Is Transatlantic on Netflix based on a true story? We discuss the popular Netflix Show and debate whether it’s based on real events.
Transatlantic is a seven-part television series created by Anna Winger and Daniel Hendler. The historical drama is based on the novel The Flight Portfolio written by Julie Orringer, and it is about the story of the Emergency Rescue Committee, a service that was established to help people escape from the Nazis in wartime.
The series was shown as part of the 2023 Festival Séries Mania in March before it was released on Netflix.
The series is a thrilling but harrowing tale of people struggling against terrible adversity and the events that transpire. A fight against tyranny and horrendous hardship has gripped viewers, but there is one question that keeps appearing. In this small but resistant fuelled article, we will answer the question, is Transatlantic on Netflix based on a true story?
What is Transatlantic on Netflix about?
Transatlantic is a show that focuses on an organization that is created to aid refugees in Marseilles, France, in 1940. The main protagonists are Mary Jayne Gold and Varian Fry, two Americans who know that desperate means are required to help refugees, particularly Jewish artists, who will be imprisoned or executed by the Nazis.
The series follows their struggles in undercover missions, smuggling people out of the city, and masterminding a prison break. It is recorded history that the organization helped over 1,500 artists and intellectuals, many Jewish, including André Breton, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Anna Seghers, Arthur Koestler, Marc Chagall, and Max Ernst to flee to the USA.
It is often regarded that the relocation of these, and many other creatives, helped in the cultural realignment of America.
Is Transatlantic on Netflix based on a true story?
Yes. The story is based on true events and was adapted from the book The Flight Portfolio written by Julie Orringer. Julie is an American novelist and professor. She attended Cornell University and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.
Born in Miami, Florida, the talented writer now lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Where is Transatlantic based?
The series is based in Marseilles, France, in the 1940s. Often regarded as the first capital of the Resistance during World War Two, Marseilles was the setting for the early activities of a resistance force. Marseilles is a port, and this made it a haven for thousands of refugees in 1940.
Refugees would include soldiers, anti-fascist Europeans, Communists, and Jewish artists and writers. Marseilles would be geographically perfect as a route from Europe to America, Great Britain, and Algiers.
