The STRUMA Tragedy

Prologue :

I couldn't find any proper documentary, official document or movie about Struma…

Nevertheless, I wanted wrte about it because it was an event that deeply affected me.

I was able to use books on this subject, so I thank Halit Kalkınç and Zülfü Livaneli, who enlightened me with their books and made serious researches.

And I thank Sinan Yıldırım, who gave the opportunity to research the subjects that the official history is trying to hide and the curriculum does not touch.

The truth of Struma

Jews who were subjected to the brutal genocide, persecution and oppression of Hitler and the Nazis during the Second World War

they considered going to Palestine to their old homeland as a salvation.

For the last hope there was a deceit even when their tickets were sold at prices of $ 1000 or more.

Starting in September 1941, he has published one-on-one ads on Struma in newspapers in Romania. They were selling tickets to take passengers from Romania to Palestine.

Even the photos used in the ads belonged to other ships. In the photos, the lux transatlantic Queen Mary and Quin Elisabeth with bunk beds and dining halls showed.

In reality, we encounter 4 bathrooms, 8 toilets, room on both lower decks was very missing.

He was subjected to a cursory renovation in Constanta, bunk beds made of orange chests in their warehouses Its engine was removed from an old shipwreck on the Danube river,It is a shipwrecked ship with a Panama flag (which means it cannot be neutrally fired in battle).A devastated ship STRUMA that cannot even be opened to the sea…It wasn't just a cruise ship ticket, was also ''lier hope'' sold to people who wanted to get rid of Nazi persecution.

Some people had entrusted their children to acquaintances in Struma, because they don't have enough money for themselves they just bought tickets to their kids. Therefore, there were many children on the ship whose mother was not with her father.

Eventually, 769 jewish passengers and crew of 10 mostly Bulgarian, including pregnant women, babies and children, got on the ship.

Only then did they see that the ship, which was introduced as a transatlantic, was an animal-carrying freighter on the Danube river.

Nobody believed that this ship could sail to the open sea with such a crowded passenger.

It was a watercraft that a maximum of 250 people could travel.

Therefore, great bribes were paid to the authorities in order to obtain a travel permit.

Many people were waving while leaving Struma Constanta Port. Some of them were people who stayed there and said goodbye to their children, husbands, because they could not find enough money.

Given the conditions of that time, it was not difficult to understand how much demand was made to board this ship.

Hundreds of passengers who bought tickets were taken from Constanta to Bucharest by carriages used in animal transportation. They were kept there for a few days without food.

His belongings were confiscated at the customs.

The documents showed that thanks to intelligence agencies, London was watching these developments carefully.

It was also certain that they demanded the Ankara government not to allow the ship to pass through the Straits.

In other words, the fate of poor passengers began to be written before they even got on the ship.

Quarantine days in Istanbul 72 days -

At the expense of Nazi genocide,

769 people boarding this ship by paying their last penny were going to Palestine.

The ship had several problems, repeatedly failed. Eventually his engines became completely inoperable.

When his engines broke down, he stopped at a point close to our Sarayburnu coast on December 15, 1941… Struma was tied to the Turkish tugboat named "Alemdar" and withdrew to the Bosphorus.

Struma passengers, between Turkey and England lasted for about 2.5 months of political negotiation were kept under quarantine inspection at the port.

As a result of the pressures of German and British governments to Ankara, no child, young old man is allowed to go to the coast.

The police and soldiers were on duty 24 hours on the shore.

The passengers were hungry, thirsty and undrugged on the ship, which was used to carry a few cows, with a few toilets in ice cold weather.

Those who passed through Sarayburnu heard their screams.

Arthur Whittall, Istanbul Police Chief Ahmet did not break his request, and the food and medicine aid collected by the Jewish Community of Istanbul was secretly taken to the ship from time to time, even if it was insufficient. "

Room on both lower decks was very lacking.

There was not enough room to sleep.

Even a free space where people could move all day long was limited. It was hard to find a sink for babies.

There was no way to do laundry.

People lived without changing clothes on them.

Worse still, there were only a few toilets for 769 people, and there was an endless tail in front of the door. Therefore, the passengers used their toilet needs on the deck.

As the whole deck was covered with faeces, the floor became slippery and an unbearable smell spread around. Sanitary conditions were extremely bad. Twenty doctors among the passengers dealt with day and night dysentery cases.

Due to the lack of medication, patients were given a very small amount of medication.

The two men lost their mental balance under these conditions. Living conditions on board were extremely negative. Since the passengers suffered insomnia, the day started at 4 or 5 in the morning. Previously selected people were pulling water from the sea with buckets to go to the deck and wash the faces of the passengers. Tea was distributed every three days due to lack of fuel. Some days to boil tea, wooden crates with vegetables were broken and burned. As food, everyone was given an orange, some peanuts and a piece of sugar. Hot food was only done every few days. Bread was not given to passengers because it is the most valuable food. Each child was given half a glass of milk powder and a single biscuit.

In Turkey, the Jews who have political influence in Palestine and in the United States was trying to do something. Simon Brod, one of the leaders of the Istanbul Jewish community, and Rifat Karako, did all they could to save Strum passengers.

They made various promises to officials to allow passengers to leave the ship and travel to Palestine by road, but all these efforts were fruitless.

Struma's quarantine days in Istanbul do not only describe 72 days, It also tells of hope, patience and love. On the one hand, life continued on the ship. Despite everything, life continues .. Even in this painful story, there is evidence that one cannot hope for humanity:

The two young people were married by the rabbi on the ship. Passengers organized social activities to evaluate the days that were empty.

Two musicians in one of the wards gave concerts every night. Classes were created for travelers to study Hebrew literature and Jewish history.

That year, Istanbul was experiencing an unprecedented winter, it was frozen.

But the Jews living in Istanbul lit a fire on the beach in order to give morale to the immigrants.

Unborn babies, unborn children, unexpected love.. Half-finished engagement ceremonies, unfinished marriages, rotten love… Parents who cannot take their children on their lap or those who cannot get enough of them ... Beloved ones, weeping and prayers ...

In short, everything about Struma cannot explain.

Romania did not want the ship to return. Turkish officials did not allow passengers to land.

Despite intervening international institutions, the British government prevents the ship from arriving at Palestine at any cost in the telegram it sends to the British High Commissioner in Palestine.

Colonel Minister Lord Moyne complained that the escape of these people would "make an impact by encouraging other Jews to escape with other ships."

Thereupon, the British High Commission in Palestine stated that the most appropriate solution was to send the ship back to the Black Sea by the Turkish authorities.

On February 23, 1942, the Turkish police pulled the ship out of the sea and left it. The next day, on February 24, the ship sank.

Who is guilty?

The issue of who puts Struma down has been discussed over the years, "Turks, Germans, or British?"

Finally, on February 24, 1942, with very concrete data, the Soviet Submarine ShCh-213 turned out to have sunken a chain and motorless Struma, which was pulled off Şile, by sending a torpedo.

Stalin ordered to sink all foreign flagged ships entering the Black Sea. Struma was also the victim of this order. Documents, records are certain.

But if you ask me, Zülfü Livaneli, both Halit Kakınç and many citizens who have obtained this information; We are answered: ''this was a mass murder.''

England, Romania, Germany, Turkey, the Soviet Union has given the government handled manually, which caused the death of 769 innocent people and the outstanding issues were close to opening again. Only German accepted the crime and apologized.

Everything fell on top of Germany. But there are many other states that share this crime. ”

However, all these states are guilty.

Turkey, couldn't help 769 people starved hungry for 72 days in a floating coffin with their engines off? Why didn't it help?

There was an extremely cowardly policy in Turkey.

Nazi Germany is on the rise. It is filled with native fascists, pro-Nazi Germany.

They even leaked to the press. Looking at the archives, pro-Nazi publications are published in daily newspapers. Pro-Nazi associations are being established. A lot of pro-German voices are heard in the assembly, in the government. In Thrace, anti-Jewish counters are turning.

We don't know most of them. We're covering.

At the end of this work of author Halit Kakınç, you will find the statement of Anadolu Agency dated 24 February 1942. This statement, which has zero respect for its citizens, also includes an embarrassing lie: "Although the repair of the ship finds itself ..." begins.

In fact, the engine was defective and remained in the workshop.

So, Struma was without a motor. The ropes of a motorless ship were cut and left to its fate.

The Anadolu Agency was embarrassingly claiming that the repair of the ship was over and was lying. He was trying to cover up the murderers of murderers.

70 years have passed since the Struma murder. The Turkish society that I belong to has many aspects to be criticized.

In my opinion, the most important of these is not being able to face the countless sins of the past that have been going on for a long time.

Missing this courage ... Wouldn't it be better if we now open and air these lockers, face our sins, try to reach peace? "

The story of the Struma ship is the symbol of the cowardice, prejudice and bureaucratic justice of many countries that, with their practice, complement the Nazi genocide of European Jews, and even cooperate in the genocide.

A symbol of collaborating with genocide.

After the accident

A few days after Struma sank in the Black Sea,

A poster that was widely affixed to the walls in areas where Jews lived in Palestine wrote:

“Villain, Sir Harold Mac Michael,

The British Government's High Commissioner for Palestine is WANTED for the crime of killing 800 immigrants on the Struma ship! "

Lord Moyne was killed on November 6, 1944.

17-year-old Eliahu Hakim and 22-year-old Eliahu Bet Zouri, who were caught as suspects, were hanged in Cairo Prison on March 22, 1945.

When asked why the two young men committed the murder, they gave the following response in court:

"We got the revenge of Struma!"

Palestinian Mandate High Commissioner Mac Michael survived a serious assassination attempt in August 1944.

Also, Struma disaster,

It sparked extensive international protests against Britain's policy of immigration to Palestine.

Ship survivors

Were there no survivors among 769 + 10 people?

It happened a little bit:

1) Segal Family; Martin Segal, his wife Elvira and their son Alexander.

Saul Martin Segal, the Romanian General Manager of Standart Oil Company, which will later become Mobil Oil, was liberated by the efforts of Vehbi Koç, who did business with the company owned by Rockefeller after his wife and son stepped in the USA.

2) Pregnancy: 4 months pregnant Medea can leave the ship. She is bleeding. She is being taken to Or Ahaim Hospital in Istanbul. Her husband remained on board and died in Struma .

3) 5 people with valid passports and visas: David Frenck, Israel Frenck, Tivia Frenck, Emanuel Gefner and Theodor Bretschneider.

4) He is the only one who can survive the explosion that is stuck on the ship for 72 days. He was 16 at the time.

The second captain and David slapped each other to avoid freezing in the sea until the morning, then the second captain fell into the water, David's hopes were exhausted.

He wanted to cut his wrists with his pocket knife, his fingers were frozen, he couldn't open the knife, and when he was about to die, the Turkish rescue boat with 12 shovels found him.

If David Stoliar hadn't been saved,

Struma only: It would remain as a detail in the name of the ship, where civilian casualties were lost the most during World War II.

So many stories lived in it would not be known.

Shipwreck of Struma :

SAD it is ''Underwater Research Association''.

They are tried for years to get permission to do this dive.

Where the struma sank, the nets of the fishermen were always hanging on a ship.

Fishermen in the region called this the "Jewish Ship".

SAD team carried out archive and resource work for more than three years and determined the possible sinking region of Struma. Relationships were established with fishermen, and the points where their nets were installed were determined.

Sonar researches were done on these.

The divers made one-on-one identification and image dives to three shipwrecks that resembled the Struma ship.

The studies have been carried out under difficult conditions due to the limited visibility of the Black Sea, dense surface and bottom currents, and the water that gets very cold in the winter months.

Finally, SAD members made a dive on July 16, 2000 with the support of TDT (Technical Diving Team) and BAG (Sunken Research Group).

They found Struma 6 miles north of Istanbul Strait between 73-80 meters.

SAD crew chief Levent Yüksel said, “This ship was not a shipwreck for us. It was an underwater tomb. We should have respected those who died there. We had to be very careful. So our working time has been extended.

We did not use the usual imaging and diving techniques As if hundreds of people's souls were there. I even got the feeling of seeing the kids walking on the deck from my glasses that had been steamed for a while. I could feel your friends were in this situation too.

It was like diving into a grave, a submarine grave. Some broken items scattered on the seabed. When the divers stretched out their hands to understand what these were, the sand would rise and make impossible to see. ''

Struma is not the first.

With its 342 Jews from Romania Constanta, the Salvador ship, known as the “floating coffin” in December 940, was actually a boat with a capacity of forty people, but with so many passengers, it was caught in a ferry in Silivri.

Ships boarded to go to Palestine are sunk in many regions

The Struma incident is not the only one ... It is also included in the book of Halit Kakınç;

The British opened fire on the Tigerhill ship, which carried 1400 Jews in 1938, and many people died.

600 Czechoslovak Jews on another ship that managed to sail to Haifa in 1940 are deported and destroyed by the British.

On the 25th of November 1940, 1800 Jews fleeing from Eastern Europe, while leaving for Haifa, were dragged from their hair and placed on a ship called Patria and exiled to an island in the Indian Ocean.

At that time, the ship was sunk in a terrible explosion.

nevertheless, people go on this dangerous journey in order to escape the German persecution, they do not stop boarding ships because every road is danger, every road is death for them.

Book Suggestion:

1- Struma (Story Questioning Consciences) - Aaron Nommaz

(The story of David Stoilar, the only survivor of the ship.

He is one of the tens of other people who were born and raised in Romania but who were Jewish who could no longer be comfortable in their own country.

Describes David Stoilar's youth, his love and his journey to the Struma ship step by step.)

2- Zülfü Livaneli- Serenad (1933 University Reform, Mavi Alay, Istanbul University focuses on many challenging topics,

a fluent book that I read it in high school period and read again nowadays for this homework.)

3- Halit Kakınç '' Struma '' (A documentary-based academic study dealing with Struma's stories)

Movie Recommendation:

The Boy in the Striped Pijamas (2008)
Life is Beatiful (1999)
Memory of the camps(2014)

(These films are not related to Struma, there was no film about Struma or I don't know. But these two films find it useful to understand the mentality of that period, the political and social environment, to understand the nazi concentration camp , Jews and to understand those conditions that forced them to migrate.)

Bibliography:

Zülfü Livaneli ‘’Serenad’’, Doğan Kitap
Halit Kakınç ‘’Struma’’, Destek Yayınları
Interview with İshak Alaton – Radyo Kuzey 101.4 (İshak Alaton was about 15 years old at the time. His father, Hayim Alaton, is among the active people who operate to supply food, beverages and medicaments for the ship.)
İshak Alaton – Halit Kakınç's '' Struma '' promotional bulletin article
Halit Kakınç’s Yeni Asır interview
https://www.gastearsivi.com/gazete/tan/1942-02-25/
- 25Şubat 1942 - Tan newspaper archive