ISBN: 0-333-58234-9

Undoubtedly, the Holocaust is the most brutal crime against humanity in the twentieth century. As Recep Peker stated in 1947, “Anti Semitism will remain the shame of the twentieth century”.

No other statement would be able to indicate the extents of the tragedy. Apparently, Stanford Shaw thought the same way and chose these lines to end his book “Turkey and the Holocaust”.

Stanford J. Shaw (1930-2006), was eminent professor of Ottoman and Turkish History and had received honorary degrees from Harvard University and Boğaziçi University, and medals of honour for lifetime achievement from the American-Turkish Association, the Fulbright Program and the President of the Republic of Turkey. He was also elected an honorary member of the Turkish Historical Society and the Academy of Sciences of Turkey. After his retirement in 1999, he started to teach at Bilkent University in Ankara.

Shaw is referred to as a dedicated scholar, researcher and teacher in the Bulletin of Bilkent University in December 2006. That Shaw is a diligent and enthusiastic researcher can be found between the lines of “Turkey and the Holocaust”, too, where each of the three chapters demonstrate the relevant documents as well pictures and relies upon an intensive research throughout the literature.

 “Turkey and the Holocaust” deals with Turkey’s success in rescuing thousands of Jews from Europe, the Nazi occupied battlefield, whereas many countries do not have any choice but to collaborate with the German forces and to send thousands of Jews to the concentration camps.

In the first chapter, the author tells how Turkey sheltered professionals dismissed by the Nazis before the start of the war. That this was not for the first time for Turkey, is shown in the early few pages with a brief introduction to the Jews during the Ottoman Empire and the first years of the young Turkish Republic. Here, Shaw uses his conclusions from his other important work “The Jews of the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic” written in 1991. This brief introduction reveals the necessary framework to grasp a deeper understanding of the following subsections in which Turkey’s “Jewish question” and the “Wealth Tax” disaster are indicated. Starting with the first subsection about the immigration of German-Jew professionals, the reader immediately finds himself in the middle of the incidences of the 1930s. Shaw must also be appreciated for his ability to show how the problems of the professors did not end with their immigration to Turkey. The arising difficulties from their obligation to learn Turkish language in concomitant with their contributions to Turkish science and development show both sides of the coin. A very important aspect in “Turkey and the Holocaust” is Stanford Shaw’s emphasis on the different realms of perception as an accurate researcher. For instance, while talking about the Turkey’s help to the European Jews, he also reveals another dimension of the problem, namely, Turkish Jews and the rise of Anti-Semitism in Turkey.

In the second chapter, “Turkey’s Role in Rescuing Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust”, the author sheds light on Turkey’s diplomatic efforts and success in France and also in Greece to save the lives of thousands of Jews. Mainly in France, there were many Jews of Turkish origin that lost their citizenship in the early years of the Republic with the new laws about the citizenship.  Not only these but also other Jews for whom the Turkish diplomats sometimes endangered their own lives were issued Turkish passports and certificates of Turkish citizenship. The Turkish diplomatic intervention in order to prevent application of anti-Jewish laws such as the sealing of apartments or sequestration of the businesses was in most cases successful, which Shaw demonstrates in his book with the relevant documents mainly consisting of the diplomatic letters. It is important to note here that the documents are revealed in such a manner that Shaw’s work is far away from being classified only as a factual book. On the contrary, these pieces of real life increase the fluency of the book.  In this part of “Turkey and the Holocaust”, the anecdotes about the Turkish diplomats who also protected Jews from deportation to the concentration camps show the reader that not everyone in Europe did accept “Man’s inhumanity to Man”. Another notable book about the heroic behaviour of Turkish diplomats is Emir Kıvırcık’s “Büyükelçi” (the Ambassador), which deals with Turkey’s Ambassador to Paris, Mr. Behiç Erkin, who saved the lives of more than twenty thousand Jews in Europe. Erkin’s efforts as well as of the other diplomats who endangered their own lives are also shown in Shaw’s work.

The third chapter, “Istanbul Activities in Rescuing European Jews from the Nazis”, the reader is given an exciting history lesson. In this chapter, one can also find the conflict of the interests of the states whereas people rather focus on rescuing lives at the individual level. Not only the conflict of interests but also the rescuing activities in Istanbul of the time of Second World War make the chapter very easily read and exciting. How the Jewish, American, German and Britain agents operated in the same district is like a scene from the modern spy movies that would not be very plausible for today’s audience. Consequently, this point arouses interest in the reader in a different way than in the other chapters.

Stanford Shaw’s “Turkey and the Holocaust” has an important place within the literature on the Second World War and sheds light on many unknown aspects about that time in Turkey . Shaw gives a brief conclusion of one page in the end of his book. He summarises the reasons why and how Turkey in fact did not remain neutral during the Second World War. The internal and external conflicts are once again indicated in this last part. Stanford Shaw also points at today’s Turkey which still welcomes many refugees from all over the world. Despite the greater notion on the humanity in the last chapter, one still asks how mankind has the tendency to go to the both directions of humanity and cruelty at the same.

Irem Güney, International Strategic Research Organisation, Ankara

September 2007