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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 Principle. 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 colorful 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 traveling 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,
00:04:45the 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, but Trotsky was being deported to the Republic of Turkey.
00:05:28Trotsky 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.
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 each other apart with their teeth.
00:06:41I'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.
00:06:51In time, they will understand that they are on the wrong path.
00:07:00Stalin will not be able to destroy all our followers.
00:07:07Well, we'll have to wait and hope.
00:07:12Yes, we have to wait.
00:07:14Let's go. It's actually very cold.
00:07:44Stalin's secret police were not the only threat Trotsky faced in his new land of exile.
00:07:49There were the remnants of the White Russian armies,
00:07:52which had fought a long, bitter four-year war against the Soviet Union.
00:07:58The 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.
00:08:26Leon Trotsky, born Lev Bronstein, a brilliant orator and writer,
00:08:31co-leader of the October revolution and leader of the Red army.
00:08:41And Joseph Stalin, born Yosef Dzhugashvili,
00:08:46General Secretary of the Communist Party,
00:08:50who Lenin opposed and tried to remove in December 1922,
00:08:55making his views known in his political testaments
00:09:00and in his own writings.
00:09:11Trotsky was the first leader of the Communist Party,
00:09:16and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:19and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:22and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:25and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:28and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:31and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:34and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:37and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:40and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:43and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:46and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:49and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:52and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:55and the first leader of the Red army,
00:09:58and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:01and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:04and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:07and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:10and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:13and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:16and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:19and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:22and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:25and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:28and the first leader of the Red army,
00:10:31from the current regimes of Russia and Turkey.
00:10:53Just before he disembarked at Constantinople,
00:10:56Trotsky wrote two letters,
00:10:58The first angry one was to the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party in Moscow.
00:11:03Stalin, the GPU and the nationalist Turkish regime were conspiring against him, he wrote.
00:11:09And if he were to be killed during his Istanbul exile,
00:11:13the responsibility would lie with the Central Committee and, of course, Stalin.
00:11:28This is a corresponding agreement with the Turkish government.
00:11:35If Stalin wanted, we could be killed here too.
00:11:38After all, there is no one on the ship except for the GPU agents.
00:11:41No.
00:11:43I know his style.
00:11:45He will wait, watch over us.
00:11:51And only when he decides that we have all been forgotten,
00:11:56will he liquidate us somewhere in the third country.
00:12:21To the aides of Constantinople, I 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.
00:12:47But those who exile seldom consider the wishes of the exiled.
00:12:52Please, Mr. President, accept my appropriate sentiments.
00:12:56Leon Trotsky, February 12th, 1929.
00:13:09Trotsky's harrowing journey into foreign exile had begun in Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan,
00:13:1522 days before the Ilyich moored at Istanbul.
00:13:19At the end of the voyage, right at the gates of Istanbul,
00:13:23he received one final communication from Stalin's Central Committee,
00:13:28an envelope containing $1,500.
00:13:46World War I had shattered Europe, bringing down most of the continent's empires
00:13:52and replacing them with nation-states.
00:13:57With Trotsky's arrival, two 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.
00:14:41Turkey was young and healthy.
00:14:43Hats and suits ousted the fez and the kaftan.
00:14:50Latin characters replaced the Arabic alphabet.
00:14:55Women who had been slaves in harems now had the right to vote.
00:15:08The films of the time told the importance of the day and the dynamism of the country.
00:15:38At four p.m., Trotsky entered the arrival hall of the port of Istanbul.
00:16:03Along with the Turkish security officials to greet him was Suzlov, the Soviet consul.
00:16:09It was more like the arrival of a foreign dignitary than a common exile.
00:16:18Thank you. I closely monitor the events in Turkey.
00:16:25Despite your hospitality, I will hardly stay here long.
00:16:31I will not tire you.
00:16:33My passport is with Sedol.
00:16:37It is up to you how long you stay.
00:16:39You can go anywhere you want at any time you want.
00:16:42But during your stay here, we will do our best to make you comfortable.
00:16:46I will be grateful if this letter is immediately handed over to the respected head of state.
00:16:53Yes, without a doubt, we will deliver it to him.
00:16:56Please.
00:16:57On the instructions of Turkish Interior Minister Şükrü Kaya to the governor of Istanbul, security was tight.
00:17:08There were no journalists.
00:17:11Mr. Trotsky, I would like to introduce you to the president of the Soviet Republic, Mr. Suzlov.
00:17:19Welcome, Mr. Trotsky.
00:17:24For your safety, we would like to place you in the General Consulate for a while.
00:17:29I hope only as a guest.
00:17:34While the paperwork was being completed and pleasantries exchanged,
00:17:38young Sedov stood guard over 12 chests, everything that Trotsky owned.
00:17:46They contained no money or jewelry, only the books and documents the exile would use to direct the opposition against Stalin.
00:18:00Officials told Trotsky on his arrival that they had not been told he was being exiled,
00:18:05but only that he was arriving for health reasons.
00:18:08Ataturk knew he had to be careful.
00:18:11Any mishap that might befall Trotsky in Turkey could have major international implications.
00:18:21He instructed Muhyiddin Ustundag, the governor of Istanbul, to reply to Trotsky's letter.
00:18:27Our police have taken all the necessary security measures regarding your safety.
00:18:33It would be advisable for you to inform the officers in charge of your security of any suspicious movement or activity you may perceive.
00:18:42But implementing that security was another question.
00:18:48Trotsky would first reside at the Soviet consulate, which was Soviet territory, and where the Turks could not protect him.
00:18:56But no one believed Stalin would be foolish enough to make an attempt on his rival's life inside the compound.
00:19:02The Turkish authorities could only help once Trotsky stepped outside the consulate,
00:19:08which meant he had to inform the police beforehand of his every move.
00:19:13The authorities were particularly uneasy with the white Russian population of Istanbul, victims of Trotsky's Red Army.
00:19:21Police headquarters were flooded with informants' reports of hit men flocking to Istanbul,
00:19:27ready to empty their guns on Trotsky when the moment came.
00:19:33The list of suspects grew by the hour.
00:19:39But Trotsky was not Turkey's only security problem.
00:19:46There was considerable opposition to Ataturk's reforms.
00:19:52Anti-Western riots throughout the country, some of them foreign-inspired, were an almost daily occurrence.
00:20:02With Trotsky's arrival, Communist sympathizers joined demonstrations, posters mushroomed everywhere, calling for a people's uprising.
00:20:15Ataturk was confident, however, and did not see the Communist movement as a threat to Turkey or its way of life.
00:20:46Trotsky's first home in Istanbul still stands today as the Russian consulate.
00:20:56During the first days of Trotsky's stay, the consulate staff treated him cordially and were diplomatically correct.
00:21:04Their personal belongings were never searched, no questions were asked, and they were free in their movements.
00:21:10Trotsky chose to remain mostly indoors, while his wife and son stepped into the lively streets of the city to run their errands.
00:21:27The consulate was near Beyoglu.
00:21:34At the turn of the century, Pera, as it was then known, with its diplomatic missions, theaters, hotels, casinos, cafes, music halls, foreigners,
00:21:45had been the symbol of Western civilization for the Ottoman Empire.
00:22:04Dinner at the Tocatlian Hotel would be followed by drinks, and a game of billiards at the Luxembourg,
00:22:11and a late stop at the Concordiae to dance what was left of the night away.
00:22:20In one corner were women who avoided gazing eyes with extremely polite but ignoring eyes.
00:22:27On the other hand, there were men who tried equally hard to steal the women's hearts and draw their attention.
00:22:40A major contribution to the nightlife came from Trotsky's sworn enemies.
00:22:46The bankrupt generals and aristocrats of Tsarist Russia had brought with them a style of entertainment the city had never known before.
00:22:56They performed in cabarets and ran restaurants,
00:23:03introducing exotic Russian fare such as Chicken Kiev, Lamb Karski, and Beef Stroganoff,
00:23:09which were to become staples on Turkish menus.
00:23:39Proud generals who once guarded the borders of the Russian Empire now stood guard for small tips at nightclub toilets,
00:23:47and pale-skinned countesses struggled to eke out an existence as prostitutes.
00:24:00Mercifully for the Turkish police, Trotsky's days at the Soviet consulate were numbered.
00:24:10Less than a month after he first walked through its gates, all pretense of courtesy disappeared.
00:24:17Trotsky decided to leave, and the doors of the consulate closed behind him.
00:24:26The glamorous Tokatlyan Hotel stood just a few hundred yards from the consulate.
00:24:32Trotsky and his family made a discreet entrance at midnight through the service door.
00:24:38They took over rooms 67, 68, and 70.
00:24:45In the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, guests would have consisted of French, Italian, British officers,
00:24:53and fallen Russian aristocrats who had to sell their jewelry to afford the Tokatlyan.
00:25:09In the early days of the republic, well-off Turks from out of town and visiting foreign businessmen
00:25:18made up most of the clientele.
00:25:25The businessmen spent much of their time lounging around the lobby, the restaurant, and bar.
00:25:39Their number was to increase considerably after Trotsky arrived.
00:25:57The hotel was full of Turkish, Soviet, German, and British agents, keeping an eye on the illustrious new guest.
00:26:04Trotsky's followers from all over Europe came to visit him in his new quarters.
00:26:11One particularly welcome guest was Maurice Paz and his wife, Madeleine,
00:26:17who came from Paris bearing a gift of 20,000 francs.
00:26:23Trotsky had very little money. He was waiting for 10,000 dollars in royalties for his books
00:26:29which seemed to arrive from the United States.
00:26:35He needed the money not only for his family's survival, but also to publish a newsletter for the opposition in Russia.
00:26:41Trotsky and Maurice Paz worked for five days discussing future strategy
00:26:47under an ever-watchful and mounting Turkish police presence.
00:26:53The police were not concerned about the discussions between Trotsky and Paz,
00:26:59but they did care about Stalin's secret service.
00:27:05They did not want a political assassination on their territory.
00:27:11The need to find a really safe place for Trotsky to live was becoming more and more urgent.
00:27:17When Trotsky left his suite, his son, Lvova, kept track of political developments from the newspapers.
00:27:23The German press interested Trotsky the most,
00:27:29firstly because of the political situation there,
00:27:35also because he had applied for a visa and had many supporters there.
00:27:41A month after his arrival, Trotsky began to give interviews and to write for newspapers around the world,
00:27:47the Paris Journal, the New York Times, the English Daily Express.
00:27:53And he revealed his feelings about his host country in his first interview with a Turkish newspaper, Milliyet,
00:27:59considered at the time to be a mouthpiece of the Turkish government.
00:28:05The Turkish government showed me great hospitality.
00:28:11Before I came, I did not know how I was going to be received here.
00:28:17I wrote a letter to the president. I got a reply from the governor immediately.
00:28:27The Turkish government never limited my movements.
00:28:35Ataturk, in response to Trotsky's safety concerns, in the letter from the boat, the Ilyich,
00:28:41had replied through Governor Ustundag.
00:28:47The violence that you mention in your letter cannot take place in Turkey.
00:28:53You are free to go to any country you like.
00:28:59You will fully enjoy all the rights extended to all foreigners living in Turkey.
00:29:11Why did Trotsky first settle in the Soviet consulate? And why did he leave?
00:29:17He explained to the newspapers.
00:29:23I didn't move to a hotel because I thought a reply would come quickly.
00:29:33Trotsky had made clear in his letter to Ataturk that Turkey was not his first choice.
00:29:39You may ask why I want to leave Turkey. It's because I do not speak the language.
00:29:45I am old now, and I cannot learn a new language.
00:29:51But I know where I love and where I am shown great hospitality.
00:29:57Trotsky knew Turkey and the Turkish people fairly well.
00:30:03He had written of Turkey's experiences in its search for freedom and followed the War of Independence closely.
00:30:09He admired Ataturk.
00:30:15You owe your independence to the will of your great leader.
00:30:21Ataturk's greatness has been acknowledged by the entire world.
00:30:27It is a pleasure for me to repeat this fact here.
00:30:37Trotsky's growing visibility in the media was an added safety risk.
00:30:43The media reports were tense.
00:30:49Istanbul was full of agents, and most of them were after Trotsky.
00:30:55One informant said white Russians were planning to kill Trotsky for allegedly having ordered the deaths of 60,000 people in the Crimea
00:31:01after it was evacuated by General Wrangel's army.
00:31:13For days on end, police picked up and questioned former czarist officers and soldiers.
00:31:19Many were summarily expelled from Turkey.
00:31:25Trotsky had driven them from their homes 12 years before.
00:31:31Now, because of him, they were being forced from their chosen land of exile.
00:31:43Trotsky's death was not an accident.
00:31:49It was a sign of his greatness.
00:31:55It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:01It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:07It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:13It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:19It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:25It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:31It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:37It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:43It was a sign of his greatness.
00:32:49All Trotsky wanted was a safe place where he could devote himself to his writing.
00:32:55A Red Cliff Island set in deep blue,
00:33:05A Red Cliff Island set in deep blue,
00:33:11Buryukhida crouches in the sea like a prehistoric animal, drinking.
00:33:17Trotsky wrote these words in his unpublished memoirs.
00:33:23The village cemetery seemed more alive than the village itself.
00:33:33Around 1930, Buryukhida was still as deserted as it probably was
00:33:39when the disgraced brothers and cousins of the Byzantine emperors
00:33:45lingered away their lives on its shores.
00:33:51The islanders, a few fishermen and shepherds,
00:33:57lived as their forefathers did a thousand years earlier.
00:34:03The horn of a motor car never disturbed the stillness.
00:34:09Only the braying of an ass came down from the outlying cliffs and fields
00:34:15noisy vulgarity intruded.
00:34:23In the summer, multitudes of holidaymakers, families of Istanbul merchants
00:34:29crowded the beaches and the huts.
00:34:35Then calm returned, and only the braying of the ass
00:34:41was heard in the autumn.
00:35:01Trotsky had finally found a safe home.
00:35:07Buryukhida was relatively difficult to access
00:35:13and comings and goings were easy to control
00:35:19and the Turkish security was happy.
00:35:25Trotsky changed addresses several times before he found his final home.
00:35:31But never proven.
00:36:01Trotsky liked the new house, a spacious dilapidated villa
00:36:07rented from a bankrupt pasha.
00:36:13He immediately got to work. The authorities allowed friends to visit
00:36:19and one of the first to join him was his secretary.
00:36:31The fate of not only Germany, but the whole world
00:36:37will depend on who comes to power in this country.
00:36:43The construction of socialism in the Soviet Union,
00:36:49the revolution in Spain, the pre-revolutionary situation in England
00:36:55the end of French colonialism, the National Liberation Movement in China and India
00:37:01all these problems depend on one question
00:37:07Who will come to power?
00:37:11The fascists or the communists?
00:37:17Who should I give this to?
00:37:19Give it to Sedov. Let him send it by mail to the New York Times.
00:37:23You will make Stalin angry again.
00:37:27You know that the world does not listen to his voice
00:37:31and your speech is printed in all American newspapers.
00:37:35You are flattering me.
00:37:41With Trotsky's arrival, the Turkish communists became more visible.
00:37:47Posters and leaflets mushroomed.
00:37:51May Day demonstrations rocked Istanbul and Izmir.
00:37:55Many were arrested.
00:37:59All eyes turned to Trotsky when one of those arrested
00:38:03said the communist pamphlets he'd been caught distributing
00:38:07were given to him by the owner of a club on Boyukata.
00:38:11Was Trotsky the source?
00:38:15Nothing came out of the investigation.
00:38:19The Turkish security forces were becoming apprehensive.
00:38:23More and more people showed up on Principal.
00:38:27The police were certain that some of them were communists.
00:38:31When a policeman came to the house and asked for a list of the people inside,
00:38:35Trotsky was furious.
00:38:39He immediately wrote to the Istanbul police chief and complained.
00:38:43Today a policeman came to my house and asked for a list of the people staying and working with us.
00:38:47I'm sure you were not informed of this incident, but I find it unacceptable.
00:38:51This is a violation of my personal rights.
00:38:55However, if you like, I am prepared to come to your office
00:38:59and answer all your questions.
00:39:03Still, Trotsky was not always correct in his judgments
00:39:07about the growing number of visitors on Boyukata.
00:39:11Among those who came to the island was Sobolevikos,
00:39:15a Lithuanian who appeared to be a militant oppositionist.
00:39:19He settled in the house after Trotsky personally asked for him to be granted a visa.
00:39:25He and his brother stayed on Boyukata for three years
00:39:29and they also worked as bodyguards and were always armed.
00:39:33Thirty years later, in 1960,
00:39:37Sobolevikos was arrested in the United States for spying,
00:39:41carrying papers that identified him as Jack Sobol.
00:39:45He told FBI agents during interrogation
00:39:49that he had been in the employment of the GPU,
00:39:53reporting on the activities of the Boyukata household directly to Stalin.
00:39:59Jacob Blumkin had been recruited by Trotsky into the Communist Party.
00:40:03He was an officer of the GPU.
00:40:07He 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.
00:40:19Jacob Blumkin offered to smuggle Trotsky's writings into the Soviet Union
00:40:23using Turkish fishermen.
00:40:27Trotsky declined, but the two men had a long talk
00:40:31and Trotsky gave Blumkin a carefully worded message
00:40:35and sent the rest back home.
00:40:39A few months later, news came that Stalin had executed Blumkin
00:40:43for being a Trotskyist.
00:40:47The informant was said to be Blumkin's lover, Liza Gorskaya,
00:40:51herself a GPU agent, who Blumkin had confided in
00:40:55and told about his meetings with Trotsky.
00:40:59Trotsky, shocked, called on his supporters around the world
00:41:03over the execution of Blumkin.
00:41:13The circle around Trotsky became wider with every passing day and week.
00:41:21They came from all over Europe
00:41:25and they spent most of their time in Trotsky's study.
00:41:29Blumkin's message to the Turkish police.
00:41:59They must go to the defense.
00:42:03If Hitler goes to a direct confrontation with the working class
00:42:07he will expose himself and it will be his end.
00:42:11If this does not happen, he can be supported by the Social Democrats
00:42:15who are part of the working class.
00:42:19So they must tell them, comrades,
00:42:23if you are attacked, we will defend you.
00:42:27Will you do the same to us?
00:42:37We must address the millions of workers in Europe.
00:42:41Your future is in your hands.
00:42:45If fascism comes to power, the Nazis will crush the proletariat of Europe.
00:42:49Only the consolidation of the working class,
00:42:53only a single front can stop fascism.
00:42:57There is no time left.
00:43:01We must not lose a minute.
00:43:13The Russian Revolution and Trotsky had many sympathizers in Turkey.
00:43:19Although early during the War of Independence,
00:43:23Mustafa Kemal, reflecting on the revolution, wrote
00:43:27Our friendship with Russia continues.
00:43:33However, the state of our country, the domestic situation of the nation
00:43:37and the vigor of our national traditions
00:43:41make it clear that communism cannot be an option for Turkey.
00:43:49Trotsky continued to search for a visa.
00:43:53He applied to Germany, to England and to France.
00:43:57All of the applications were rejected.
00:44:01No government would accept him.
00:44:05He applied for an American visa
00:44:09and wrote to the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul.
00:44:13Leaving aside the question of medical consultation
00:44:17necessary for my wife and for myself,
00:44:21the aim of my voyage is of a purely scientific nature.
00:44:25I recently published in the United States a work in three volumes
00:44:29on the history of the Russian Revolution,
00:44:33which I noted with satisfaction met with a favorable reception
00:44:37on the part of almost the entire American press.
00:44:41The fourth volume will be devoted to the history of the Red Army and the Civil War.
00:44:45While studying in connection with this theme
00:44:49the history of the wars of Cromwell in England
00:44:53and the war between the northern and southern states in America,
00:44:57I was struck by the extraordinary resemblance in point of form and method
00:45:01between the Civil War in the United States and the Civil War in Russia.
00:45:05The consul never replied.
00:45:09The first official U.S. communication he received
00:45:13was a letter from the Federal Reserve Service.
00:45:17The records of this office disclose that you have received income
00:45:21from sources within the United States.
00:45:25It is requested that you advise whether you filed returns
00:45:29with any collector of internal revenue in the United States for the year 1932.
00:45:33While Trotsky pursued his quest for a visa,
00:45:37Turkey organized its first beauty pageant
00:45:41with all Turkish contestants.
00:45:45Hundreds of young women applied.
00:45:49Trotsky and other problems were forgotten for a few months
00:45:53as the secluded, veiled women of a decade earlier
00:45:57appeared before the world clad in bathing suits.
00:46:01Feriha Tevfik became the first Miss Turkey.
00:46:05Her successor two years later, Keriman Halis,
00:46:09was crowned the most beautiful woman in the world.
00:46:31Trotsky had arrived on Buryukhada
00:46:35with only his wife, his son, and a secretary.
00:46:39By 1931, he was surrounded by a large crowd
00:46:43and was forced to leave the city.
00:46:47He was forced to leave the city
00:46:51because he was a man of his word.
00:46:55He was a man of his word.
00:46:59By 1931, he was surrounded by a large group of supporters.
00:47:03When they took the strategy, they went outdoors for a picnic.
00:47:07But Turkish security was always close by.
00:47:11Nothing was left for chance.
00:47:23Among them were the French banker Raymond Molinier
00:47:27and his young and attractive wife, Jeanne.
00:47:31Raymond had plans to transform Trotskyism into a major movement
00:47:35backed by mass-circulation newspapers that would have wide appeal.
00:47:57Any revolution must find useful people in different countries.
00:48:01I will do my best to do this.
00:48:05But their task...
00:48:09Their task is not to train leaders.
00:48:13Their task is to raise a new generation of revolutionaries.
00:48:17It is ineffective to lead the opposition movement from Turkey.
00:48:21You must be transported to France at any cost.
00:48:25I myself am waiting for permission to go to one of the countries
00:48:29where I have applied.
00:48:33But they know very well that my possibilities here are very limited.
00:48:37That is why they do not give me a visa.
00:48:41All hope is on you.
00:48:43Contact anyone who can help.
00:48:47Turkey and Moscow have a good relationship.
00:48:51I do not have any obstacles.
00:48:55But I do not know what will happen next.
00:48:59So the question of a visa is out of the question.
00:49:03I hope you understand that...
00:49:07Molinier practically took over the Bayukada house,
00:49:11bought new furniture and hired secretaries and writers from Europe.
00:49:15In the meantime, his wife Jeanne fell in love with Lvova,
00:49:19Trotsky's son. Their love affair grew.
00:49:23While Trotsky and Raymond worked on their projects,
00:49:27Lvova and Jeanne took long walks in the garden.
00:49:31When Raymond decided to return to Paris,
00:49:35Jeanne was on the pier waving goodbye.
00:49:49And what he believes in, he can teach them to die.
00:49:53It is difficult to think of death here, near you.
00:49:57I do not want everything to end. Come with me to France.
00:50:01I do not want to leave you.
00:50:03I have to stay here to help him.
00:50:05In fact, I do not want to do anything.
00:50:07We are surrounded on all sides.
00:50:09I do not want to go back.
00:50:11I made you stay here to put my father in a mess.
00:50:15I do not know how I will be able to explain everything to him.
00:50:19I am ready for anything.
00:50:35Trotsky decided to send his son to Germany,
00:50:39to organize the bureau of the left opposition there.
00:50:43Lvova was his right hand, the only person he really trusted.
00:50:53He wrote to the German and Turkish governments,
00:50:56saying his son had to go to Germany for health reasons.
00:51:00Visas arrived quickly,
00:51:02and Lvova and Jeanne left Turkey together.
00:51:44After Lvova left Buryukhada,
00:51:47Trotsky's daughter, Zina, arrived.
00:52:13Zina! Zina!
00:52:28Dad!
00:52:29Zina! Zina!
00:52:38You look at me like you did in 1917,
00:52:41when you spoke for the first time.
00:52:43You have not changed a bit.
00:52:45I am very happy.
00:52:52I cannot forget Nina.
00:52:55I was so lonely in Moscow.
00:52:57I want to be with you.
00:52:59I do not want to part.
00:53:02Zina was one of two daughters Trotsky had from his first marriage
00:53:07with Alexandra Sokolovskaya,
00:53:10a revolutionary comrade from the 1900s.
00:53:23Trotsky had left her when he fled his first Siberian exile,
00:53:27Trotsky had left her when he fled his first Siberian exile
00:53:31for Europe in 1902.
00:53:34When he returned to Russia in 1905,
00:53:37it was with Natalia, whom he had met in Paris.
00:53:45Zina was not well.
00:53:48The death at a young age of tuberculosis,
00:53:51of 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
00:54:03and 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.
00:54:22Trotsky also said he was ready to pay all telegraph and visa fees.
00:54:29The 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. Tevfik Rustu.
00:54:46But Zina was happy on Buryukheda.
00:54:50She didn't want to leave her father's side.
00:54:53The pine-rich air of the island was good for her lungs,
00:54:57and being with Trotsky and Natalia and helping around the house was good for her soul.
00:55:03Trotsky was convinced she needed treatment in Germany.
00:55:16It's good that Zina brought Seva with her.
00:55:21The grandson brought joy to our house.
00:55:24He's the only one who makes us happy.
00:55:27However, when the fire broke out,
00:55:30we all decided it was the GPU's doing.
00:55:34They were hunting for my manuscripts for a long time.
00:55:38The Turkish police couldn't determine the cause of the fire for a long time.
00:55:43Finally, they found out it was Seva playing with matches and set it on fire.
00:55:50Since then, we call him Little GPU.
00:55:56We'd like them to stay with us,
00:56:01but it's better for them to go to Germany.
00:56:14Zina felt unwanted and went into a severe depression.
00:56:19She wrote to her mother, complaining of her father's aloofness.
00:56:23She felt that he did not want her around.
00:56:44Zina finally accepted her father's wishes and went to Germany in 1932,
00:56:50where the Nazis were growing in strength.
00:56:56Zina had intensive treatment for pneumonia and depression,
00:57:00but her health was not improving,
00:57:03and the situation in Germany with the Nazis frightened her,
00:57:07for she was Jewish.
00:57:10Lvova wrote to his father on January 5th, 1933,
00:57:14informing him that Zina had killed herself.
00:57:19The final words on her suicide note were thoughts for her little son,
00:57:23who had joined her in Germany from Buryukheda,
00:57:26just before she took her own life.
00:57:30I feel my end approaching.
00:57:32I don't think I can take care of my child.
00:57:35He doesn't speak a word of German.
00:57:38She wrote to my brother.
00:57:42She then locked herself in the kitchen and turned on the gas.
00:57:56Trotsky was shocked and riddled with feelings of guilt.
00:58:01Pierre Frank, his secretary,
00:58:04recounted that Trotsky locked himself up in his room
00:58:08and would not talk to anyone for five days.
00:58:20When he emerged, his hair had grown whiter than before.
00:58:25To escape the sorrow and the agony of Zina's death,
00:58:29Trotsky returned to fishing.
00:58:34He was a man of few words.
00:58:37He was a man of few words.
00:58:40He was a man of few words.
00:58:43He was a man of few words.
00:58:46He was a man of few words.
00:58:50After Zina's death, Trotsky 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.
00:59:10News of his prowess as a fisherman was heard even in Russia.
00:59:40Trotsky asked Trotsky,
00:59:43if Lenin were alive, would you be in the Kremlin now?
00:59:48Trotsky replied,
00:59:51if Lenin were alive,
00:59:54in this regime,
00:59:57he would be fishing with me in Turkey.
01:00:10TROTSKY'S VILLAGE
01:00:21Take the toad's well.
01:00:24Put it on the hook and cast it.
01:00:27It will spit it out well.
01:00:30We catch toads in Odessa.
01:00:34Yes.
01:00:40Ah.
01:01:03In 1933, Turkey prepared to celebrate its 10th anniversary as a republic.
01:01:10Ataturk wanted to show the world how far Turkey had gone in one short decade.
01:01:16Countrywide gala events, balls and ceremonies lasted throughout the year.
01:01:21Stalin, aware of Turkey's growing role in the Balkans, began keeping a close watch on Turkey and started to develop relations from 1932 onwards.
01:01:48There was a non-stop exchange of delegations between the two countries,
01:01:52and when the Turkish Prime Minister, Esmet İnönü, returned from a visit to Moscow with a credit line of 8 million dollars,
01:02:00the Istanbul newspapers were full of Stalin's praise.
01:02:07Trotsky was anxious. He was convinced Stalin was putting pressure on Turkey to expel him.
01:02:13Once again, it was time to leave.
01:02:18By early summer 1933, Trotsky knew his days on Buryukhada were numbered.
01:02:28He contacted a number of European countries, asking them to urgently reactivate his earlier visa applications.
01:02:36He pressed his friends in France in particular into action, but weeks passed and there was no reply.
01:02:52His hopes were raised when he was allowed to Denmark to deliver a lecture,
01:02:57but the communist parties protested his trip through Europe, and he returned to Príncipe.
01:03:05His finances were dwindling, and money started to become a serious problem for the first time since his arrival in Turkey.
01:03:13He wrote to Henri Moliniere on June the 7th,
01:03:17I could even live in Corsica if only France would open its doors.
01:03:23Finally, four and a half years after his initial request, the French government granted him a visa, but there were strict conditions.
01:03:33Trotsky would not be allowed into Paris, and would have to live in a southern suburb under constant police supervision
01:03:40and the threat of immediate expulsion if he failed to obey any of the conditions put forth by the French government.
01:03:47Trotsky accepted and started packing.
01:03:51Isaac Deutscher wrote,
01:03:54It was not without a tug of emotion that he took leave of the splendor of the Sea of Marmara and the fishing expeditions,
01:04:02and that he thought of his faithful fishermen, some of whom their bones saturated through with the salt of the sea,
01:04:08had recently found their rest in the village cemetery,
01:04:12while others had, in these years of depression, to struggle harder and harder to sell their catch.
01:04:19Trotsky and Natalia left Buryukhada on June the 25th, 1933, to board the ship Bulgaria, bound for France.
01:04:50He wrote one final letter to the government in Ankara,
01:04:54a letter of thanks for the hospitality and the security they provided during the past four and a half years.
01:05:20But there was also emotion.
01:05:24In his memoirs, he wrote of his last moments in 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 was painted with such queer paint in the spring
01:05:45that even now, four months later, tables, chairs, and our feet keep sticking to it.
01:05:52Oddly, I feel as if my feet had gotten somewhat rooted in the soil of Prinkipo.
01:06:10Trotsky's French visa expired in 1935.
01:06:15He was forced to leave Norway, where the government was under pressure,
01:06:19and finally traveled to his last place of exile, Mexico,
01:06:24where he had been invited by the artist couple of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.
01:06:32There, he would suffer another blow.
01:06:35His son, Lvova, whom he'd sent to Germany in 1931,
01:06:40had fled to France after Hitler came to power in 1933
01:06:45and was leading a happy life there with Jeanne, now his wife, and continuing his father's work.
01:06:52With a new but trusted French supporter, Etienne, Lvova was organizing the left opposition in Paris.
01:07:00Etienne had access to Lvova's private letters and read all the instructions Trotsky sent his son.
01:07:07Lvova died mysteriously in 1938.
01:07:11According to the official hospital report, he fell from his bed
01:07:15and died in the hospital where he had just undergone an operation for appendicitis.
01:07:21In 1958, Etienne was arrested under his true identity of Mark Sporovsky, GPU agent.
01:07:31Mark Sporovsky said that the accident in the Paris clinic was arranged on Stalin's orders.
01:07:42All of Trotsky's children were now dead.
01:07:46Trotsky devoted himself full-time to writing, producing a flood of books, including My Life,
01:07:53a matchless autobiographical history of the Russian Revolution.
01:08:07He survived at least one assassination attempt,
01:08:11but on August the 20th, 1940, seven years after he left Boyukheda,
01:08:17Stalin's GPU finally caught up with Trotsky.
01:08:24Ramon Mercader, a Stalinist agent who'd made his way into Trotsky's household in Mexico,
01:08:30fatally wounded him with an ice axe.
01:08:35Trotsky died the following day. He was 61 years old.
01:08:42Years later, Isaac Deutscher wrote,
01:08:45despite all the adversities, the years Trotsky had spent on Prinkipo
01:08:51were the calmest, most peaceful years of his life.
01:08:56He was a man of great courage, a man of great wisdom,
01:09:01a man of great courage, a man of great wisdom,
01:09:07The years Trotsky had spent on Prinkipo were the calmest,
01:09:11the most creative, and the least unhappy time of his exile.
01:09:37Trotsky was a man of great courage, a man of great wisdom,
01:09:43a man of great courage, a man of great wisdom,
01:09:48a man of great wisdom,
01:09:52a man of great wisdom,
01:09:56a man of great wisdom,
01:10:00a man of great wisdom,
01:10:04a man of great wisdom,
01:10:09a man of great wisdom,
01:10:14a man of great wisdom,
01:10:19a man of great wisdom,
01:10:24a man of great wisdom,
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