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I was a soldier when the Holocaust was taking place in Europe, from 1941-1944. and Anatolia was in the dark. The lights would be out in Kayseri, in Malatya [two cities in the central section of Turkey called Anatolia], there was no electricity at night. We were 550 non-Muslims in the military, Greeks, Armenians and Jews, ten corporal sergeants and one officer. They gave us blue uniforms for the airport, then an order came, they removed the Armenians, they gave them brown uniforms, to build roads. We went from town to town and were discharged from Canakkale [the Dardanelles]. I did not encounter antisemitism during this time. There wasn’t any in Istanbul either.
Period
Location
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Türkiye
Interview
Jak Rutli