Exile In Buyukada -SD
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:00Istanbul, as Constantinople, capital city of the Byzantine Empire, as Istanbul, capital
00:00:20of the Ottoman Empire, more than 2,000 years of history steeped in great culture and international
00:00:28power struggles. In the Sea of Marmara, south of the Bosphorus that slices through the city,
00:00:39lies the island of Buyukada, the biggest of the prince's islands, a haven of peace and
00:00:45tranquility 12 miles from the urban chaos of the city. No roar of engines, no blaring
00:00:57horns, no exhaust fumes to mar the tranquility of its luxurious mansions, just the clip-clop
00:01:04of horse carriages, the only means of transport on Buyukada. When Istanbul was called Constantinople,
00:01:14this island was known as Prinkipo. Buyukada can be best described in the words of the
00:01:40German author Gustav Schlumberger, written 100 years ago. A ferry runs alongside a long
00:01:47picturesque quay, which is always filled by people. Here, coffee houses are never empty.
00:01:57Various flowers and trees, cascades of ivies, white-flowered acacias, Judas trees, jasmine.
00:02:10All of which provide a colourful background for this cheerful town.
00:02:18Its name came from its function, a place of exile for the princes of the city.
00:02:41In 1929, just six years after the new Republic of Turkey replaced the Ottoman Empire,
00:02:49it served again as a place of exile, this time for the co-leader of the Russian Revolution, Leon Trotsky.
00:04:10The seagulls meant that land was close by. For Leon Trotsky, who had been travelling since
00:04:30the beginning of January, it was an unknown country with a language he could not speak.
00:04:41It would be home for the immediate future, or perhaps, as he feared,
00:04:46the place of his death at the hands of an assassin.
00:04:56It was February the 12th, 1929, and it was very cold.
00:05:01The Ilyich had left the Soviet port of Odessa on the Black Sea six days earlier.
00:05:12Leon Trotsky had led the opposition to Stalin since Lenin's death in 1924.
00:05:19Now 2,000 oppositionists were in Soviet prisons,
00:05:24but Trotsky was being deported to the Republic of Turkey.
00:05:29Trotsky was accompanied by his wife, Natalia Sedova, their youngest son, Leon Sedov,
00:05:36whom they called Lvova, and agents of Stalin's secret police.
00:05:41Leon Trotsky had been expelled from the Soviet Union by the GPU, Stalin's secret police.
00:05:59The GPU agents were there to escort Trotsky.
00:06:08They were agents of Stalin's regime, which wanted to silence Trotsky.
00:06:28The leaders of the victorious revolution were tearing at each other with their teeth.
00:06:39I'm afraid of them. They are watching us from Almaty.
00:06:45How long will this nightmare last? Will we never get rid of them?
00:06:49It's their job.
00:06:52In time, they will understand that they are on the wrong path.
00:06:57Stalin will not be able to destroy all our followers.
00:07:05Well, let's wait and hope.
00:07:12Yes, we have to wait.
00:07:14Let's go. It's actually very cold.
00:07:45Stalin's secret police were not the only threat Trotsky faced in his new land of exile.
00:07:50There were the remnants of the white Russian armies, which had fought a long, bitter, four-year war against the Soviet Union.
00:07:59The last commander of the white army, General Wrangel, had died the previous year.
00:08:04But many of the 150,000 men who had fled with him to Istanbul in 1920
00:08:11were still there.
00:08:16Two leaders and two tendencies opposed each other when Lenin died in 1924.
00:08:28Leon Trotsky, born Lev Bronstein, a brilliant orator and writer,
00:08:33co-leader of the October Revolution, and leader of the Red Army.
00:08:41And Joseph Stalin, born Yosif Djugashvili, General Secretary of the Communist Party,
00:09:03who Lenin opposed and tried to remove in December 1922,
00:09:09his views known in his political testament, which was suppressed during Stalin's lifetime.
00:09:18Under Stalin, the Communist Party had become a bureaucratic apparatus,
00:09:23destroying party democracy for one and a half million members,
00:09:27and crushing all opposition to Stalin's central policy, socialism in one country.
00:09:34Trotsky took his stand on the first four congresses of the Communist International,
00:09:39the liberation of workers and peasants in all countries
00:09:43from capitalist poverty, oppression, and war.
00:09:47He founded the Left Opposition.
00:09:49With the growing support of workers and young students in the Soviet Union,
00:09:54in 1927 the Communist Party's Central Committee expelled the Left Opposition
00:10:01and began arrests, exile, and imprisonment.
00:10:07The Tsars of Moscow and the Sultans of Constantinople
00:10:11had been sworn enemies for many centuries.
00:10:17But almost simultaneous revolutions in the 20th century
00:10:21had consigned both empires to history,
00:10:25and created a wary solidarity between the young, new,
00:10:29but ideologically different regimes of Russia and Turkey.
00:10:35TROTSKY'S CENTRAL COMMITTEE
00:10:52Just before he disembarked at Constantinople, Trotsky wrote two letters.
00:10:57The first, angry one, was to the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party in Moscow.
00:11:04Stalin, the GPU, and the nationalist Turkish regime were conspiring against him, he wrote.
00:11:10And if he were to be killed during his Istanbul exile,
00:11:14the responsibility would lie with the Central Committee and, of course, Stalin.
00:11:21They will kill us in Istanbul.
00:11:23Perhaps.
00:11:26It's possible that they have an agreement with the Turkish government.
00:11:35If Stalin wanted, they could kill us here, too.
00:11:38There's no one on the ship but the GPU agents.
00:11:41No.
00:11:43I know his style.
00:11:45He will wait, follow us.
00:11:49And only when he decides that we've all been forgotten,
00:11:54will he kill us somewhere in the Third Country.
00:12:02The second letter, polite but ironic,
00:12:05was addressed to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the President of the new Turkish Republic.
00:12:19Dear Mr. President,
00:12:21at the gates of Constantinople,
00:12:23I have the honor to inform you that it is not by my own free will
00:12:27that I have arrived at the frontier of Turkey.
00:12:31I am crossing this frontier only because I must submit to force.
00:12:40I would have preferred to go to a country I know and whose language I speak.
00:12:46But those who exile seldom consider the wishes of the exiled.
00:12:51Please, Mr. President, accept my appropriate sentiments.
00:12:55Leon Trotsky, February 12th, 1929.
00:13:00Yes?
00:13:04We're almost there. You'll be free soon.
00:13:07I have a letter for you.
00:13:09Trotsky's harrowing journey into foreign exile
00:13:12had begun in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
00:13:16Twenty-two days before the Ilyich moored at Istanbul.
00:13:20At the end of the voyage, right at the gates of Istanbul,
00:13:24he received one final communication from Stalin's Central Committee,
00:13:29an envelope containing $1,500.
00:13:46World War I had shattered Europe,
00:13:49bringing down most of the continent's empires
00:13:52and replacing them with nation-states.
00:13:57With Trotsky's arrival,
00:13:59two revolutions crossed paths at the gates of Istanbul.
00:14:03Trotsky had helped to destroy Tsarist Russia.
00:14:09Ataturk had formed a new republic from the rubble of the Ottoman Empire.
00:14:16It had taken a costly four-year war of independence to achieve,
00:14:22and marked not only popular rejection of a map imposed by foreign powers,
00:14:27but also a determination to change into a modern, westernized society.
00:14:33When Trotsky arrived in Istanbul, the republic was only six years old.
00:14:38No longer the sick man of Europe, Turkey was young and healthy.
00:14:44Hats and suits ousted the fez and the kaftan.
00:14:51Latin characters replaced the Arabic alphabet.
00:14:56Women who had been slaves in harems now had the right to vote.
00:15:14The films of the time told the importance of the day
00:15:18and the dynamism of the country.
00:15:44At four p.m., Trotsky entered the arrival hall of the port of Istanbul.
00:15:52Along with the Turkish security officials to greet him
00:15:55was Suslov, the Soviet consul.
00:15:59It was more like the arrival of a foreign dignitary
00:16:02than a common exit to Istanbul.
00:16:06Trotsky's arrival in Istanbul was not the first time
00:16:11that he had been to Turkey.
00:16:15I am closely following the events in Turkey.
00:16:20Despite your hospitality, I do not think I will stay here long.
00:16:25I will not tire you.
00:16:29My passport is with Sedol.
00:16:33It is up to you how long you stay.
00:16:37You can go wherever you want.
00:16:41But you have no doubt that we will do our best to make you comfortable.
00:16:46I will be grateful if this letter is immediately delivered
00:16:49to the respected head of state.
00:16:53Yes, you have no doubt. We will deliver it to him.
00:17:01On the instructions of Turkish Interior Minister Şükrü Kaya
00:17:05to the governor of Istanbul, security was tight.
00:17:08There were no journalists.
00:17:12I would like to introduce you to the president of the Soviet Union,
00:17:15Mr. Suslov.
00:17:19Welcome, Mr. Sedol.
00:17:23For your safety, we would like to accommodate you
00:17:26in the General Consulate for a while.
00:17:29I hope only as a guest.
00:17:33While the paperwork was being completed and pleasantries exchanged,
00:17:37young Sedol stood guard over twelve chests.
00:17:42Everything that Trotsky owned.
00:17:46They contained no money or jewelry,
00:17:49only the books and documents the exile would use
00:17:52to direct the opposition against Stalin.
00:17:59Officials told Trotsky on his arrival
00:18:02that they had not been told he was being exiled,
00:18:05only that he was arriving for health reasons.
00:18:08Ataturk knew he had to be careful.
00:18:12Anything that might befall Trotsky in Turkey
00:18:15could have major international implications.
00:18:21He instructed Muhyiddin Ustundag, the governor of Istanbul,
00:18:24to reply to Trotsky's letter.
00:18:27Our police have taken all the necessary security measures
00:18:30regarding your safety.
00:18:33It would be advisable for you to inform the officers
00:18:36in charge of your security
00:18:40about any activity you may perceive.
00:18:43But implementing that security was another question.
00:18:48Trotsky would first reside at the Soviet consulate,
00:18:51which was Soviet territory,
00:18:54and where the Turks could not protect him.
00:18:57But no one believed Stalin would be foolish enough
00:19:00to make an attempt on his rival's life inside the compound.
00:19:03The Turkish authorities could only help
00:19:06once Trotsky stepped outside the consulate,
00:19:10and informed the police beforehand of his every move.
00:19:13The authorities were particularly uneasy
00:19:16with the white Russian population of Istanbul,
00:19:19victims of Trotsky's Red Army.
00:19:32Police headquarters were flooded
00:19:35with informants' reports of hitmen flocking to Istanbul,
00:19:39trying to empty their guns on Trotsky when the moment came.
00:19:44The list of suspects grew by the hour.
00:19:48But Trotsky was not Turkey's only security problem.
00:19:51There was considerable opposition to Ataturk's reforms.
00:19:56Anti-Western riots throughout the country,
00:19:59some of them foreign-inspired,
00:20:02were an almost daily occurrence.
00:20:05With Trotsky's arrival,
00:20:09activists joined demonstrations,
00:20:12posters mushroomed everywhere,
00:20:15calling for a people's uprising.
00:20:25Ataturk was confident, however,
00:20:28and did not see the Communist movement
00:20:31as a threat to Turkey or its way of life.
00:20:39Trotsky's first home in Istanbul
00:20:42still stands today as the Russian consulate.
00:20:52During the first days of Trotsky's stay,
00:20:55the consulate staff treated him cordially
00:20:58and were diplomatically correct.
00:21:01Their personal belongings were never searched,
00:21:04no questions were asked,
00:21:07and they were free in their movements.
00:21:10Trotsky chose to remain mostly indoors,
00:21:13while his wife and son stepped into the lively streets of the city
00:21:16to run their errands.
00:21:26The consulate was near Beyoglu.
00:21:33At the turn of the century,
00:21:37the Ottoman Empire was then known
00:21:40with its diplomatic missions, theaters,
00:21:43hotels, casinos, cafes, music halls,
00:21:46foreigners had been the symbol
00:21:49of Western civilization for the Ottoman Empire.
00:21:53Dinner at the Tocatlian Hotel
00:21:56would be followed by drinks
00:21:59and a game of billiards
00:22:02at the Luxembourg,
00:22:05and a late stop at the Concordiae
00:22:08to dance what was left of the night away.
00:22:15In one corner were women
00:22:18who had just returned
00:22:22and in the other corner
00:22:25were women who avoided gazing eyes
00:22:28with extremely polite but ignoring eyes.
00:22:31On the other hand,
00:22:34there were men who tried equally hard
00:22:37to steal the women's hearts
00:22:40and draw their attention.
00:22:43A major contribution to the nightlife
00:22:46came from Trotsky's sworn enemies.
00:22:50Trotsky and his wife Natasha
00:22:53had brought with them a style of entertainment
00:22:56the city had never known before.
00:22:59They performed in cabarets
00:23:02and ran restaurants
00:23:05introducing exotic Russian fare
00:23:08such as chicken Kiev,
00:23:11lamb Karski,
00:23:14and beef Stroganoff
00:23:17which were to become staples
00:23:20on Turkish cuisine.
00:23:23Trotsky and his wife Natasha
00:23:26introduced exotic Russian fare
00:23:29such as chicken Kiev,
00:23:32lamb Stroganoff
00:23:35which were to become staples
00:23:38on Turkish menus.
00:23:41Proud generals
00:23:44who once guarded the borders
00:23:47of the Russian Empire
00:23:50now stood guard for small tips
00:23:53and small tributes.
00:24:01Mercifully for the Turkish police
00:24:04Trotsky's days at the Soviet consulate
00:24:07were numbered.
00:24:10Less than a month
00:24:13after he first walked through its gates
00:24:16all pretense of courtesy disappeared.
00:24:19Trotsky decided to leave
00:24:23The glamorous Tocatlyan hotel
00:24:26stood just a few hundred yards
00:24:29from the consulate.
00:24:32Trotsky and his family
00:24:35made a discreet entrance
00:24:38at midnight through the service door.
00:24:41They took over rooms 67, 68, and 70.
00:24:44In the dying days of the Ottoman Empire
00:24:47guests would have consisted
00:24:50of French, Italian, British officers
00:24:53and fallen Russian aristocrats
00:24:56who had to sell their jewelry
00:24:59to afford the Tocatlyan.
00:25:12In the early days of the Republic
00:25:15well-off Turks from out of town
00:25:19made up most of the clientele.
00:25:26The businessmen spent much of their time
00:25:29lounging around the lobby, restaurant, and bar.
00:25:49Their number was to increase considerably
00:25:52after Trotsky arrived.
00:25:55The hotel was full of Turkish, Soviet, German
00:25:58and British agents
00:26:01keeping an eye on the illustrious new guest.
00:26:04Trotsky's followers from all over Europe
00:26:07came to visit him in his new quarters.
00:26:10One particularly welcome guest
00:26:13was Maurice Paz
00:26:16and his wife, Madeleine
00:26:19who came from Paris bearing a gift of 20,000 francs.
00:26:22Trotsky had very little money.
00:26:25He was waiting for 10,000 dollars in royalties
00:26:28for his books that never seemed to arrive
00:26:31from the United States.
00:26:34He needed the money not only for his family's survival
00:26:37but also to publish a newsletter
00:26:40for the opposition in Russia.
00:26:43They spent many days discussing future strategy
00:26:46under an ever-watchful and mounting
00:26:49Turkish police presence.
00:26:52The Turkish police were not concerned
00:26:55about the discussions between Trotsky and Paz
00:26:58but they did care about Stalin's secret service.
00:27:01They did not want a political assassination on their territory.
00:27:04The need to find a really safe place
00:27:07for Trotsky to live
00:27:10was more urgent.
00:27:13As Trotsky searched for a new home
00:27:16from the safety of his suite
00:27:19his son, Lvova, kept track of political developments
00:27:22from the newspapers.
00:27:25The German press interested Trotsky the most
00:27:28firstly because of the political situation there
00:27:31also because he had applied for a visa
00:27:34and had many supporters there.
00:27:40About a month after his arrival
00:27:43Trotsky began to give interviews
00:27:46and to write for newspapers around the world
00:27:49The Paris Journal, The New York Times, The English Daily Express
00:27:52and he revealed his feelings about his host country
00:27:55in his first interview with a Turkish newspaper
00:27:58Milliyet, considered at the time
00:28:01to be a mouthpiece of the Turkish government.
00:28:05The Turkish government showed me great hospitality.
00:28:08Before I came, I did not know
00:28:11how I was going to be received here.
00:28:14I wrote a letter to the president
00:28:17I got a reply from the governor immediately.
00:28:25The Turkish government never limited my movements.
00:28:35Ataturk, in response to Trotsky's safety concerns
00:28:38in the letter from the boat, the Ilyich
00:28:41had replied through governor Ustundag
00:28:44The violence that you mention in your letter
00:28:47cannot take place in Turkey
00:28:50You are free to go to any country you like
00:28:53If you wish to extend your stay in Turkey
00:28:56you will benefit from Turkish hospitality
00:28:59You will fully enjoy all the rights
00:29:02of all foreigners living in Turkey
00:29:11Why did Trotsky first settle in the Soviet consulate?
00:29:14And why did he leave?
00:29:17He explained to the newspapers
00:29:20I had applied to go to Germany
00:29:23I didn't move to a hotel
00:29:26because I thought a reply would come quickly
00:29:33Trotsky had made clear in his letter to Ataturk
00:29:36that Turkey was not his first choice
00:29:39You may ask why I want to leave Turkey
00:29:42It's because I do not speak the language
00:29:45I am old now and I cannot learn a new language
00:29:48There is no other reason why I should not stay in your country
00:29:51which I love and where I am shown great hospitality
00:29:58Trotsky knew Turkey and the Turkish people fairly well
00:30:01He had written of Turkey's experiences
00:30:04in its search for freedom
00:30:07and followed the war of independence closely
00:30:10He admired Ataturk
00:30:13He told Milliyet
00:30:16You owe your independence to the will of your great leader
00:30:19Ataturk's greatness has been acknowledged
00:30:22by the entire world
00:30:25It is a pleasure for me to repeat this fact here
00:30:32Trotsky's growing visibility in the media
00:30:35was an added safety risk
00:30:38Turkish security reports were tense
00:30:41Istanbul was full of agents
00:30:44and most of them were after Trotsky
00:30:49One informant said white Russians
00:30:52were planning to kill Trotsky
00:30:55for allegedly having ordered the deaths
00:30:58of 60,000 people in the Crimea
00:31:01after it was evacuated by General Wrangel's army
00:31:14For days on end
00:31:17police picked up and questioned
00:31:20former czarist officers and soldiers
00:31:23Many were summarily expelled from Turkey
00:31:26Trotsky had driven them from their homes
00:31:2912 years before
00:31:32Now, because of him, they were being forced
00:31:35from their chosen land of exile
00:31:57Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest
00:32:05Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest
00:32:08Allah is the greatest, Allah is the greatest
00:32:24I bear witness that there is no god but Allah
00:32:38I bear witness that there is no god but Allah
00:32:49All Trotsky wanted was a safe place
00:32:52where he could devote himself to his writing
00:33:09A red-cliffed island set in deep blue
00:33:12Buyukada crouches in the sea
00:33:15like a prehistoric animal drinking
00:33:18Trotsky wrote these words
00:33:21in his unpublished memoirs
00:33:24The village cemetery seemed more alive
00:33:27than the village itself
00:33:33Around 1930
00:33:36Buyukada was still as deserted
00:33:39as it probably was when the disgraced
00:33:42brothers and cousins of the Byzantine emperors
00:33:45lingered away their lives on its shores
00:33:48Nature itself seemed to have designed
00:33:51the spot to be a regal penitentiary
00:33:55The islanders, a few fishermen and shepherds
00:33:58lived as their forefathers did
00:34:01a thousand years earlier
00:34:05Only the braying of an ass came down
00:34:08from the outlying cliffs and fields
00:34:11into the main street
00:34:14For a few weeks in the year
00:34:17noisy vulgarity intruded
00:34:24In the summer, multitudes of holidaymakers
00:34:27families of Istanbul merchants
00:34:30crowded the beaches and the huts
00:34:34Then calm returned
00:34:37and only the braying of the ass
00:34:40greeted the still and splendid onset
00:34:43of the autumn
00:35:00Trotsky had finally found a safe home
00:35:05Buyukada was relatively difficult to access
00:35:08and comings and goings were easy to control
00:35:11and the Turkish security was happy
00:35:14Trotsky changed addresses several times
00:35:17before he found his final home
00:35:20In some places he was simply uncomfortable
00:35:23in others mysterious fires broke out
00:35:26blamed on the GPU but never proven
00:35:29In some places he was simply uncomfortable
00:35:32in others mysterious fires broke out
00:35:35blamed on the GPU but never proven
00:35:59Trotsky liked the new house
00:36:02a spacious dilapidated villa
00:36:05rented from a bankrupt Pasha
00:36:08He immediately got to work
00:36:11the authorities allowed friends to visit
00:36:14and one of the first to join him
00:36:17was his secretary
00:36:30In the near future, the fate of not only Germany
00:36:33but the whole world will depend on
00:36:36who will come to power in this country
00:36:44The construction of socialism in the Soviet Union
00:36:47the revolution in Spain
00:36:50the pre-revolutionary situation in England
00:36:53the crisis of French colonialism
00:36:57the National Liberation Movement in China and India
00:37:00all these problems depend on one question
00:37:05who will come to power
00:37:08fascists or communists
00:37:15Who should I give this to?
00:37:18Give it to Sedov
00:37:21Let him send it by mail to the New York Times
00:37:24You will make Stalin angry again
00:37:27You know that the world does not listen to his voice
00:37:30and your speech is printed in all American newspapers
00:37:33You are flattering me
00:37:55Many were arrested
00:37:58All eyes turned to Trotsky
00:38:01when one of those arrested
00:38:04said the communist pamphlets he'd been caught distributing
00:38:07were given to him by the owner of a club on Boyukata
00:38:13Was Trotsky the source?
00:38:16Nothing came out of the investigation
00:38:19The Turkish security forces were becoming apprehensive
00:38:23More and more people showed up on Prinkipo
00:38:26The police were certain that some of them were communists
00:38:31When a policeman came to the house
00:38:34and asked for a list of the people inside
00:38:37Trotsky was furious
00:38:40He immediately wrote to the Istanbul police chief and complained
00:38:43Today a policeman came to my house
00:38:46and asked for a list of the people staying and working with us
00:38:49I am not informed of this incident
00:38:52but I find it unacceptable
00:38:55This is a violation of my personal rights
00:38:58However, if you like, I am prepared to come to your office
00:39:01and answer all your questions
00:39:04Still, Trotsky was not always correct
00:39:07in his judgments about the growing number of visitors on Boyukata
00:39:13Among those who came to the island
00:39:16was a Ukrainian who appeared to be a militant oppositionist
00:39:19He settled in the house after Trotsky
00:39:22personally asked for him to be granted a visa
00:39:25He and his brother stayed on Boyukata for three years
00:39:28and they also worked as bodyguards
00:39:31and were always armed
00:39:3430 years later, in 1960
00:39:37Sobol Evikos was arrested in the United States for spying
00:39:40carrying papers that identified him as Jack Sobol
00:39:46He told FBI agents during interrogation
00:39:49that he had been in the employment of the GPU
00:39:52reporting on the activities of the Boyukata household
00:39:55directly to Stalin
00:39:58Jacob Blumkin had been recruited by Trotsky
00:40:01into the Communist Party
00:40:04He was an officer of the GPU
00:40:08He asked for a meeting with Trotsky
00:40:11which was arranged by Trotsky's son, Leon Sidov
00:40:15who said that he'd met Blumkin in the street by chance
00:40:18Jacob Blumkin offered to smuggle Trotsky's writings
00:40:21into the Soviet Union
00:40:24using Turkish fishermen
00:40:27Trotsky declined
00:40:30but the two men had a long talk
00:40:33and Trotsky gave Blumkin a carefully worded message
00:40:36to the oppositionists back home
00:40:39A few months later
00:40:43the informant was said to be Blumkin's lover
00:40:46Liza Gorskaya, herself a GPU agent
00:40:49who Blumkin had confided in
00:40:52and told about his meetings with Trotsky
00:40:55Trotsky, shocked
00:40:58called on his supporters around the world
00:41:01to raise a storm of protest
00:41:04over the execution of Blumkin
00:41:13The circle around Trotsky became wider
00:41:16with every passing day and week
00:41:21They came from all over Europe
00:41:24and they spent most of their time in Trotsky's study
00:41:27Some were no strangers to the Turkish police
00:41:42This did not happen
00:41:45The opposite happened
00:41:48A small bourgeoisie joined Hitler
00:41:51This threatens the death of the entire working class
00:41:54We must change our tactics immediately
00:42:00They must switch to defense
00:42:03If Hitler goes to a direct confrontation with the working class
00:42:06he will expose himself
00:42:09This will be the end of him
00:42:12If this does not happen
00:42:15he can be supported by social democrats
00:42:18who support the working class
00:42:21They must tell them
00:42:24Comrades, if you are attacked
00:42:27we will defend you
00:42:30Will you do the same to us?
00:42:39We must turn to the millions of workers in Europe
00:42:42Your future is in your hands
00:42:45If fascism comes to power
00:42:48the Nazis will crush the proletariat of Europe with tanks
00:42:53Only the consolidation of the entire working class
00:42:56only a single front
00:42:59can stop fascism
00:43:02There is no time left
00:43:05The end
00:43:12The Russian revolution and Trotsky
00:43:15had many sympathizers in Turkey
00:43:20Although early during the war of independence
00:43:23Mustafa Kemal, reflecting on the revolution wrote
00:43:28Our friendship with Russia continues
00:43:32However, the state of our country
00:43:35the domestic situation of the nation
00:43:38and the vigor of our national traditions
00:43:41make it clear that communism cannot be an option for Turkey
00:43:55Trotsky continued to search for a visa
00:43:58He applied to Germany, to England and to France
00:44:02All of the applications were rejected
00:44:05No government would accept him
00:44:08He applied for an American visa
00:44:11and wrote to the US consulate in Istanbul
00:44:14Leaving aside the question of medical consultation
00:44:17necessary for my wife and for myself
00:44:20the aim of my voyage is of a purely scientific nature
00:44:24I recently published in the United States
00:44:27a work in three volumes
00:44:30on the history of the Russian revolution
00:44:33which I noted with satisfaction
00:44:36met with a favorable reception
00:44:39on the part of almost the entire American press
00:44:42The fourth volume will be devoted
00:44:45to the history of the Red Army and the Civil War
00:44:48While studying in connection with this theme
00:44:51the history of the wars of Cromwell in England
00:44:54and the Civil War in America
00:44:57I was struck by the extraordinary resemblance
00:45:00in point of form and method
00:45:03between the Civil War in the United States
00:45:06and the Civil War in Russia
00:45:09The consul never replied
00:45:12The first official US communication he received
00:45:15was from the Internal Revenue Service
00:45:18The records of this office disclose
00:45:22It is requested that you advise
00:45:24whether you filed returns with any collector
00:45:27of internal revenue in the United States
00:45:30for the year 1932
00:45:40While Trotsky pursued his quest for a visa
00:45:43Turkey organized its first beauty pageant
00:45:46with all Turkish contestants
00:45:51Hundreds of young women applied
00:45:54Trotsky and other problems were forgotten for a few months
00:45:57as the secluded, veiled women of a decade earlier
00:46:00appeared before the world clad in bathing suits
00:46:03Feriha Tevfik became the first Miss Turkey
00:46:06Her successor two years later
00:46:09Keriman Halis was crowned
00:46:12the most beautiful woman in the world
00:46:21In 1933, Turkey was the first country
00:46:24in the world to host a beauty pageant
00:46:27In 1934, Turkey was the first country
00:46:30in the world to host a beauty pageant
00:46:33In 1935, Turkey was the first country
00:46:36in the world to host a beauty pageant
00:46:39In 1935, Turkey was the first country
00:46:42in the world to host a beauty pageant
00:46:45In 1935, Turkey was the first country
00:46:49Trotsky had arrived on Boyukadar
00:46:52with only his wife, his son and a secretary
00:46:55By 1931, he was surrounded by a large group of supporters
00:46:58By 1931, he was surrounded by a large group of supporters
00:47:01By 1931, he was surrounded by a large group of supporters
00:47:04When they took strategy they went outdoors for a picnic
00:47:07But Turkish security was always close by
00:47:10Nothing was left for chance
00:47:18Among them were the French banker Raymond Molinier
00:47:21Among them were the French banker Raymond Molinier
00:47:24Among them were the French banker Raymond Molinier
00:47:27and his young and attractive wife Jeanne
00:47:30Raymond had plans to transform Trotskyism
00:47:33into a major movement
00:47:36backed by mass circulation newspapers
00:47:39that would have wide appeal
00:47:48The fate of the revolution depends on
00:47:51their workers and teenagers aged 14-15
00:47:54The fate of the revolution depends on
00:47:57their workers and teenagers aged 14-15
00:48:00In preparation for the world revolution
00:48:03it is necessary to select useful people for the cause
00:48:06I will try to take this work upon myself
00:48:09But their task is not to prepare leaders
00:48:12Their task is to raise a new generation of revolutionaries
00:48:15It is ineffective to lead the opposition movement from Turkey
00:48:18It is ineffective to lead the opposition movement from Turkey
00:48:21You must be transported to France
00:48:24I have been waiting for a permission to go to one of the countries
00:48:27I have been waiting for a permission to go to one of the countries
00:48:30where I have applied
00:48:33But they know very well that my possibilities are very limited
00:48:36But they know very well that my possibilities are very limited
00:48:39That is why they do not give me a visa
00:48:42If you are interested, contact anyone who can help
00:48:45If you are interested, contact anyone who can help
00:48:48I have a good relationship with Turkey and Moscow
00:48:51The Turkish government has not caused me any obstacles
00:48:54But I do not know what will happen next
00:48:57But I do not know what will happen next
00:49:00So the question of a visa cannot wait to be debunked
00:49:03So the question of a visa cannot wait to be debunked
00:49:06I hope you understand that without me...
00:49:09Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:12Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:15Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:18Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:21Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:24Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:27Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:30Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:33Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects
00:49:36Jeanne was on the pier waving goodbye
00:49:39Jeanne was on the pier waving goodbye
00:49:42She was a organizers who never died
00:49:45She was a organizers who never died
00:49:48And today she is an anarchist
00:49:51And today she is an anarchist
00:49:54Though she may die…
00:49:57And she may die…
00:50:00France, je ne veux pas te quitter.
00:50:02Je dois rester ici pour l'aider.
00:50:04En fait, je ne veux rien faire.
00:50:07Nous sommes encerclés de tous côtés.
00:50:10Je ne veux pas rentrer.
00:50:12Le fait que tu restes ici va mettre mon père dans l'embarras.
00:50:15Je ne sais pas comment je vais pouvoir lui expliquer tout cela.
00:50:19Je suis prête à tout.
00:50:30Trotsky decided to send his son to Germany,
00:50:38to organize the Bureau of the Left Opposition there.
00:50:42Lvova was his right hand, the only person he really trusted.
00:50:54He wrote to the German and Turkish governments
00:50:56saying his son had to go to Germany for health reasons.
00:50:59Visas arrived quickly and Lvova and Jeanne left Turkey together.
00:51:26After Lvova left Buryukhada, Trotsky's daughter Zina arrived.
00:51:56Trotsky's daughter Zina arrived in Buryukhada.
00:52:01Trotsky's daughter Zina arrived in Buryukhada.
00:52:25Zina! Zina!
00:52:28Papa!
00:52:29Papa!
00:52:30Zina! Zina!
00:52:38You look at me like you did in 1917 when I gave a speech in Petrograd.
00:52:43You haven't changed a bit.
00:52:46I'm very happy.
00:52:52I can't forget Nina.
00:52:55I was so lonely in Moscow.
00:52:57I want to be with you.
00:52:59I don't want to part.
00:53:28Trotsky had left her when he fled his first Siberian exile for Europe in 1902.
00:53:34When he returned to Russia in 1905, it was with Natalia whom he had met in Paris.
00:53:46Zina was not well.
00:53:48The death at a young age of tuberculosis of her sister Nina had depressed her
00:53:54and she suffered from depression in addition to serious respiratory problems.
00:54:00Trotsky wanted her to come to Turkey first and immediately travel on to Germany for treatment.
00:54:06Again, Trotsky faced a visa problem.
00:54:09In a telegram he sent to Tevfik Rustu Aras, the foreign minister,
00:54:14he indicated that Zina was waiting sick in Odessa
00:54:18and he asked for an urgent visa to have her brought to Turkey.
00:54:23Trotsky also said he was ready to pay all telegraph and visa fees.
00:54:30The next day the foreign minister sent him a telegraph.
00:54:33Order given to our Odessa consulate to issue visa for Miss Zina Volkova. Stop.
00:54:41No need for a telegraph fee. Stop.
00:54:44Tevfik Rustu.
00:54:47But Zina was happy on Buryukheda.
00:54:51She didn't want to leave her father's side.
00:54:54The pine-rich air of the island was good for her lungs
00:54:58and being with Trotsky and Natalia and helping around the house was good for her soul.
00:55:04Trotsky was convinced she needed treatment in Germany.
00:55:17It's good that Zina brought Seva with her.
00:55:22The grandson brought joy to our house.
00:55:25He's the only one who makes us happy.
00:55:28However, when the fire broke out,
00:55:31we all decided it was the GPU's doing.
00:55:35They were hunting for my manuscripts for a long time.
00:55:40The Turkish police couldn't determine the cause of the fire for a long time.
00:55:46Finally, they found out it was Seva playing with matches and started the fire.
00:55:54Since then we call him Little GPU.
00:56:00We'd like them to stay with us,
00:56:05but it's better for them to go to Germany.
00:56:09Zina!
00:56:11Zina felt unwanted and went into a severe depression.
00:56:16She wrote to her mother complaining of her father's aloofness.
00:56:20She felt that he did not want her around.
00:56:39Zina finally accepted her father's wishes
00:56:42and went to Germany in 1932,
00:56:45where the Nazis were growing in strength.
00:56:51Zina had intensive treatment for pneumonia and depression,
00:56:55but her health was not improving,
00:56:58and the situation in Germany with the Nazis frightened her,
00:57:02for she was pregnant with a child.
00:57:05Livowa wrote to his father on January 5th, 1933,
00:57:09informing him that Zina had killed herself.
00:57:13The final words on her suicide note
00:57:16were thoughts for her little son,
00:57:19who had joined her in Germany from Buryukheda
00:57:22just before she took her own life.
00:57:25I feel my end approaching.
00:57:28I don't think I can take care of my child.
00:57:31He doesn't speak a word of German.
00:57:34Call my brother.
00:57:37She then locked herself in the kitchen
00:57:40and turned on the gas.
00:57:53Trotsky was shocked and riddled with feelings of guilt.
00:57:58Pierre Frank, his secretary,
00:58:01recounted that Trotsky locked himself up in his room
00:58:05and would not talk to anyone for five days.
00:58:17When he emerged, his hair had grown whiter than before,
00:58:21and his face had turned pale.
00:58:24When he emerged, his hair had grown whiter than before.
00:58:47To escape the sorrow and the agony of Zina's death,
00:58:51Trotsky returned to fishing.
00:58:54He could be seen every day with his fisherman friend Haralambos,
00:58:58who only spoke Turkish and Greek.
00:59:01They communicated only with gestures,
00:59:04but Trotsky soon became expert at handling the hooks,
00:59:07the lines, and the nets.
00:59:16News of his prowess as a fisherman was heard even in Russia.
00:59:22We have jokes about me, Haralambos,
00:59:25jokes that can put you in jail.
00:59:31But you won't tell them anyway.
00:59:34You don't know the language.
00:59:38What does Trotsky's brother ask Trotsky?
00:59:42If Lenin were alive, would you be in the Kremlin now?
00:59:47Trotsky answers,
00:59:51if Lenin were alive,
00:59:55in this regime, he would be fishing with me in Turkey.
01:00:21Take a toad.
01:00:24Put it on the hook and let it go.
01:00:27It will spit well.
01:00:30We catch toads in Odessa.
01:00:34Here.
01:00:49Do you have jokes about toads?
01:00:52No? I don't understand.
01:00:57Yes.
01:01:01In 1933,
01:01:04Turkey prepared to celebrate its 10th anniversary as a republic.
01:01:09Ataturk wanted to show the world
01:01:12how far Turkey had gone in one short decade.
01:01:15Countrywide gala events, balls, and ceremonies
01:01:18lasted throughout the year.
01:01:31Stalin, aware of Turkey's growing role in the Balkans,
01:01:35began keeping a close watch on Turkey
01:01:38and started to develop relations from 1932 onwards.
01:01:43There was a nonstop exchange of delegations
01:01:46between the two countries,
01:01:49and when the Turkish Prime Minister,
01:01:52İsmet İnönü, returned from a visit to Moscow
01:01:55with a credit line of $8 million,
01:01:59the Istanbul newspapers were full of Stalin's praise.
01:02:05Trotsky was anxious.
01:02:08He was convinced Stalin was putting pressure on Turkey
01:02:11to expel him.
01:02:14Once again, it was time to leave.
01:02:21By early summer 1933,
01:02:24Trotsky knew his days on Buryukhada were numbered.
01:02:29He contacted a number of European countries,
01:02:32asking them to urgently reactivate his earlier visa applications.
01:02:46He pressed his friends in France in particular into action,
01:02:49but weeks passed and there was no reply.
01:02:52His hopes were raised when he was allowed to Denmark
01:02:56to deliver a lecture,
01:02:59but the Communist parties protested his trip through Europe
01:03:02and he returned to Prinkipo.
01:03:05His finances were dwindling
01:03:08and money started to become a serious problem
01:03:11for the first time since his arrival in Turkey.
01:03:14He wrote to Henri Moliniere on June the 7th,
01:03:17I could even live in Corsica
01:03:20if only France would open its doors.
01:03:24Finally, four and a half years after his initial request,
01:03:27the French government granted him a visa,
01:03:30but there were strict conditions.
01:03:33Trotsky would not be allowed into Paris
01:03:36and would have to live in a southern suburb
01:03:39under constant police supervision
01:03:42and the threat of immediate expulsion
01:03:45if he failed to obey any of the conditions
01:03:48put forth by the French government.
01:03:52Isaac Deutscher wrote,
01:03:55It was not without a tug of emotion
01:03:58that he took leave of the splendor of the sea of Marmara
01:04:01and the fishing expeditions
01:04:04and that he thought of his faithful fishermen,
01:04:07some of whom their bones saturated through with the salt of the sea
01:04:10had recently found their rest in the village cemetery,
01:04:13while others had, in these years of depression,
01:04:16to struggle harder and harder to sell their catch.
01:04:22Trotsky and Natalia
01:04:25left Buryukhada on June the 25th, 1933
01:04:29to board the ship Bulgaria bound for France.
01:04:52He wrote one final letter to the government in Ankara,
01:04:55a letter of thanks for the hospitality
01:04:58and the security they provided
01:05:01during the past four and a half years.
01:05:21But there was also emotion.
01:05:24In his memoirs, he wrote of his last moments
01:05:27in the villa in Buryukhada.
01:05:30The house is already empty.
01:05:33The wooden cases are already downstairs.
01:05:36Young hands are driving in the nails.
01:05:39The floor of our old and dilapidated villa
01:05:42was painted with such queer paint in the spring
01:05:45that even now, four months later,
01:05:48tables, chairs, and our feet keep sticking to it.
01:05:52Oddly, I feel as if my feet
01:05:55had gotten somewhat rooted in the soil of Prinkipur.
01:06:10Trotsky's French visa expired in 1935.
01:06:14He was forced to leave Norway,
01:06:17where the government was under pressure,
01:06:20and finally traveled to his last place of exile, Mexico,
01:06:23where he had been invited
01:06:26by the artist couple of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
01:06:31There, he would suffer another blow.
01:06:34His son, Lvov,
01:06:37whom he'd sent to Germany in 1931,
01:06:41had fled to France after Hitler came to power in 1933
01:06:45and was leading a happy life there with Jeanne,
01:06:48now his wife, and continuing his father's work.
01:06:53With a new but trusted French supporter, Etienne,
01:06:56Lvov was organizing the left opposition in Paris.
01:07:00Etienne had access to Lvov's private letters
01:07:04and read all the instructions Trotsky sent his son.
01:07:08Lvov died mysteriously in 1938.
01:07:11According to the official hospital report,
01:07:14he fell from his bed and died in the hospital
01:07:17where he had just undergone an operation for appendicitis.
01:07:22In 1958, Etienne was arrested
01:07:26under his true identity of Mark Sporowski,
01:07:30GPU agent.
01:07:33Mark Sporowski said that the accident in the Paris clinic
01:07:36was arranged on Stalin's orders.
01:07:43All of Trotsky's children were now dead.
01:07:47Trotsky devoted himself full-time to writing,
01:07:50producing a flood of books including My Life,
01:07:54a matchless autobiographical history of the Russian Revolution.
01:08:07He survived at least one assassination attempt,
01:08:11but on August the 20th, 1940,
01:08:14seven years after he left Boyukheda,
01:08:17Stalin's GPU finally caught up with Trotsky.
01:08:24Ramon Mercader, a Stalinist agent
01:08:27who'd made his way into Trotsky's household in Mexico,
01:08:30fatally wounded him with an ice axe.
01:08:37Trotsky died the following day.
01:08:40He was 61 years old.
01:09:00Years later, Isaac Deutscher wrote,
01:09:03despite all the adversities,
01:09:06the years Trotsky had spent on Prinkipo
01:09:09were the calmest, the most creative
01:09:12and the least unhappy time of his exile.
01:10:33THE END
01:11:03© BF-WATCH TV 2021
01:11:33© BF-WATCH TV 2021