Eli Shaul (1916-2004) was a Turkish Jew. After spending his childhood in the colorful Balat neighborhood, he received a superb education at the prestigious İstanbul Erkek Lisesi (Istanbul Men's High School), the University of Istanbul, and the Reserve Officers Training School in Ankara. While still in high school, he began keeping a diary, which he continued during his college years and the time he spent serving as an army dentist in eastern Turkey. Those diaries, contained in this book, provide rare insights into what life was like for minorities—and particularly for Jews—in Turkey during the nineteen thirties and forties. Atatürk's Republic, which most of them ardently supported, had raised their hopes of at last being accepted as fully equal Turkish citizens in every way, but those hopes were cruelly dashed when discrimination and anti-Semitism continued, and even worsened, especially after Atatürk's death in 1938. Not surprisingly, most of Turkey's Jews immigrated to Israel after it won its independence in 1948. That exodus provoked harsh criticism of the Jews in the Turkish press, and the Turkish Jews founded their own newspapers and magazines to respond to those attacks. Shaul was one of the first contributors to Turkey's fledgling Jewish press, and some of his most important articles are included in this volume. He himself moved to Israel in 1950 but continued to write articles for Turkish Jewish publications throughout his life and also authored a book on the folklore of the Turkish Jews. From Balat to Bat Yam is a testament to Eli Shaul's deeply felt patriotism, which consisted not only of love for his native Turkey but insistence that she treat all her citizens as equals.

İçindekiler

Foreword

Turkish Pronunciation

My Life Story

Letter

Balat Memories

• My Childhood Friends in Balat
• My Memories of Childhood in Balat - I
• My Memories of Childhood in Balat - II
• My Memories of Childhood in Balat - III
• "Don't go to a Fire, Don't Interfere in a Quarrel"
• Who Lived in Balat?
• Avram from the Shack
• The Jews and the CHF in the One-Party Period
• Balat and the Jews
• Balat on the Jewish Holidays
• The First Time I Left Balat
• "Eat a Jew's Food, but Don't Sleep in His House!"
• "A Turk Won't Hit a Jew, But What If He Did?"

High School and University Years

• 1937 Diary
• The Letter I Sent to the Governor on January 30, 1937
• Continuation of the Diary
• Prof Dr Alfred Kantorowicz and Others
• How Do I Think The Fire of Nationalism Can Be Extinguished?

Memories of the Wealth Tax

• Yıldız, her Mom and Dad, and the Wealth Tax
• Concerning the Wealth Tax
• Letter I Sent to Ahmet Emin Yalman Concerning the Wealth Tax
• The Second Letter I Sent to the Vatan Newspaper Concerning the Wealth Tax
• Among the Negative Results of the Wealth Tax: The Rise in Prices
• Concerning the Wealth Tax, Government Profiteering
• Profiteering and the Wealth Tax: Business in Eastern Anatolia
• What Does It Mean for Non-Muslims to Live in Turkey?
• Victim of Duty
• A Confession of Nihat Bey's
• What Does the Word "Yahudi" Mean to Us?
• The Third Letter I Sent to the Vatan Newspaper Regarding the Wealth Tax

Military Memories

• Sexual Intercourse and Prostitution in the Barracks and the Army
• The Hotel Business
• Inspection and Purchasing Commissions
• The Place of the Word "Big" in the Language
• Is It Possible for Non-Muslims to Assimilate in Turkey?
• The Numbers and Weights Commission
• Is It Possible for Non-Muslims to Assimilate in Turkey? Escaping from
  • Nationalist Bigotry
  • A Memory
  • Regarding Our Histories
• When My Close Friend Got Drunk
• Some Excitement
• Regarding Cleanliness
• Reading and Study
• The Condition of Our Draft Offices
• The Combat with Typhus
• After A Conversation About Typhus
• The Condition of Our Villages in the East
• Reserve and Regular Soldiers
• How To Turn Heaven Into Hell?
• A Journey in Our Land
• Freedom of the Press and Criticism
• What Is Soap For?
• The Mentality of the Bureaucrats in the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance
• Who Are the Contractors?
• Regarding the Theater Tax
• Regarding Our Language
• Are Hospitals Taxed?
• Why Is There Smuggling On Our Borders?
• Why Steal Our Sheep?
• Is There a Business without Bribery?
• Is It Shrewd to Abuse a Right Given By Law?
• Regarding Our Bureaucrats' Attitudes
• Our Community Centers
• Have You Ever Been in the Minority?
• Talking of This and That
• A Gentleman in Sürbahan
• Fascinated with the Uniform

Polemical Articles

Letters from Israel

• "He Who Speaks Turkish Doesn't Fear God"
• An Open Letter from Israel to Prime Minister Adnan Menderes
• Atatürk and the Jews

INDEX

Basından

• Time Out İstanbul- Temmuz 2012