On February 24, 1942, with the Second World War at its macabre zenith, the waters of the Black Sea welcomed 800 souls. He Goitre, a ship destined to transport cattle – it barely had a toilet and no kitchen – sank to the bottom amid screams of terror from men, women and children. They were all Jewish refugees fleeing the holocaust from Romania. Their Garden of Eden was Palestine, and they had paid a large sum for it, but they had barely caught a glimpse of Turkey when the old ship blew up for no apparent reason. What happened was not known until much later.
It was not until the late 1990s that Russia opened its secret files on World War II and the truth came out: the culprit behind the explosion had been the Soviet submarine SC-213. The massacre even had names and surnames: the captain Dimitri Mahaelovitch Dantjko he had ordered his officer to open fire under the direction of Comrade Supreme. And it is that, as Iósif Stalin kept awake that Germany received supplies through the Black Sea, he had given orders to send to hell any unidentified vessel that entered those waters. The Struma was one of the many victims.
The worst thing was that Stalin was not the only one who grounded on this fact. The Turks did the same. Neutral as they were in World War II, at least on paper, they decided to hide everything about the Struma. And boy did they know. The reality is that the ship docked at their ports and the authorities prevented the refugees from going ashore. On an official level, because they did not have the necessary passports to arrive in Palestine through the Ottoman country. Not even the mediation of Great Britain, initially reluctant to allow refugees to set foot on their land, served to get the children out of that deadly trap.
The Romanian government also did not allow the return of the refugees to the port of origin. The result was what could be expected: the Struma was forced to enter, once again, the waters of the Black Sea. There life escaped this ancient ship made with a wooden structure. The death list included 767 fatalities. There was only one survivor, who was rescued a day later by the Turkish coast guard. And to make matters worse – there can always be a cherry on top of the ignominy – was that they did not send help until a day later.
Up to here, the pure and hard facts; those who have been worth the writer Zulfu Livaneli to forge one of his best-selling hits in Turkey, ‘Serenade for Nadia’. As the writer, politician, artist and musician also affirms to ABC, a large part of his country’s society was unaware of the Struma tragedy before his work went on the market. And today, that has changed. With luck, he insists, the same will happen in Spain, where it is being published these days by the publisher ‘Galaxia Gutenberg’. However, this multifaceted author insists time and time again that, although the wickers are the events that occurred in 1942, the work is much further beyond; It is set decades later, features spies, and everything revolves around a love story. He’d better tell us himself.
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Editorial
Galaxia Gutunberg -
Precio
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pages
432
-Why do you say that this novel is based on the tragedy of the Struma?
There is not only Struma in the novel. I have focused on the characters and their psychology. Since I don’t write a history or sociology book, I tell the events from the perspective of the characters in the novel.
-How many people were traveling in the Struma and why were they fleeing? It is said that they had spent all their savings to escape the Holocaust…
About 800 civilian Jewish women, men and children are on board. They wanted to flee from German-occupied Constanta (Romania) to Palestine. Since boarding the ship was extremely expensive, they sold everything they had and bought the tickets. But the ship was a wrecked animal carrier, not an ocean liner.
-Are you in favor of the theory that the Struma was sunk by a Russian submarine?
I did a lot of research on this and found what a German court of the time stated. Yes, that the Soviet submarine fired on Struma is obvious. The commander, Captain Dzerjensky, was even awarded a medal for it. In the year 2000 it was confirmed in the archives.
Why this attack?
Stalin gave a general order to all his submarines: shoot at any unidentified ship. Because, at the time, Turkey was selling copper to Germany, and he wanted to prevent it.
-How is this catastrophe remembered in Turkey?
This event was unknown to almost everyone, with the exception of a few counted people. Politicians hid it and covered it up. But, after the publication of ‘Serenade for Nadia’, the situation changed. Now everyone knows and is upset. A ceremony is held every year, including the Government. Furthermore, on the day of the sinking of Struma the ‘chief rabbi’ lays flowers in the sea in his honor. And all this started after the novel came out.
-What was Turkey’s position in World War II? How is the conflict seen in the country?
Turkey remained neutral in that war. Both sides had major problems, but the country managed to remain neutral.
-Politician, writer, musician… How do you manage to combine all these facets of your life?
I was forced to go into politics. It’s not something I like, but when there are human rights violations in the country, the masses push you to it. Apart from that, my life is literature and music. I express myself through these aspects of life.
-How are these days living in Turkey after the earthquake catastrophe?
They’re very difficult. It’s like our souls are under the rubble. There is a lot of pain and anger.
Alleged photograph of the Struma in the Turkish port
-Your novel is groundbreaking from the social point of view. How are these types of issues viewed in Turkey?
The heroes of the novel that I have created do not live in a vacuum. Everything that happens around them affects them. Events thus enter the story. I don’t write novels with social messages. The most important thing for me is to create believable novel characters and focus on their psychological worlds.
-Has the politics of your country turned to the extreme right? Would you return to your political party if you had the opportunity?
I will not go into politics, at least in this sense, because I cannot carry out what I think. As Ortega Gasset said, I am myself and the circumstances that surround me. Because those political conditions prevent me from doing what I want. All over the world, and to a large extent now, politics is done for profit.
-What do you think is the problem of Spanish politics?
Spain is a country that has greatly influenced my life. I know the recent history of your country more than the current one. For example, I was among the protesters in front of the Spanish embassy in Stockholm when five students were to be executed at the end of the Franco regime. Later, I closely followed his transition to democracy and the rise of the country. Spain has always influenced world history.
-You spoke with Gorbachev… How would you define him? Do you think this politician would be proud of Vladimir Putin?
I was in a small intellectual group that met Gorbachev in the Kremlin in 1986. In that group there were intellectuals like my dear friend Federico Mayor Zaragoza, Arthur Miller, James Baldwin, and Peter Ustinov. Later I continued meeting with Gorbachev. In 1997 I had a long interview with him and I published a book. And the truth is that Gorbachev and Putin never liked each other…
-Why did you make the leap to Spain after an extensive bibliography of books and records in Turkey?
My books are published in almost forty languages. I am glad that a renowned publisher, ‘Galaxia Gutenberg’, has published it in Spain with a suitable translation. Your country, which has a rich literary tradition, has always impressed me with the language in which the modern novel was created.