Ottoman Lloyd

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Ottoman Lloyd (French Lloyd Ottoman ) was a daily newspaper published in German and French in Constantinople (since 1930 Istanbul ) , from 1908 to 1918 during the Second Ottoman constitutional period . The first edition appeared on November 18, 1908, the last on October 7, 1918.

It was initiated by the Foreign Office and the German Embassy in Constantinople as part of German Middle East policy and financed by Deutsche Bank , Bankhaus S. Bleichröder and other German companies (including Krupp ).

History of the newspaper

The newspaper had several editors-in-chief. The first editor-in-chief was from 1908 to 1914 the former deputy editor-in-chief of the Vossische Zeitung , E. M. Grunwald . The social democratic orientalist, art historian and journalist Friedrich Schrader , who has lived in Istanbul since 1891 and has an excellent network in all intellectual and cultural circles of the capital, played an essential role in founding the newspaper . From 1908 to 1917 he was deputy editor-in-chief of the paper. Not least because of his enormous knowledge of the past and present of Istanbul, he gave the paper, which was otherwise often criticized by contemporaries for its "mediocrity", literary and intellectual splendor, especially through his articles in the features section . These were republished in 1917 in an anthology Constantinople Past and Present .

Friedrich Schrader was married to an English-raised and baptized Sephardic Jew from Bulgaria. In addition to his excellent contacts with the Young Turkish intelligentsia , he was close to both the Armenian Dashnak and the Zionists who were active in Constantinople at the time . Described by Richard Lichtheim and other observers as the leading article writer and "actual editor" of the newspaper, he was considered as the successor to EMGrunwald at the end of 1913 / beginning of 1914. But instead of the cosmopolitan and social democratic Schrader, the pan-German nationalist Müller-Poyritz was appointed editor-in-chief, who was apparently more favorable to the right-wing nationalist circles around Ambassador Hans von Wangenheim and naval attaché Hans Humann . Since then, Schrader has been in constant clinic with the respective editors-in-chief, which then escalated in 1916/17 in a consular dispute with the young and inexperienced Max Übelhör. Übelhör was dismissed and ordered back to Germany, while Schrader, whom one could not do without due to his unique network and experience, largely withdrew from day-to-day business; From the middle / end of 1917 he was primarily involved in archaeological and monument conservation.

The Ottoman Lloyd was originally supposed to appear in German and Ottoman . However, at that time the Ottoman Turkish was still written with Arabic characters, so that due to the lower production costs, an agreement was reached on a bilingual German-French edition. The aim was to not only reach the German-speaking community, but also the Francophone- Levantine audience, which was then economically dominant in Istanbul .

Editors-in-chief

  • November 1908 to March 1914: EM Grunwald (liberal, former deputy editor-in-chief of the Vossische Zeitung , left the editorial team after arguments with Ambassador Baron Hans von Wangenheim , who had been in office since 1912 )
  • April 1914 to mid-November 1915: Karl Müller-Poyritz (Pan-German nationalist, unpopular with the Turks)
  • Mid-November 1915 to May 1916: Wilhelm Schwedler (experienced news editor, deposed after protests by the Turkish government about indiscretions)
  • June 1916 to August 1917: Max Übelhör ( dismissed after a legal dispute with Friedrich Schrader )
  • September 1917 to September 1918: Silbermann (teacher, no journalistic experience)
  • September to November 30, 1918: Wilhelm Feldmann (publicist, foreign correspondent, correspondent for the Berliner Tageblatt )

Other employees (selection)

(some employees were also Middle East correspondents for important German and Swiss daily newspapers)

Quotes

“In their attitude towards foreign journalists, I found the Turks invariably friendly. The Jewish-German publishers of newspapers such as the 'Ottoman Lloyd' or the ' Jeune Turc ' were less polite ....... As 'Mr Greafs' or 'Grafs' I myself received some of the arrows of the non-Turkish hirelings of the Young Turks , who accused the British critics of intrigue and reaction - such an all-encompassing word as Bolshevism and fascism have become - turophobia and corruption, and hard-heartedly Germanized their own names. "

- Philip Graves , Correspondent for the Times (London) in Constantinople until 1914

“Dr Schrader is a strange person who might be useful to us. I was with him last night privately and I want to share some of the conversation with him with you, because he is of value to our political relations. Dr. Schrader has lived in Constantinople for 20 years and has been the leading article writer for the paper since Ottoman Lloyd was founded. He claims that the local embassy and also the German Foreign Office are quite anti-Semitic and have no understanding of the importance of the Jews in the Orient for Germanness . The former Ambassador, Marschall von Bieberstein , understood that the current Ambassador von Wangenheim was an insignificant person, with whom German merchants were not satisfied either, because he did not understand their interests. The embassy had already criticized the “Ottoman Lloyd” 's pro-Jews attitude several times, and he had had inconvenience when he had given a laudatory review about a Yiddish theater company that had performed here. Dr. Schrader explains that neither here nor in Berlin is there any sign of a friendly attitude towards the Jews or the colonization in Palestine . The Press Secretary in Berlin, Privy Councilor Hammann , and the local embassy counselors Count Kanitz and Mr. Mutius are more likely to be anti-Semitic. Dr Schrader expressed himself very sharply, and even if he is exaggerating for some personal reason (he is very democratic and Jewish-friendly, his wife is a Spaniolin who was baptized as a small child ), his expression of opinion is very noteworthy, since he is precisely this Question must know well in his position and his experience. I will stay in touch with him [...] "

- Richard Lichtheim (representative of the World Zionist Organization in Constantinople 1913–1917) to the Zionist Action Committee in Berlin, November 13, 1913 (Central Zionist Archives, Jerusalem, Israel, CZA Z3: 47)

literature

  • Irmgard Farah: The German press policy and propaganda activity in the Ottoman Empire from 1908-1918 with special consideration of the "Ottoman Lloyd" . Beirut texts and studies, Volume 50, edited by the Orient Institute of the German Oriental Society , Beirut 1993, ISBN 3-515-05719-6
  • Max Rudolf Kaufmann : A literary discovery - Schrader's "Constantinople" . Announcements of the German-Turkish Society, Issue 17, 1957, pp. 13-14 (remarks from an editorial colleague about Schrader’s role in the OL)
  • Max Rudolf Kaufmann: Experiences in Turkey 50 years ago: Journal for Cultural Exchange, Volume 12, Institute for Foreign Relations, pp. 237–241 (1962) (Max Rudolf Kaufmann detailed about his work at Ottoman Lloyd 1910–12 and his dismissal after the Death of Marshal Bieberstein)
  • Friedrich Schrader : Constantinople in the past and present . JCB Mohr (Paul Siebeck), Tübingen 1917.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Martin Hartmann, Nonpolitical Letters from Turkey. The Islamic Orient, Volume 3. Leipzig, published by Rudolf Kraft. 262 pages.
  2. ^ Max Rudolf Kaufmann: A literary discovery - Schrader's "Konstantinopel". Announcements of the German-Turkish Society, Issue 17, 1957, pp. 13-14 (remarks from an editorial colleague about Schrader’s role in the OL)
  3. ↑ Max Rudolf Kaufmann: Experiences in Turkey 50 Years Ago: Journal for Cultural Exchange, Volume 12, Institute for Foreign Relations, pp. 237–241 (1962)
  4. ↑ La Section de Renseignements de l'Etat-Major général de l'Armée suisse au Département politique, Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland, 1919, 7a, Doc. 146, Jan. 30, 1919, pp. 291-293
  5. ↑ Original quote: In their attitude towards foreign journalists I found the Turks invariably courteous. The Jewish-German editors of such newspapers as the Osmanischer Lloyd and the Jeune Turc were less polite. Mr. Bourchier , the famous correspondent of The Times in the Balkans, as careful and truthful a journalist as ever lived, was their special target. He was generally described as "Mr. Bautzer". As "Mr. Graef" or "Grafs" I received some of the shafts of the non-Turkish hirelings of the CUP who accused British critics of intrigue, reaction - a word as all-embracing as "Bolshevism" and "Fascism" have become - Turcophobia and receiving subsidies, and callously Germanized their very names.
  6. ^ Philip P. Graves: Briton and Turk . Thames and Hutchinson, London 1941, p. 154.