Necdet Kent
İsmail Necdet Kent ( January 1, 1911 - September 20, 2002 ) was a Turkish diplomat and from 1942 to 1945 Turkish consul general in Marseille .
Kent was posthumously awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Medal in 2005 for “heroically” saving the lives of many Jews persecuted by the Nazis during his tenure in Marseille . Kent had previously received other awards for his actions.
From 1943 onwards, Kent gave support to Behiç Erkin, among others, in issuing more than 18,000 Turkish passports for persecuted Jews, some of whom had absolutely no connection to Turkey or the former Ottoman Empire .
Furthermore, he saved the lives of around 80 Turkish Jews in the train station in Marseille by getting into the cattle wagon into which they were fought and asking for their release. Kent got into the cattle wagon and refused to get out, either he would go with them into the gas chamber or he would leave the wagon with them. Thereupon he and the Turkish Jews were allowed to get out and they were allowed to leave the station.
Kent is the father of Muhtar Kent , president of the US beverage company Coca-Cola .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ The international Raoul Wallenberg Foundation: Turkish diplomats honored in New York, November 1, 2005 ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kent, Necdet |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kent, İsmail Necdet (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Turkish diplomat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 1, 1911 |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 20, 2002 |