The Real Refugees of Casablanca

Humphrey Bogart, left, and Helmut Dantine, a refugee from Austria, in Casablanca.

When the Hollywood classic, Casablanca, opened in January of 1943, audiences were thrilled by its love story. Set at Rick's Cafe, a nightclub in the Moroccan city during World War II, the story centers around a love triangle.

Humphrey Bogart stars as Rick, the cynical American bar owner. Ingrid Bergman plays his old flame Ilsa Lund, who is now married to Victor Laszlo, a dashing resistance leader hunted by the Nazis.

But Casablanca is more than just a love story. It is a film about the waves of refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe during wartime. And many actors playing those roles were refugees themselves. This is their story.

Helmut Dantine, 1945

One of the refugee actors was Helmut Dantine. Dantine was born in Austria and, as a teenager, became the leader of the anti-Nazi youth movement in Vienna. When the Nazis annexed Austria in March of 1938, they promptly arrested 19-year-old Dantine. His family negotiated his release and he escaped to Los Angeles, where he became an actor.

In Casablanca, Dantine plays Jan Brandel, a young refugee who has fled Europe with his wife. In one scene, Jan is playing roulette, hoping to win enough money to buy their exit visas. But he's losing. Seeing his predicament, Rick rigs the game to help Jan win, essentially gifting them the cas to secure the couple's passage to America.

A scene in Casablanca where Jan Brandel, a refugee played by Helmut Dantine, plays roulette.