Matilde Turiel from Izmir (Turkey) lived from 1933 on the island of Rhodes (Italy, now Greece). Through her marriage to an Italian Jew, she obtained Italian citizenship but also retained her Turkish nationality. Her sons were Italian and Turkish citizens.
In July 1944 the SS rounded up the island’s Jews in the German headquarters. One day after her husband, Matilde Turiel was to report there with the children. The Turkish diplomat Selahattin Ülkümen, who worked to help Turkish Jews, warned Matilde to wait outside until he had freed Daniel Turiel, which he managed. Ülkümen issued identity papers for the entire Turiel family, rescuing them from deportation. The Turiels and around 40 other Jews were placed under house arrest until the German withdrawal; the remaining approximately 1,800 were deported and murdered.
The Turiels initially joined Matilde’s family in Izmir. In July 1946 they emigrated to New York. Her husband became a partner in his brothers’ business; they had fled during World War II. Matilde Turiel met Ülkümen when he was honored in Israel and New York.
The Turiel family rescued by Ülkümen: Matilde and Daniel with their children Elliot (born 1938) and Bernard (1934–2018), around 1943. Source: Evraiko Mousio Rodou
Headquarters of the German occupation forces on Rhodes, where the island’s Jews were held for three days until their deportation, 1944. Source: Evraiko Mousio Rodou
Selahattin Ülkümen with Matilde Turiel, whom he rescued, at the presentation of an award by the Anti-Defamation League in New York, 1988. Source: Yad Vashem Archives, Jerusalem, Righteous Among The Nations, 4128
