TEHRAN, Iran &#8212 It is Iran’s “Schindler’s List,” a miniseries of an Iranian diplomat in Paris who helps Jews escape the Holocaust – and viewers across the country are riveted.

That’s surprising in a country where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned whether the Holocaust even took place. What’s more surprising is government media produced the series, and is airing it on state-run television.

The Holocaust is rarely mentioned in state media in Iran, school textbooks don’t discuss it and Iranians have little information about it. Yet the series, “Zero Degree Turn,” is clearly sympathetic to the Jews’ plight during World War II. It shows men, women and children taken out of their homes and loaded into trucks by Nazi soldiers.

“Where are they taking them?” the horrified hero, an Iranian diplomat who works at the Iranian Embassy in Paris, asks someone in the crowd.

The hero, named Habib Parsa, begins giving Iranian passports to Jews to allow them to flee occupied France to then-Palestine. The Habib character is fictional, but is based on a true story of diplomats who gave out about 500 passports.

The show’s appearance may reflect an attempt by Iran’s leadership to moderate its image as anti-Semitic and underline a distinction that Iranian officials often make – their conflict is with Israel, not Jewish people.

The series could not air without being condoned by Iran’s leadership. The state broadcaster is under control of Ayatollah Ali Khomenei, who has final say in all matters inside Iran.

The government even allowed the series to break another taboo in Iran: For the first time, many actresses appear without the state-mandated Islamic dress code. The producers wanted to realistically portray 1940s Paris, and avoided the headscarves and robes all women must normally wear on Iranian TV.

The series has won support even from hardliners. Some argue it links the Holocaust with Israel’s creation, thus boosting an argument by Ahmadinejad that if the Nazi killing of Jews did take place, those then living in Palestine should not have had to pay the price for it by the creation of Israel after the war.

State media have said the series, which began in April, is popular. It has been a revelation for some Iranians and has pulled them away from more popular satellite channels, which are banned but which many watch anyway on illegal dishes. The fare on state TV is usually dry.

“Once, I wept when I learned through the film what a dreadful destiny the small nation had during the world war in the heart of so-called civilized Europe,” said Mahboubeh Rahamati, a Tehran bank teller.