Tag #127365 - Interview #98039 (Izak Sarhon)

As to the political events during my childhood, I remember the Greeks.  We were against each other with the Greeks at that time.  There were a lot of Greeks in Istanbul at that time.  They were our “enemies” [he means “adversaries].  One of the Greek districts was “Tatavla”, whose name was changed to “Kurtulus”.  [it is interesting to note that the meaning of the word “kurtulus” is “saved”.  It could be that the place had been “saved” from the Greeks after they had been forced to leave]  Whenever a Jew went to Tatavla, there was always a fight.  I also remember a youth club called “Maccabi” [World Union] [5].  They used to fight with the Greeks, too.  “Maccabi” was both a sports club and a social club.  I do not have a special memory of these events but I remember that whenever you were with the Greeks there was always a fight.  I do not know anything of the kind happening with the Armenians.  I only know that no Jew could go and live in Tatavla until a certain date.  Just Greeks could. 

I do not remember any other political events in my childhood.  I only remember a bomb falling on the roof of a neighboring house during the war [World War I].  It came from a plane and fell on a house near the dock. Nothing much happened.  The bombs at that time, you know, they weren’t much!  I also remember that one night they said “your Dad is coming home from the military”, and we lit the lamp and waited for him to come home.  That’s all I remember.