Turkish Passport Page #2

they repeated the words

they had memorized only a few minutes earlier.

With these few sentences the Ambassador declared

they spoke Turkish. This was considered proof

of Turkish origin, and they got a document.

This freed them form camps and

spared them from the daily raids against Jews in Paris.

My parents always told me

"Never, never say you are Jewish.

"You are a Turk" "You are a Turk".

They repeated this constantly.

I was the only Jew in my school.

They were scared I might say something

They drilled me not to tell anyone I had a star.

Never.

This is what saved me in the neighborhood.

My aunt was living at

Limoges during the German occupation.

When the police came to arrest her family

her Turkish passport saved her and her two children.

and was deported.

We never found out what happened to him.

When the Germans announced

Selahattin lkmen contacted the SS General

on the island to tell him

Turkish Jews living there were Turkish citizens

and the Turkish constitution makes

no distinction of race or religion.

It wasn't easy to convince the German General

but he relented and 42 Jews were saved.

Many Turkish diplomats showed initiative

and risked their own lives

to save Jews from certain death.

I never wore the yellow star because

we were living in an occupied France and

recognized Turkish Jews

were exempt from wearing the star.

But several members of my family living in Paris

were arrested in the metro for not wearing

the yellow star despite being Turkish.

Our position became slightly privileged

Even though our identity papers were stamped "Jew"

we were not obliged to wear the yellow star.

This was a huge favor to us

thanks to the Turkish government

who intervened for us to the German authorities.

The fact that my father Fikret zdoanc

had quite good relations with the German General

von Choltitz worked in the Turkish "Jews" favor

All Jews were ordered to wear a yellow star

on their coats saying Jew.

This was compulsory.

My father argued forcefully with General von ChoItitz

to change this order.

They finally reached a compromise:

Turkish Jews would wear the yellow star on the inside

of their coats rather than the outside and

would no longer he banned from

restaurants and public places.

During the occupation we were relatively protected

and we didn't have to wear the yellow star because

my parents kept their Turkish nationality

One day, the Gestapo rang

our doorbell and asked for our papers.

He showed his documents. They saw the Turkish stamp

and said "Fine, fine," and they left.

We lived on the fifth floor when the Gestapo came

to arrest my father they never walked up the stairs

because the concierge always told them that

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