The Struma Pawn — A Documentary

International film director Aaron Ozlevi and writer Phyllis Zimbler Miller on June 30, 2021, submitted an application for the documentary THE STRUMA PAWN to Steven Spielberg’s Jewish Story Partners documentary grant program.

As part of the application — footage of 15 minutes edited by film editor Serhat Cenk Yalin was submitted. View this footage now.

Read Phyllis’ serialized story of THE STRUMA PAWN on Kindle Vella — https://b.link/TheStrumaPawnKindleVella

Logline: When during WWII the nonfunctioning engine of the refugee ship Struma — carrying almost 800 Jewish men, women and children desperate to escape the Nazis – forces the ship to be moored off Istanbul, the ship and its stateless passengers become a pawn in the political machinations of Turkey, Nazi Germany, Great Britain, Romania, and Russia.

On December 12, 1941, over two years after the Nazis invaded Poland starting WWII — and in the same month of December 1941 that the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor — an old and leaky vessel named the Struma set sail into the Black Sea from the port of Constanta in Romania. This unfit vessel carried almost 800 Jewish men, women and children refugees who were desperate to reach safety in the British-controlled land of Israel.

For 70 days the Struma and its passengers were held captive onboard at Sarayburnu port on the European side of Istanbul. The refugees had almost no food, water and medical supplies, and they were not allowed to disembark. Political intrigue among the Turks, Nazis, British and other parties kept the Struma at anchor, resulting in the subsequent death of all except one of the boat’s occupants from a torpedo fired by the Soviets in the Black Sea.

For more information about this project email pzmiller@gmail.com