Turkey’s First Official Struma Disaster Commemoration

Turkey commemorated the Struma Disaster for the first time in state-level. 

Ran away from Constanta with Struma vessel and held on Istanbul’s Sarayburnu shore for 72 days without being admitted to soil, 768 Jewish passengers were killed off the cost of Şile in the international waters by a Soviet submarine torpedo on 24 February 1942. 

Held in Sarayburnu this morning, the commemoration ceremony was attended by  Chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva, Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, Istanbul Governor Vasip Şahin, author Zülfü Livaneli, Jewish High School students and members of Jewish community in Istanbul. 

The ceremony started with a moment of silence for 768 victims which included 102 children. 

Levi: We must take a lesson from Struma

Moris Levi, a Turkish Jewish community leader, emphasized on the antisemitism and said that everybody needed to take a lesson from the past in order not to repeat any more Struma disasters.

“We commemorate people with the name of ruined 46 meter long vessel to carry animals at the time. What Struma reminds me is the crying of my elders. Those people witnessed the desperation in the vessel when authorities put a blind eye on the clandestine food transfer during nights. 

"Struma was abandoned, it was so deserted, little of importance. It was something that everybody wanted to get rid of at some point. It was a thing that everybody wished that it didn’t exist at all. Unfortunately, it wasn’t only a vessel that Turkey wished it didn’t exist, but also UK, Russia, Romania and all other European countries. 

"If there is nobody to blame, everybody is to blame" 

"If there is nobody to blame, everybody is to blame. But what needs to be done is to shed light on the wrongdoings of the past in order to reveal the truth for all people. If we fail to do this, more Struma are to come,” he said. 

Following Levi, chief Rabbi Ishak Haleva held the prayers for the victims. 

Çelik: Most dramatic page for Turks and Jews 

Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik, on the other hand, said that that Struma was the most dramatic page for Turks and Jews. 

 “This pain belongs to all of us. We are sending our condolences. In the end, this is a very complex matter. Under tragic circumstances, the vessel was left alone to its faith in the Black Sea. This is very painful. We are holding this commemoration to make sure that this painful event is not forgotten. No matter what, some will try to obscure this. We will hold these ceremonies every year so that this sort of incidents will never occur.

“Jewish community is not a guest but a host in this country. It is not acceptable that they are harassed for incidents where they are not responsible. We are standing against this," he said. 

In the memory of victims, Minister Çelik and Chief Rabbi left flowers to the sea. 

Livaneli: An important step

“I think it is very important that such ceremony is held for the first time,” Zülfü Livaneli, author of Serenad, an account on the Struma disaster, told bianet.  

“It was an important to hold a state-level commemoration on the issue for the first time. Previously, Turkey never expressed an opinion here. When I was writing my novel, I asked for information from the Foreign Ministry. But they declined. Şükrü Saraçoğlu, PM during the era, claimed that they had no wrongdoing in that tragedy. There is no other comment. This commemoration in a way recognizes this fault. This is a good thing. Turkey is not the most culpable country, other countries like UK, Russia are to blame as well. This is good as a first step. This incident was unknown to many in Turkey." (NV/BM)

* Click here to read the article in Turkish.