The Jewish history behind the WWII rescue that inspired Netflix’s ‘Transatlantic’

The Times of Israel ^ | 4-6-2023 | Shira Li Bartov

[Saije]

JTA — While the United States swung its door shut to most refugees during World War II, a young American in France saved thousands, including some of the 20th century’s defining artists and thinkers — such as Marc Chagall and Hannah Arendt — from the Nazis.

The rescue mission of Varian Fry, which went largely unrecognized during his life, is the subject of Netflix’s new drama “Transatlantic,” launching Friday from “Unorthodox” creator Anna Winger.

Starring Cory Michael Smith as Fry, the seven-episode “Transatlantic” aims to recreate his operation in Marseille after the Nazis defeated France and before the United States entered the war.

Winger has injected several imagined romances, war efforts and characters into the fictionalized series, including one posed as Fry’s lover, named Thomas Lovegrove (played by Israeli Amit Rahav). Although Fry’s son has said that he was a “closeted homosexual,” no such person is known to have existed.

Winger believes these inventions will invite Netflix viewers to learn more about the true story.

The real Varian Fry, a 32-year-old journalist and suit-clad Harvard graduate, showed up in Marseille with $3,000 taped to his leg and a list of 200 names in August 1940.

After France surrendered to Germany, Fry was among 200 Americans — including journalists, artists, museum curators, university presidents and Jewish refugees — to create the Emergency Rescue Committee at the Hotel Commodore in New York. This group was concerned with Article 19 in France’s armistice with Germany, which required French authorities to surrender any individuals demanded by the Germans.

[Saije]

I think the story sounds interesting and I will probably check it out at some point but it does make me laugh, how everything I see these days has to have a gay element. And I don't mean happy.

[nfldgirl]

The same with season 3 of Sanditon, the fictional story by Jane Austen, the last one she was writing when she became ill and ultimately passed away at the young age of 42 I believe.

Since the book was never finished, there have been those who set out to finish off the story in their own way. In season 3 on PBS, written into the storyline is the blossoming “gay” relationship. I don’t believe Jane Austen would have ever inserted that into her books. There was nothing of the sort in any of her other wonderful books. But like you say, that gets dropped into just about any and everything these days.

[sauropod]

Bkmk

[Paal Gulli]

He who saves one life, saves the world entire ...

... even if the other 6 million didn’t get saved because the world couldn’t be bothered.