“Homeless – Exile in Turkey 1933-1945 – Book Exhibit by Akiteves Museum,
Goethe Institute, and Akadamie der Kunste
Silvia Giese
Dorothea Brander
Slyvia Rohde
Karen Wyatt
Manuela Bolla