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



L ifestyle /C ulture
Philly Faces: Tyler Weiss
P H I LLY FACES
SASHA ROGELBERG | JE STAFF
TYLER WEISS LED the Julia
R. Masterman Laboratory and
Demonstration School boys’
soccer team to its first-ever
Public League championship
on Oct. 27 in his first year of
coaching the team.

The 26-year-old Aussie
coach has two decades of
soccer experience under his
belt, including coaching Team
Israel in the Philadelphia
International Unity Cup in
fall 2021 and competing in
the 2011 JCC Maccabi Games,
where he was selected as one
of the 18 players to be part
of the U.S. contingent for the
international games held in
Israel. Team USA made it to
the finals, but lost to Team
Israel. (Weiss joked that the
referees were clearly biased.)
Since November, Weiss,
now a Fishtown resident, has
coached the United Philly
Soccer Club, where many of his
Masterman players compete.

The club is one of the few in the
country that isn’t pay-to-play,
eliminating the cost barrier for
young students to play in a
competitive league year-round.

For Weiss, coaching for the
club not only allows him to
do what he loves during the
Public League’s off season, but
it also helps out the underdog
— something Weiss has been
keen to do throughout his
coaching career.

What’s the Jewish community
like in Australia?
My family has a really
interesting background. My
grandmother was actually
born [in Austria] on the run
during the Holocaust. Her
parents were in line to be shot,
and they ran. My grandmother
was born literally in the forest.

They ended up in a boat and
ended up in northern Australia
— Darwin, Australia — and
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM worked their way from Darwin
I started to watch soccer
to the outskirts of Melbourne. a little bit more, and I think
my passion went from not just
Are there a lot of Jewish playing the sport, but to the
Holocaust refugees in Australia? actual sport, the ins and outs,
Yeah, there really are. In the tactics, the players, the
Australia, it’s a much closer- teams. And I think that was a
knit Jewish community than in real eye-opener to make me fall
America. Most Jews know each in love with the sport — not
other. I think there’s actually a just to play the sport, but to
similarly sized Jewish commu- actually have this intrinsic love
nity in Philadelphia.

of the sport.

What are some Jewish tradi-
tions in Australia that do not
exist at all in the U.S. or vice
versa? Every Jewish holiday [in
Australia], you’re home with
your family, and you’ll have
100 people at a Passover seder,
at break-fast. I wouldn’t say
that’s common here because
people move away, or they
marry someone on the other
side of the country; they keep
splitting, keep splintering.

We have services; we sit
down and do the prayers. For
them, they’ll sit down and do
the prayers and then go outside
and dance. We’re a lot more
traditional here. We really try
to connect to the old traditions.

In Australia, it’s a different
mindset. What has been your biggest
accomplishment as a coach so
far? It’s winning the Public
League championship. That
was my first major coaching
trophy. I think imposter syndrome
is real. This was the first, real
time that I thought, maybe ...

I’m not just here saying things
into the void. Maybe I have
some actual ability to change
and improve and to grow as a
coach. Where does your interest in
helping out the underdog
come from?
As a Jewish athlete, you hear
all the time, the stereotypical
‘Jews can’t be athletes.’
In Australia, do they call it
soccer or football?
They call it soccer! They
have their own football called
Aussie rules football. It’s not
rugby — I’ll just say that now.

Tyler Weiss after coaching the Julia R. Masterman Laboratory
and Demonstration School boys’ soccer team to its first-ever Public
Championship on Oct. 27
Courtesy of Tyler Weiss
captain for the national team.

But he was the first Israeli
to play high-level soccer in
the Premier League, first at
Liverpool [Football Club] and
then for my favorite team,
Chelsea [F.C].

Just watching him growing
up, I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s
Who’s a Jewish athlete whom breaking all the boundaries,
breaking all these barriers.’ l
you look up to?
Obviously, he’s a soccer
player. His name is Yossi srogelberg@jewishexponent.com;
Benayoun. He was the Israeli 215-832-0741
Growing up, I came
from Central Pennsylvania,
where it’s hard to be a top
academic, but then I went to
a top academic school and
won a business scholarship.

I’ve always been the underdog,
always played for the underdog.

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How did you become inter-
ested in soccer?
Honestly, just like most
children: their parents put
them into 10 different sports
and see what they enjoyed.

Soccer was always something I
was good at and enjoyed.

I also got fortunate; I got
really good coaches for soccer.

Maybe that was it — out of the
10 coaches I had, the soccer
coach was the one I connected
with most. I still talk to him.

His name is Coach Bill.

JEWISH EXPONENT
JANUARY 6, 2022
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