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00:01I'm on the trail of wonders to treasure.
00:05Precious clues from the past.
00:07She's full of sensuous promise.
00:10With unmissable experiences.
00:14We're afraid why you adore Dolphin so much and they're playing with us.
00:18Hidden sites in unexpected destinations.
00:22No way. I've never seen anything like that before.
00:27Amazing.
00:28I'm on a global voyage of discovery to explore our shared heritage and how our past shapes all of our lives.
00:39This time, the Greek island Rhodes.
00:42I'm heading to an island with an action-packed star-studded history.
00:47Meeting friends old and new.
00:49Yamas. Yamas.
00:52Witnessing the latest discoveries.
00:54That's where the body would have been.
00:56On an island of pirates, knights and heroes.
01:00Those people must have felt on the top of the world.
01:04Welcome to the treasures of Rhodes.
01:07In the South Aegean, there's a group of islands called the Dodecanese.
01:18Rhodes, the largest, is blessed with 300 days of sunshine every year.
01:31At a pivotal position between three continents, Europe, Asia and Africa.
01:44Rhodes' strategic location made it a cauldron of colourful intercontinental activity proving that islands do not have to be isolated.
02:01It's been luring seafaring tourists since antiquity.
02:13My first treasures are the attractions that made Rhodes the original Roman holiday.
02:26A week's sail from Rome's port Ostia, Rhodes was a cosmopolitan haven for Roman high society and celebrities.
02:35The islands nourished body and mind.
02:41But these were choppy waters in every sense, even for future Roman emperors.
02:48When he was sailing to Rhodes, Julius Caesar, no less, was actually kidnapped and the pirates asked for a ransom of 20 talents.
02:57Brilliantly, he said, do you know who I am? I'm worth at least 50.
03:01And we're told that he hung out with them for around 40 days, sort of acting almost a bit like their military leader,
03:09but telling them that if he were released, he would have them killed.
03:13By this time, they'd sort of become friends, so they thought he was joking.
03:17But the minute that he got his freedom and was released, he ordered their brutal execution.
03:25Caesar was drawn to this island, famous for its cosmopolitan statecraft and its command of the seas.
03:40The Rhodians were considered to be such expert sailors that some of their ideas
03:45about how people should basically behave in international waters
03:50were codified into something called the Lex Rhodia, which was a kind of ancient guide to maritime affairs.
03:57And a Roman emperor said, I might be master of the world, but the Rhodian laws make them masters of the waves.
04:11The Rhodians became the iron-fisted pirate police of the Mediterranean.
04:16Given the very real dangers of these waters, you might think that the Romans would avoid Rhodes,
04:25but they actively flocked here.
04:33Roman tourists would head to Egypt to see marvels like the lighthouse of Alexandria and the pyramids.
04:43Rhodes was the perfect stop off.
04:46They were drawn here by its heritage, myths and sensuous lore.
04:57I'm arriving, like them, at the island's ancient harbour capital.
05:05One adventuring author, Strabo, declared,
05:08I'm unable to speak of any other city as equal to it.
05:16Many came on themed retreats or business trips with a bit of fun thrown in.
05:23The first monument to tick off their cultural bucket list was the Colossus of Rhodes.
05:31Built around 280 BCE and often shown straddling the harbour in later artworks,
05:36it stood 32 metres tall.
05:39Made of radiant bronze, this vast statue revered the island's patron, the sun god Helios.
05:49One of the reasons that the Romans loved coming here is that they'd go on these sightseeing tours,
05:57in particular of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, the Colossus of Rhodes, which was here.
06:04By the time the Romans were in charge, it was actually in bits because it had been collapsed by an earthquake.
06:08But we have these brilliant descriptions about it.
06:13So we hear from a man called Pliny the Elder that the thumbs were so big
06:18that some people couldn't even put their arms round them,
06:21that if you explored inside the broken limbs, it was like going into caverns
06:26and that this was the monument most worthy of admiration anywhere in the ancient world.
06:32Another draw was Rhodes' reputation for persuasive public speaking,
06:42attracting ancients keen to learn the art of rhetoric.
06:47Eager students flocked to this Odeon where the likes of Caesar
06:52and superstar author Cicero learnt delivery, delivery, delivery.
06:58It's not just what you say, but how you say it.
07:03Rhodes really became a sort of finishing school for the Roman and Greek elite.
07:09And people would travel for thousands and thousands of miles to come to learn from the oratory teachers here.
07:15And you know, there's a really fascinating theory that because the Rhodians were so cosmopolitan,
07:21because they had to communicate with lots of different nations and cultures,
07:24they had to get their message across in really clever ways.
07:29This is why they were so good at spin, so good at rhetoric.
07:33So the lessons learned here would play out in world events.
07:38And Rhodians, or people trained here on Rhodes, would end up being used as arbitrators
07:44right across the Roman Empire.
07:47So what happened here definitely affected world events.
07:50The island also boasted exquisite, unforgettable art.
08:03Treasures you can still find in the Archaeological Museum.
08:10Including this fabulous sculptor of Aphrodite, Venus for the Romans,
08:15made over 2,000 years ago.
08:20There's lots that's special about this gorgeous goddess of love.
08:25First of all, her marble skin has been really highly polished,
08:30so there's a sheen to it.
08:32So it almost looks as though she's just stepped out of a bath,
08:35or the sea and her skin is lovely and wet.
08:38And also if you think about it, Aphrodites or Venuses are often shown with their hands,
08:45covering their breasts and their sex as if they're a bit kind of embarrassed.
08:49Not this gorgeous creature.
08:52She's liberated and open and just full of sensuous promise.
08:58Surrounded by all this abundant art, culture and nature,
09:11it's easy to see why the Romans loved this island.
09:15There are yet more pleasures, if you know where to look.
09:20Hello!
09:24Hey, Brittany!
09:26Classicist Spiros Siropoulos has secured me special access to a real treat.
09:36The Nymphaeum.
09:38A secluded grotto, hidden away at the posh edge of the ancient town,
09:42dedicated to nymphs, mythical sprites of pleasure and the natural world.
09:47Isn't this nice? We go through this nice dark tunnel.
09:53Yeah.
09:55And at the end we see the light.
10:00That's awesome.
10:02Isn't it?
10:03That is awesome!
10:05It is. It is impressive.
10:07So impressive!
10:10So all it's like a kind of natural cave they've made even more amazing by sculpting on Earth.
10:15We see the niches.
10:17Yeah.
10:18So obviously they were purposed to host decorative figurines.
10:22Like sculptures.
10:23Or lamps, things like that.
10:26There is a water cistern to collect rain water associated with the cult of the nymphs.
10:35There's something sort of mystical about it.
10:37It's that thing when myths are real and live and just part of everybody's daily life.
10:44But owned by one person or by the public?
10:48Because it's huge!
10:50The interesting thing is that all this has been very close to the residential area.
10:56Yes.
10:57Which is only 90 metres down the road.
10:59So it must have been part of a very rich late Hellenistic Roman housing block.
11:06So a private home.
11:11Noble Romans were known for their elegant villas.
11:13So you can imagine this being the ultimate place for a wine-soaked, mythically themed dinner party.
11:24I love the fact that they were here in the Hellenistic times, the time just after Alexander the Great.
11:29And then the Romans are here and the Romans are loving, loving this place, aren't they?
11:34It became a very popular resort for the Romans.
11:39The Romans came here to study oratory and philosophy, mathematics, even astronomy.
11:46The big schools were here.
11:48And they just fell in love with the place.
11:52Still feel the same.
11:54It's just dropped on your shoulder.
11:56A little bit of purification ritual.
11:59I love it!
12:00That's what I like about roads.
12:01You can never escape the past.
12:08So it was like a good Roman holiday coming here.
12:12Ferie, as the Latin word for holidays, that's what the Romans said, so this is what they had here.
12:18Yeah.
12:23It's so magical following in the footsteps of the ancients here.
12:30What's great about getting access to a place like this is you can really feel why roads mattered so much to the ancients.
12:39Because just imagine coming in here on a ferocious day with a boiling sun and just kind of getting a bit of respite and having a moment to take breath, to learn from people from right across the world.
12:53So this is somewhere that you could recharge your batteries and open your mind.
12:59MUSIC
13:10I'm exploring the rich Greek island of Rhodes.
13:13I'm exploring the rich Greek island of Rhodes.
13:27This place is all about connection and links to the world beyond its shores.
13:37Mastery of the waves was key to the island's success.
13:43Now, if this doesn't tell you that sailing and command of the sea is in the lifeblood and the identity of the Rhodians, I don't know what it does.
14:00Isn't it totally exquisite?
14:04And this which is physically carved into the rock face was left here 2,200 years ago.
14:13Rhodes' maritime dominance was nourished by its environment.
14:22Hills thick with pine and cypress yielded timber for ancient Rhodian ships, vessels that stitched together the sea roots of the eastern Mediterranean, trading Egyptian grain and exporting the island's own natural bounty.
14:38My next treasure shows how hyper-connectivity made life here good.
14:46There's an amazing site that's being excavated up here.
14:5170 kilometres south-west of Rhodes Town is Kimisala, an ancient settlement slowly yielding its secrets, including a city of the dead.
15:07For two decades, archaeologist Manolis Stephanakis and his team have been piecing together the lives of the islanders buried here.
15:17You've got us on action.
15:18And we're the first film crew to be invited.
15:23Calimera, guys. Hi. Yes, hi. Calimera.
15:25This is me.
15:26Hi. Somebody in the city.
15:28Savas is inside.
15:29That's where the body would have been, is it?
15:30That's a built bench inside the chamber where the body was lying.
15:35Whoa. And not the only one, I'm guessing.
15:38No. I have so many more to show you.
15:40Love you. Please come with me.
15:41So far, the team has studied bone evidence from just ten individuals to try to understand their lives.
15:56This is obviously where it's all studied and analysed.
15:59I've just got to tell you this.
16:00This was the old police station village and they're looking after the work.
16:04It is amazing how much material there is here, isn't it?
16:08Yeah, of course.
16:09Bountiful finds, wine jars, jewellery and honeypots prove Kimisala was home to a thriving mountainside community.
16:22Oh, lovely. It's part of a handle, is it?
16:24Yeah, lovely little handle.
16:26Ah!
16:27It's that kind of moment where you're literally puzzling all the info together.
16:35Dating goods from the graves.
16:37We know Kimisala thrived from the 7th century BCE to the 6th century CE.
16:44That's more than a thousand years.
16:48To flourish for so many centuries, the outward-looking islanders had to take every advantage of this abundant valley,
16:56with a seaport and rich plateau where vines still grow.
17:02Manolis, this is an awesome sight.
17:10Isn't it?
17:10It's magical here.
17:13And this section of it, what are we walking through now?
17:17We are passing through the central necropolis of Kimisala, which is a vast area.
17:23We estimate about 500 tombs in the whole cemetery.
17:28500?
17:29Yes.
17:30Some of them have been excavated.
17:32Most of them are not excavated yet.
17:34Right.
17:34And as you see, they're all dug in the rock.
17:39Yeah, in the rock face, yeah.
17:41I mean, who are they?
17:43What were these people doing when they were alive here?
17:44These are the people living in the so-called demos of Kimisalis.
17:49Yes.
17:50So, these are, let's say, villagers.
17:53It's so rich, Rhodes, as an island, in terms of natural resources.
17:58So, these are probably people who are making their living from farming and sort of olive oil production.
18:04Yes.
18:05We know they had bees living through beekeeping.
18:09Yeah, yeah.
18:09Apparently producing a lot of olive oil.
18:12Yes.
18:12We have a lot of evidence of olive presses.
18:15I've seen quite a lot of goat poo.
18:16There are still goats.
18:17Yes.
18:18Goats and sheep.
18:18Hundreds of goats around.
18:19Look at this.
18:22This is our best and largest so-far tomb.
18:25Yeah.
18:26Can I go down?
18:27Yeah, definitely.
18:30So, what they do, they dig a corridor.
18:32Yeah.
18:33Or a four-room, as we call it.
18:35Yeah.
18:36To go to such a depth, and then they can penetrate the rock and create a chamber.
18:41Right, right.
18:42Now, in this case, because they accidentally found a cave, a natural cave in the rock,
18:48they built the front of it.
18:51They left a small entrance.
18:53Yeah.
18:54You can see the big stone that was shutting the entrance.
18:58Yeah.
18:59We think family groups were buried together, and a hundred-meter clamber up the mountainside brings
19:12you face-to-face with the sacred heart of Kimisala.
19:16Ah-ha.
19:17Ah-ha.
19:18Wow, look at this.
19:20Ah.
19:22You didn't tell me about this.
19:24I didn't.
19:25You didn't.
19:26Now you discover it.
19:27Oh, yeah.
19:28A little cheeky surprise.
19:30That's incredible.
19:31So, these are the...
19:32Well, just beneath the walls.
19:35Yeah.
19:35The fortification walls of the city.
19:37Ah.
19:38Of the Acropolis, actually.
19:41Mysterious carvings are yet to be analysed.
19:45Very impressive.
19:47And this goes all the way around, does it?
19:49It goes all the way around.
19:51Ah.
19:51About 560 metres.
19:53Acropolis means highest point of the city.
20:02And there's another treat up here.
20:05Wow, look at that.
20:06On the very top of the Acropolis.
20:08Yes.
20:10Top of the world.
20:11And this is our pretty little temple.
20:14But to whom?
20:15Do you know which god or goddess?
20:16We assume it could be Apollo or Artemis, his sister.
20:20It feels like it could be Apollo, though, doesn't it?
20:23Up here, up on the sun.
20:26And they love Apollo and Helios and sunlight here.
20:30The Acropolis connects all the settlements around.
20:33Connects the port.
20:35Connects the island.
20:36Cross.
20:37Connects everything.
20:38You just think, standing up here, those people of the ancient past must have felt on the top of the world.
21:03They could see their beautiful ships made here on roads, setting out across the oceans to kind of trade and bring wealth back in here and defend them if there was an enemy navy arriving.
21:17And you've got connection to three continents, to Europe, Asia, and Africa.
21:22I think it was Apollo who was worshipped up here because there's light all around.
21:27They loved light on this island.
21:29And Apollo is the god of reason and possibility.
21:33So, you know, you feel like lots of things are possible up here.
21:37So, yeah, I reckon this was Apollo's spot.
21:40In Apollo's honour, Manolis and Spiros have invited me and the whole team for a Rodian nightcap.
22:02Cheers, Yamas.
22:03Yamas.
22:04Yamas.
22:05Yamas.
22:06Thank you so much.
22:07To our health.
22:08Kimisala's wine is name-checked on Egyptian papyri and Rodian wine jars have turned up in every ancient site around the Med.
22:18Drinking together, this is what symposium means.
22:21It's a true fact that the ancients loved Rodian wine and they wrote about it, Manolis, didn't they?
22:27They exported it everywhere in the known world from the first century BC.
22:32And we have testimonies of more than 100,000 Rodian amphora handles around the world in the museums that bring the stamp of Rhodes.
22:46So I've actually seen this stamp from Alexandria and it's this head of Helios and that means that people were thinking about Rhodes and talking about the islands.
22:56I mean, Egypt is actually quite close, but as far away as places like Britain.
23:01That's because of the Roman soldiers who were using the Rhodian wine.
23:07This was the biggest propaganda of the Rhodians around the world, selling their wine with their badge on it.
23:14Yes.
23:15So everybody would know it was the best advertisement they could ever get.
23:19Of course.
23:20Why is it so good here?
23:22Is it the soil or the climate?
23:24If you think about it, it's still the same soil.
23:26The same kind of soil which contains limestone.
23:30They had here that made three distinct kinds of wine.
23:38The red wine, they called it black.
23:40The white wine, which was either dry or sweet.
23:43And sour wine, for which they collected the unripe yet grapes and they turned it into something very strong.
23:53And I've got another fact, which I love, is that particularly here on this island, they used to use seawater sometimes as a preservative.
24:01Because salt is a very good preservative anyway.
24:05And what do you think?
24:06I mean, this is a kind of big question, but why was Rhodes so special in ancient times?
24:11I would say because it was really a land of opportunities.
24:19Those who came to be part of this society and those who were willing to invest in work and businesses here in Rhodes soon became part of this island.
24:33They became part of this society.
24:35They became successful and they returned this investment to the island.
24:38Yeah, yeah.
24:39I would add that it's the geographical position of the island that also played a great role in this, because it's between three continents.
24:49So accepting all this commerce and returning it back and accepting all these people to stay on the island and hug them,
24:57led to a superb mixture of economy, trade, politics, everything.
25:08The Rhodian spirit besides this.
25:11The Rhodian spirit.
25:12This is a Rhodian spirit anyway.
25:14It is, it is.
25:15Of all kinds.
25:16The liquid.
25:17Exactly.
25:18Yamas.
25:19Yamas.
25:19Yamas.
25:20Across the ages, Rhodes maintained its status as a jewel of the Aegean, a perfect foothold between east and west.
25:41No surprise then, that in the early 14th century, it became the home of my next treasure, an order of warrior monks.
25:52The Knights of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem, or the Knights Hospitaller, as they came to be called,
26:01ushered in a new chapter in the story of Rhodes, and they changed the face of the city forever with these formidable fortifications.
26:11The Knights, a Catholic military order of the Crusader age, held sway in the Kingdom of Jerusalem from 1099 until 1291, when Muslim forces kicked them out.
26:32After the Kingdom of Jerusalem fell, the Knights found themselves on the run.
26:43For a while, they ended up in Cyprus, but they really wanted a permanent home.
26:48So, they set sail across the Mediterranean, heading for Rhodes.
26:53And in 1310, after tricky campaigns, they finally took the island.
27:02The Knights were known for offering protection to pilgrims, and one of their main initiatives on Rhodes was to build a hospital.
27:11It offered care for the sick, poor and injured, without distinction between faiths.
27:18Today, it's home to one of my favourite places on the island, the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes.
27:24The hospital had separate wards for infectious diseases and maternity care.
27:34A fireplace warmed the rooms, and each patient got a servant, their own bed, a woolen hat, fur-lined coat and slippers.
27:45Linen sheets and covers were changed three times a week.
27:49Its gardens were a medicine chest, growing herbs and plants for the treatment of various ailments.
28:00A dedication to care still embodied in their most enduring international legacy, the first aid service, St. John Ambulance.
28:11It wasn't only the hospital the Knights built.
28:19A massive construction campaign left Rhodes Town as one of the best-preserved Gothic cities in Europe,
28:26enclosed within four kilometres of impenetrable walls.
28:30This feels a bit like travelling in time, because this is one of the most complete medieval streets in the world.
28:48The Odos Ipoton, or Street of the Night, would have been bustling with men ready to join the order.
28:57Drawn here by promises of land and wealth.
29:00However, membership was open only to the high-born, and proof of nobility was a prerequisite.
29:13Young men would travel here from right across Europe, and they'd take vows of poverty, chastity and obedience,
29:28and promise to look after the poor and the sick.
29:31Imagine, each with their own coat of arms, arriving as soldiers from what's now France, Germany, Italy, England and Spain.
29:54The Knights were drawn into Rhodes' melting pot of cultures, sometimes enemies at home, but brothers on this island.
30:03The international rhythm of Rhodes still exists today, with February's carnival season.
30:10A wild festival with roots in antiquity.
30:14Despite its pagan origins, it's believed some knights secretly indulged in its revelry.
30:21Medieval enthusiast Anna Acciola is joining me at the celebrations that have been revived today.
30:40Anna's been looking after us here on Rhodes, and she's passionate about the medieval world.
30:45Yes, of course, it's part of them, because, you know, all the medieval buildings, the medieval city there is, they live inside it.
30:51So, it's a live heritage.
30:54The carnival is a multicultural event.
30:57You know, besides Rhodes has always been multicultural, and the time of the night, there were so many different lands, the nations.
31:05They met here, and they lived all together, from England, from Portugal, from France, from Italy.
31:10All these people here, along with the Greeks, they were united, and they would live very connected to each other, the different communities.
31:21And the Knights were very friendly with the locals here, especially after the first 10 years of their being to, in the islands.
31:30They organized a hospital that would accept the poor and the nobles the same, you know, they would take care of them the same.
31:41That was not very common in medieval Europe, and that helps us understand that we share some common roots, a common culture.
31:51We are not separated from each other.
31:54We have managed to live together in a small island all these nations.
32:00After a long night, I'm up early to immerse myself in the medieval world of the Knights, in Rhodes' Old Town.
32:30This gorgeous bird's eye view of the city was made in the 1400s.
32:35Bits of the old city are still pretty similar today.
32:38You know, you can see some features like this.
32:41This, for instance, this is the Street of the Knights.
32:43And this is where I'm heading now.
32:51Dominating the city, this huge castle embodied the Knights' power and was home to their big boss.
33:00Welcome to the Palace of the Grand Master, described by one English pilgrim as the most beautiful under heaven.
33:14The labyrinthine building housed the Knights' council chamber.
33:20Dining rooms, chapels and the apartments of the Grand Master himself.
33:26The castle we see today was reconstructed, but you can still feel its original domineering presence.
33:36This picture-perfect fantasy palace was actually built back up by the Italians in the 1930s.
33:44They even planned for it to be a holiday home for the Italian king.
33:48Having taken control of the island in 1912, the Italians spared no expense in preserving the medieval spirit of this architectural gem.
34:02Even Benito Mussolini's left his mark.
34:04For the holy knights who originally built it, the palace wasn't just a fortress.
34:13It was a spiritual haven.
34:16Its halls and courtyards, chapels and sacred spaces were used for worship, rituals and inductions to strengthen the Knights' international bonds of brotherhood.
34:27In 1522, a massive Ottoman fleet assembled in the bay, controlled by the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
34:48The knights and the islanders were outnumbered and fought really valiantly, but they just could not win.
34:58After the Ottoman victory, the holy Roman emperor, Charles V, said nothing in the world was ever so well lost as roads.
35:09The knights and their supporters fled, ending over 200 years of rule.
35:23The palace would become an Ottoman fortress.
35:27One of the churches was used to store gunpowder with disastrous results.
35:33Over 300 years later, in 1856, the gunpowder exploded.
35:38Wiping out the church and destroying the castle, until it was restored by the Italians.
35:47More than just soldiers, the Knights Hospitaller of Rhodes were architects of an era.
35:54They defended the island, blended diverse cultures, and their legacy stands in stone.
36:08Exploring its history, it's clear Rhodes has long been a beacon of hope.
36:25A crucible of opportunity and enlightenment for many cultures, all learning to live together.
36:31There's another group of people who arrived here by boat and were a vital part of the island for over 2,000 years before they were ripped from these shores by force.
36:48My next treasure is the Jewish quarter of Rhodes Old Town, the heart of a community that thrived here for two millennia.
37:03Mentioned in the biblical book of the Maccabees, a Jewish settlement was established in Rhodes right back in the 2nd century BCE.
37:16The Christian Knights Hospitaller ordered the Jews here to convert or leave.
37:29But once the Ottomans were in charge from 1522, Jewish islanders were allowed to re-embrace their faith.
37:37This neighbourhood became home to a vibrant, Sephardic Jewish community.
37:50Expelled from Spain and Portugal, settlers brought with them Judeo-Espanyol, a language that gave this place its pet name, La Juderia.
38:07So this is the oldest synagogue in Greece.
38:13It's one of the oldest in the whole of Europe and it was built in 1577.
38:19So just think what lives, what experiences this building's witnessed.
38:27By the end of the 19th century, the streets of La Juderia were home to a Jewish population of close on 4,000.
38:40The Jewish community was allowed to thrive here under Ottoman rule, so that's 400 years of peaceful coexistence.
38:50But in the early 20th century, everything changed.
38:58The Ottoman Empire's power was waning and Italy seized the Dodecanese Islands.
39:05By 1938, under Mussolini's fascist regime and with anti-Semitism on the rise,
39:12a sinister situation was evolving and thousands fled.
39:16Tragically, worse was still to come for those who remained.
39:25During World War II, Hitler's Germany took control.
39:31From July the 18th, 1944, orders were given for Jews on roads to report to Nazi headquarters.
39:41The Turkish consul-general, who was Muslim after all, suspected this was a trap.
39:47He confronted the Nazi commander and insisted that any of the population here who had Turkish citizenship should be spared.
39:56He managed to smuggle them out with friends and family on boats across the water to safety.
40:03And he said he was simply doing his duty as a human being.
40:10Selah Hatim, arguing that the arrest of Turkish Jews and their families would trigger an international incident,
40:25and successfully saved 42 people.
40:31But just five days later, the remaining Jewish community, all 1,673 of them,
40:40were forcibly gathered to start a terrible journey to the death camps of Eastern Europe.
40:47Carmen Cohen is director of the remaining Jewish community in Rhodes.
41:03You know, Carmen, it is, it's so moving and haunting walking through these streets.
41:10The Rhodes was called Small Jerusalem.
41:13What's that?
41:14There were five synagogues in this quarter, and two yeshivot, that means places that they were studying the Torah.
41:23And do you think when they were asked to gather in these streets, those women and men and children,
41:30do you think they knew what was happening when they were being asked to leave by the Nazis?
41:35I don't think so.
41:37They thought that they were sent somewhere for work.
41:40They asked in the beginning from the men and the boys up to 16 to go to the headquarters of the Air Force in Rhodes.
41:53After a couple days, they were taken to the port after having the alarm to ring so everybody of the rest of the people living in the island
42:05to be in the houses so they don't see what was happening.
42:09Right. And I didn't realise that as well. So the other islanders, they were told to stay in their homes so they couldn't come out to protect them.
42:19Yes, they couldn't see what was happening as they were taking them to the port.
42:23And there's this incredible story about the Turkish consul who helped.
42:28Yes. At that time, Turkey was neutral, I think, and he had good relations with Germany, let's say.
42:36Yeah. So these people, they had or they managed to get Turkish passports.
42:42Turkish passports. So he asked not to be deported as citizens of Turkey.
42:52And that is the thing that even through these really dark days, you have to remember as well those few people who helped.
43:00Always light sometimes. Always light.
43:06And that is something that's special about Rhodes too, because you have had all faiths living here peacefully together.
43:12For such a long time. Yeah.
43:14Yeah. All, you know, people believing in three monotheistic religions.
43:20Yeah. Christianity, Muslims and Jews.
43:24And why do you think that is? Why do you think the island helps that to happen?
43:30I think because of the position of the island. It's in the middle between Eastern Europe and Eastern.
43:38Yes. And it just proves that if we need to get on together, we can get on.
43:43Yes, of course we can. That's for sure, because we are still living now all together.
43:48Yes. The same.
43:54Walking through the Jewish quarter,
43:56It's poignant to envision the vibrancy and hope that once filled these streets.
44:03And how vital it is for the small Jewish community still here to preserve those memories.
44:26Sitting here just makes me think of the extraordinary bravery of that single young man here on the islands of Rhodes,
44:39who came from Turkey from just over there at the time of World War II when terrible things were happening to so many people.
44:47But he risked his life and the life of his family to save others, people he didn't know.
44:54So although it's an utterly sorrowful story, there are these tiny, tiny glimmers of hope.
45:02There are so many stories here on Rhodes of people managing to live together.
45:09This is a place where different religions, different faiths, different cultures have managed to work out ways of respecting one another.
45:19So it's an island of light and hope in lots of ways.
45:23This island is a wonder because it's been a melting pot through time.
45:46Witnessing valuable harmony between cultures and communities.
45:52Rhodes has seen so much history and it's a reminder that even if you live on an island,
46:00you don't have to be isolated because for centuries people have come here from across continents
46:06to trade and to find out about each other, to live and to live well.
46:12Because of course it can be true that if you spend time in far away places and with other people,
46:20whether they're strangers or friends, that you can learn not just about the world, but about yourself.
46:28The End
46:30The End
46:32The End
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