L ifestyle /C ulture
In ‘Passport to Freedom,’ History is Dramatized
T E L EVISION
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
DESCRIBED AS “O Anjo
de Hamburgo,” or “the angel
of Hamburg,” Aracy de
Carvalho was credited by Yad
Vashem Holocaust museum in
Jerusalem as a driving force in
saving German Jews on the eve
of the Holocaust.

As an employee of the
Brazilian consulate
in Hamburg from 1935-1938,
she helped Jews secure visas
to flee to Brazil, against the
stacked odds of growing Nazi
animosity toward Jews and
Brazilian President Getulio
Vargas’ restrictions against
entry of Jews into the country.

Though honored by Yad
Vashem as a Righteous Among
the Nations in 1982 and
becoming a face on a Brazilian
mail stamp in 2019, de
Carvalho had her pop culture
debut on Dec. 22, serving as
the protagonist in streaming
service Globo and Sony
Pictures’ eight-part miniseries
“Passport to Freedom.”
A soapy, but satisfying
fictional adaptation of de
Carvalho’s story, “Passport to
Freedom” brings the Brazilian
consulate employee to the
foreground of 1938 Hamburg,
when the assassination of
Nazi German diplomat Ernst
Eduard vom Rath by Polish Jew
Herschel Grynszpan incites
Kristallnacht and a wave of
relentless violence against
European Jews.

Aracy (played by German-
Brazilian actor Sophie Charlotte)
suddenly has her work cut out
for her: growing restrictions
from the German and Brazilian
governments and higher
demand for visas. Making
matters more complicated is the
introduction of the newly-trans-
ferred Brazilian deputy consul
João Guimarães Rosa (Rodrigo
Lombardi) and growing suspi-
cions of S.S. Officer Thomas
18 JANUARY 6, 2022
Rodrigo Lombardo as João Guimarães Rosa and Sophie Charlotte as
Aracy de Carvahlo
Courtesy of IMDBb/Globo
“Passport to Freedom” creators Mário Teixeira
and Rachel Anthony bundle the story of the
angel of Hamburg neatly into a seven-hour
package, adding drama to the story of a woman
working a desk job.

Zumkle, who keeps tracing
Aracy’s every move.

The benevolent João,
who periodically intervenes
between a Nazi assault against
bullied Jews, eventually joins
Aracy in her pursuit to assist
Jewish refugees, and the two
quickly, and predictably, fall
in love.

“Passport to Freedom”
creators Mário Teixeira and
Rachel Anthony bundle the
story of the angel of Hamburg
neatly into a seven-hour package,
adding drama to the story of a
woman working a desk job.

The writing is clear, the
period dress and setting are
compelling, and the director
cleverly integrates historical
footage of 1930s Europe into
the fictional universe, weaving
it nearly seamlessly into the
newly shot frames.

Watching the
small successes and massive adver-
sities of the Jewish characters
in the show is sure to pull
at the heartstrings of audience
members. “Passport
to Freedom” pulls no punches in
its depiction of Nazi violence
against Jews.

The clear picture “Passport
to Freedom” paints makes for
good television. In the early
Nazi landscape of fraught
politics and
individual decision-making of non-Jewish
onlookers of the systemic
oppression of Jews, Teixeira and
Anthony make the audience’s
job easy. Though good does
not always vanquish evil, the
audience will likely come away
from the show knowing, at the
very least, who was good and
who was evil.

The reality in which the
show is based was maybe not
so clear-cut. Leading up to the
show’s release, Brazilian histo-
rians Fábio Koifman and Rui
Afonso questioned some of the
veracity of de Carvahlo’s story
in their book “Jews in Brazil:
History and Historiography,”
according to a JTA report.

The historians claimed
that de Carvahlo was simply
following the orders of the
consulate, “incurring little
to no personal risk in issuing
standard visas to German Jews
who escaped,” JTA reported.

Though Koifman and
Afonso’s arguments have not
JEWISH EXPONENT
Brazilian-German actor Sophie Charlotte plays Brazilian consulate
employee Aracy de Carvahlo in “Passport to Freedom.”
 Courtesy of IMDb/Globo
been addressed by Yad Vashem
or verified in their own right,
the claims beg the question: In
a portrayal of historic events
— especially those with the
profound weight and import
of the Holocaust — what is the
responsibility of the creator to
their audience?
In all the show’s attempts
to elicit an emotional response
from the audience, tell a
compelling love story and give
a competent account of 1938
Hamburg, there’s a nagging
feeling that the truth has been
stretched in some scenes.

This is a point of a historical
drama, sure, but in the case of
depicting the Holocaust, extra
care should be taken.

For casual television viewers
or non-Jews just learning about
the Holocaust, “Passport to
Freedom” may be a friendly
introduction into a little-
known story. To Jews familiar
with the horrors of the Shoah,
the show can, at times, feel
like more of a spectacle than a
promise to “Never Forget.”
When making a histor-
ical canon more available
to the audience, “Passport
to Freedom” succeeds in
spotlighting the narrative of
those few individuals who
heroically defied Nazi powers.

But in the show’s attempt to
make the story appealing to
audiences, one can’t help but
wonder what gets lost in the
process. l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM