Post by marshamae on Dec 10, 2020 21:04:51 GMT
In Casablanca , the mcGuffin is letters of transit. It is easy enough to follow the story line without knowing exactly what these were. Today I came upon this explanation.
Propper de Callejón was First Secretary of the Spanish Embassy in Paris, when France surrendered to Nazi Germany on 20 June 1940. In order to prevent the Wehrmacht from plundering the art collection that his wife's family kept at the Château de Royaumont, he declared this castle to be his main residence, so it would be treated in the same privileged way as the accommodation of any other diplomat. Among the art works thus saved are a triptych of Van Eyck (one of Adolf Hitler's favourite painters).
In July 1940, he issued from the Spanish Consulate in Bordeaux, in co-operation with the Portuguese Consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, more than 30,000 transit visas to Jews, so that they could cross Spain to reach Portugal. When Spain's Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer learnt that Propper de Callejón was issuing visas without prior authorization, he had him transferred to the Consulate of Larache in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco. Afterwards, he would be posted to Rabat, Zurich, Washington D.C., Ottawa and Oslo.
so the letters or visas were papers allowing refugees to cross Spanish territory to reach Lisbon. Propper de Callejon, of Jewish descent was connected to the Rothschilds through his wife Liliane Springer- Foulds.
but the interesting part for film fans is that one of his descendants, none other than Helena BONHAM Carter. On one side she is descended from HH Asquith. On the other side, she is descended from this Spanish diplomat who used his privilege to save thousands of Jews and others fleeing the Nazis, as well as works of art. It was one of these letters of transit that Alma Rosé niece of Gustav Mahler , was trying to obtain when she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz .She became head of the Women’s Orchestra and died of poisoning. She was a key figure in Playing For Time.
I love history.
Propper de Callejón was First Secretary of the Spanish Embassy in Paris, when France surrendered to Nazi Germany on 20 June 1940. In order to prevent the Wehrmacht from plundering the art collection that his wife's family kept at the Château de Royaumont, he declared this castle to be his main residence, so it would be treated in the same privileged way as the accommodation of any other diplomat. Among the art works thus saved are a triptych of Van Eyck (one of Adolf Hitler's favourite painters).
In July 1940, he issued from the Spanish Consulate in Bordeaux, in co-operation with the Portuguese Consul Aristides de Sousa Mendes, more than 30,000 transit visas to Jews, so that they could cross Spain to reach Portugal. When Spain's Foreign Minister Ramón Serrano Suñer learnt that Propper de Callejón was issuing visas without prior authorization, he had him transferred to the Consulate of Larache in the Spanish protectorate in Morocco. Afterwards, he would be posted to Rabat, Zurich, Washington D.C., Ottawa and Oslo.
so the letters or visas were papers allowing refugees to cross Spanish territory to reach Lisbon. Propper de Callejon, of Jewish descent was connected to the Rothschilds through his wife Liliane Springer- Foulds.
but the interesting part for film fans is that one of his descendants, none other than Helena BONHAM Carter. On one side she is descended from HH Asquith. On the other side, she is descended from this Spanish diplomat who used his privilege to save thousands of Jews and others fleeing the Nazis, as well as works of art. It was one of these letters of transit that Alma Rosé niece of Gustav Mahler , was trying to obtain when she was arrested and deported to Auschwitz .She became head of the Women’s Orchestra and died of poisoning. She was a key figure in Playing For Time.
I love history.
also can be bought on-line (to display with your Maltese Falcon.