Stanford J. Shaw collection

Identifier
irn501177
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 1995.A.1202
Dates
1 Jan 1940 - 31 Dec 1944
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • German
  • English
  • French
Source
EHRI Partner

Extent and Medium

box

1

Creator(s)

Biographical History

Stanford Jay Shaw (1930-2006) was an American historian who specialized in Turkey, and more specifically, the history of the latter years of the Ottoman Empire, the early years of the Turkish Republic, and the history of Turkish Jews. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, he later studied at Stanford University and Princeton University, receiving his Ph.D. from the latter university in 1958. He taught at Harvard University (1958-1968), the University of California, Los Angeles (1968-1997), and at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey (1999-2006). Among his published works are History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey (Cambridge University Press, 1976-1977), co-authored by Ezel Kural Shaw, The Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic (Macmillan/NYU Press, 1991), and Turkey and the Holocaust: Turkey's Role in Rescuing Turkish and European Jewry from Nazi Persecution, 1933-1945 (Macmillan/NYU Press, 1992). Shaw also served as the founding co-editor of the International Journal of Middle East Studies.

Archival History

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Acquisition

Gift of Stanford J. Shaw, 1995.

Gift of Stanford J. Shaw, 1995.

Scope and Content

The Stanford J. Shaw collection consists of photocopied archival documents assembled by Shaw during the research he conducted for his book "Turkey and the Holocaust." Shaw located most of these documents in what he described as the “uncataloged archive” of the Turkish Consulate-General and the Turkish Embassy, both in Paris, France. The documents that he copied were primarily case files and related documentation about Turkish Jewish individuals and families who resided in France during the German occupation (1940-1944), and who sought assistance from Turkish diplomats to prevent their arrest by the Nazis, or once that had happened, to arrange for their release. Copies are included of correspondence from such individuals asking for help, as well as replies from Turkish diplomats at the Consulates-General in Paris and Marseille, as well as the Turkish Embassy in Vichy. Also included is diplomatic correspondence from Turkish diplomats to the German Embassy in Paris, the German military command, commandants of French and German-run internment camps (such as Drancy), administrators of the confiscated assets of Turkish Jews, the French Foreign Office, and the Turkish Foreign Office in Ankara. A separate series of lists of Turkish Jews who were arrested in France is included, and arranged by year. Additionally, there are a small number of copied documents of non-Turkish provenance, primarily documents from the U.S. Department of State, with originals available at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.

System of Arrangement

The collection is arranged in four series: I. Case files, II. Correspondence between Turkish diplomats and various agencies, III. Lists of Turkish Jews arrested in France, IV. Documents of non-Turkish provenance. The original order of the documents is unknown, and the existing order of this collection was established at the time of its processing.

People

Subjects

Genre

This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.