Selahattin Ülkümen

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Selahattin Ülkümen (born January 14, 1914 in Antakya , † June 7, 2003 in Istanbul ) was a Turkish diplomat . As consul general on the island of Rhodes in 1944 he saved 42 Jewish families from deportation and murder in German gas chambers . He also gave about 200 families the saving Turkish citizenship .

Action

The island of Rhodes, then part of Italy, was occupied by the Germans in 1943. The 30-year-old used his position to issue Turkish passports to Jews living on Rhodes who were Ottoman citizens before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire , and their spouses and children, but soon also people without any connection to Turkey. On July 23, 1944 - unlike another 1,700 Jews from Rhodes - they escaped deportation to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp .

Consequences

As a result, his house was bombed by the German armed forces. His heavily pregnant wife, Mihrinnisa Ülkümen Hanim, was injured so badly that she died a few days later. The unborn son at the time of the attack survived. Two other consulate employees were also killed in this targeted bombing, which has been proven to be an act of revenge.

When asked whether he would have done the same if he had known what would happen, Ülkümen is said to have replied to his son later:

“In Islam it is like in Judaism ; whoever saves a person's life saves the whole world. Your mother would be proud of me and I would do exactly the same thing all over again. "

- Selahattin Ülkümen

On July 13, 1944, Ulrich Kleemann, as commandant of the East Aegean , ordered the arrest of the Jews on Rhodes. Using his authority, the Ülkümens' house was then bombed by two German combat aircraft. Investigations against Kleemann for murder were discontinued after the war.

Awards

exhibition

An Ülkümen and other Turkish rescuers of numerous Jews - Necdet Kent , then Ambassador in Marseille , and Namık Kemal Yolga , Deputy Consul General in Paris  - was from May 27 to June 2006 in the exhibition "Visa for Life" in the Our Father Church in Berlin-Wilmersdorf .

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ahmet Çığşar: Selahattin Ülkümen: Rodos'ta Nazilere Karşı Bir Anadolulu. In: Medium. October 30, 2016, accessed March 11, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Ahmet Çığşar: Selahattin Ülkümen: Rodos'ta Nazilere Karşı Bir Anadolulu. In: Medium. October 30, 2016, accessed March 11, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Selahattin Ülkümen on the website of Yad Vashem (English)
personal data
SURNAME Ülkümen, Selahattin
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH January 14, 1914
PLACE OF BIRTH Antakya
DATE OF DEATH June 7, 2003
Place of death Istanbul