An Ambassador and a Mensch


Book Description

A biography of Behiç Erkin. In 1942-43, in his capacity as the Turkish ambassador to Vichy France, Erkin was instrumental in rescuing numerous Jews of Turkish origin from the Nazi deportations. In August 1943 Erkin was recalled from France, but the Turkish embassy and consuls continued his work. Compares Turkey's pro-rescue stance to American and British indifference to the plight of the European Jews under Nazi rule. Includes numerous documents and photographs.




Turkey and the Rescue of European Jews


Book Description

This book exposes Turkish policies concerning European Jews during the Hitler era, focusing on three events: 1. The recruitment of German Jewish scholars by the Turkish government after Hitler came to power, 2. The fate of Jews of Turkish origin in German-controlled France during WWII, 3. The Turkish approach to Jewish refugees who were in transit to Palestine through Turkey. These events have been widely presented in literature and popular media as conspicuous evidence of the humanitarian policies of the Turkish government, as well as indications of the compassionate acts of the Turkish officials vis-à-vis Jewish people both in the pre-war years of the Nazi regime and during WWII. This volume contrasts the evidence and facts from a wealth of newly-disclosed documents with the current populist presentation of Turkey as protector of Jews.




1001 MASKS OF TURKISH ITTIHADISM IN A CENTURY


Book Description

In the early 1900s, the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) committed the Armenian Genocide as part of their pursuit of Pan-Turkist and Pan-Islamist aspirations known as "ittihadism." The CUP also sought to Turkify non-Muslim property, reminiscent of the Aryanization program in Nazi Germany that targeted Jewish assets. The ittihadist dream was shattered when the Ottoman Empire collapsed following their defeat in the Great War. Established in 1923 as an ittihadist project, the Republic of Turkey adopted "ittihadism" as its fundamental ideology as well. The desire to reach Central Asia and unite with other Turkic nations was initially reignited during World War II. Nonetheless, the dream was once again crushed when Nazi Germany was defeated on the Eastern Front. The collapse of the Soviet Union brought back the aspiration once more. This book provides an in-depth examination of the major events in the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Turkey over a century, placing particular emphasis on the Armenian Genocide, the ongoing Cyprus dilemma, and the Kurdish minority issue. By unraveling the reasoning behind these events, the book provides insight into the worldview of the current Turkish government, led by President Erdoğan and his AK Party, and the transformation of "ittihadism" into "neo-ittihadism" under their leadership.




Turkish Jews and their Diasporas


Book Description

This book introduces the reader to the past and present of Jewish life in Turkey and to Turkish Jewish diaspora communities in Israel, Europe, Latin America and the United States. It surveys the history of Jews in the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic, examining the survival of Jewish communities during the dissolution of the empire and their emigration to America, Europe, and Israel. In the cases discussed, members of these communities often sought and seek close connections with Turkey, even if those ‘ties that bind’ are rarely reciprocated by Turkish governments. Contributors also explore Turkish Jewishness today, as it is lived in Israel and Turkey, and as found in ‘places of memory’ in many cities in Turkey, where Jews no longer exist today.




New York Magazine


Book Description

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.




Selahattin Ülkümen, the Turkish Righteous among the Nations


Book Description

The history of the Holocaust is far from complete. Even with more than seven decades of Holocaust research and writing behind us, there are many specialist topics within Holocaust historiography that have not been dealt with in detail, including the role of Turkey. This has caused the researchers of the Holocaust in other countries to often include limited, outdated, and sometimes incorrect data about Turkey in their studies. Within the flood of publications on Holocaust history that has been rising since the 1990s, and which has maintained its momentum ever since, studies on the role of Turkey remain comparatively underexplored. Selahattin Ülkümen, a Turk, is the only Muslim diplomat who thus far has been designated as “Righteous among the Nations” by the Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Authority) in Jerusalem for saving, at his own risk, the lives of 42 Jews in Rhodes from the Nazis in 1944. Thus momentarily thrust into prominence, he excites a certain curiosity. However, current scholarship has failed to reveal a single monograph or even an article in periodical literature on him. Neither Turk nor Westerner has devoted more than a few pages to his exploits. References to him in other sources are slight and fall short of explaining a satisfactory explanation of his deeds. The remarkable story of Ülkümen is an important but little-known aspect of Turkish history in the Second World War period. He is an individual who has not received the attention he deserves. This book serves to fill this historiographical void. It draws on the previously unused files of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Yad Vashem Archives, and available primary and secondary sources in Turkish, English, and French.




New York Magazine


Book Description

New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.




Summary of Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch's The Nazi Conspiracy


Book Description

Buy now to get the main key ideas from Brad Meltzer & Josh Mensch's The Nazi Conspiracy During World War II, Nazi Germany attempted one of the most ambitious assassination plots in history. In The Nazi Conspiracy (2023), Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch give us the inside story of the failed plot to kill Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Joseph Stalin at a summit in Tehran in 1943. It is a thrilling account of how the operation was foiled by a combination of intelligence coups, military strategy, and luck, and a testament to the bravery and resourcefulness of those who fought against the Nazis.




Islam and Antisemitism


Book Description

This book seeks to dispel the grave misconception that Islam teaches its followers to bear hatred and enmity towards Jews. In fact, Islam regards the Jewish religion as being of true Divine origin, exactly as Islam presents itself to be. It requires Muslims to believe in, and honour, the prophets of the Israelites whose lives are mentioned at length in the Quran. According to the Quran, Jews are human beings like all others on earth, including Muslims. The same standards of justice and treatment are applied by Allah to Jews as to Muslims. The Quran prohibits Muslims from discriminating against Jews and depriving them of their rights. The Prophet Muhammad treated Jews with respect, and he abhorred and prohibited the making of racial slurs against them. This book, in Part I, deals at length with the points summarized above. Then in Part II it turns to the historical angle, showing that when Jews were under persecution by Europeans, in Spain 500 years ago and under Nazi-ism in the 20th century, Muslim individuals, rulers and states came to their assistance and saved many Jewish lives. Testimony of Jews themselves, and historians, is provided to illustrate numerous incidents of Muslims risking their own lives to save Jews during the period of the Holocaust.




Sultanic Saviors and Tolerant Turks


Book Description

What compels Jews in the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, and abroad to promote a positive image of Ottomans and Turks while they deny the Armenian genocide and the existence of antisemitism in Turkey? Based on historical narrative, the Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 were embraced by the Ottoman Empire and then, later, protected from the Nazis during WWII. If we believe that Turks and Jews have lived in harmony for so long, then how can we believe that the Turks could have committed genocide against the Armenians? Marc David Baer confronts these convictions and circumstances to reflect on what moral responsibility the descendants of the victims of one genocide have to the descendants of victims of another. Baer delves into the history of Muslim-Jewish relations in the Ottoman Empire and Turkey to find the origin of these many tangled truths. He aims to bring about reconciliation between Jews, Muslims, and Christians, not only to face inconvenient historical facts but to confront it and come to terms. By looking at the complexities of interreligious relations, Holocaust denial, genocide and ethnic cleansing, and confronting some long-standing historical stereotypes, Baer sets out to tell a new history that goes against Turkish antisemitism and admits to the Armenian genocide.