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As we learned earlier in the year, Helene’s travails were not over upon her release from Ravensbrück. She boarded the Drottingholm in Goteberg in March 1945 and arrived in Istanbul in April. In the April 16 post, we learned of the hurdles that the released prisoners faced upon arrival in Istanbul. In the April 20 post we saw that although the passengers were allowed to leave the ship, 112 of them became prisoners again, being interned in hotels in Istanbul. Today, from excerpts from documents found in the JDC archives, we see what little progress had been made in the previous three months for many of these people, including my grandmother.
From a July 16th, 1945 memo from The American Joint Distribution Committee c/o American Consulate General in Istanbul:
Subject: Drottningholm Jewish Refugees not yet permitted formally to enter Turkey
The Drottningholm, Swedish diplomatic liner, arrived in Istanbul on April 10th, 1945, from Goteborg, Sweden. The sip carried several hundred Turkish repatriates who were to be exchanged for German nationals, then interned in Turkey.
One hundred thirty seven of those people were Jewish, every one of whom had been taken directly from concentration camps such as Buchenwald, Ravensbruck, Bergen Belsen, Auschwitz, etc. They were brought to Goteberg and there placed on board the Drottningholm. With few exceptions, they carried no documents establishing their citizenship or even identity, since such documents had, in most instances, been confiscated by Nazi camp commandants or other Nazi authorities.
Twenty one Jewish passengers were permitted to debark on the day the ship docked. The Turkish nationality status of the remaining 116 individuals was questioned by the Turkish authorities and so this entire group was interned in small hotels, under police surveillance, pending investigation and decision by the authorities with regard to their nationality.
Costs for their maintenance were and still are being paid for by the American Joint Distribution Committee.
On June 21st, after many weeks of investigation, 46 individuals were released (presumably on the theory that they were Turkish nationals)….
Today (July 10th) six more individuals …were sent to Palestine….and need no longer be considered part of this list.
Accordingly, there are, at this writing, 63 persons still interned in the hotels and there is no indication at this time what the Turkish authorities propose doing with this remaining group.
When the Drottiningholm reached Istanbul, everyone of these refugees… told the local police who were investigating their cases that they were Turkish nationals. In many cases this was so. In other instances they did not honestly know whether their nationality status was Turkish or not. However, in practically all cases they have been Turkish by birth or through marriage, although, as frequently happened, they failed to renew their Turkish citizenship. All of these people have lived for many years – in some cases all of their lives – in Belgium, Holland, Italy, Austria, France, Germany and Czechoslovakia. They did not ask to be brought to Istanbul and it is therefore the responsibility of the Turkish Government to either return them to the countries where they last resided, or else accept them in Turkey
• as Turkish repatriates or
• as refugees with the right to remain here until arrangements can be completed for their departure to other countries.The Turkish authorities have taken the position that the entire group of Jewish passengers were placed on board the Drottningholm without the knowledge of the Turkish Government. This can hardly be possible because in an exchange of nationals especially during war time clearance of passenger lists must have been made by the Turkish Government.
Certainly, there is no reason why the refugees still remaining here should be penalized by continued internment because of an error or misunderstanding on the part of the Turkish authorities, over which situation, these refugees had no control.
This group has already been interned in hotels without freedom of movement for three and a half months. As previously pointed out, everyone was in a concentration camp – some for several years. It is injust and inhuman to continue to confine them especially now with the war in Europe over.
It is respectfully urged that steps be taken for these people by our State Department, War Refugee Board and other interested agencies looking toward:
• their immediate release from internment
• acceleration of decision of the Turkish Government concerting their Turkish nationality status.
• granting permission to those not recognized as Turkish nationals to remain in Turkey as refugees on their own recognizance for a reasonable period (perhaps 6 months or a year).
• whenever possible to return them to their countries of previous residence.Arthur Fishsohn,
For American Joint Distribution Committee,
Istanbul
Helene Cohen was listed on the July 14, 1945 document entitled “Drottingholm Jewish Refugees not yet permitted to formally enter Turkey” that accompanied the above memo. For each prisoner, the document lists name, age, date and place of birth, pre-war residence, evidence of Turkish citizenship and its loss, desired destination, and remarks including relatives to contact of the 68 remaining prisoners. Here is a screenshot for the entry for Helene:
COHEN, Helene; 50; Nov 23, 1886; Bilin (Czechoslovakia) (Austrian in 1886); Austria, Vienna; Turk citizen by marriage to Haim COHEN, who remained T. citizen till 1943, when he was interned in Buchenwald; America United States; Her daughter, Mrs. Eva GOLDSTEIN, 2319-21st Ave. San Francisco – United States citizen. Has also a son – Harry SOWELL - in U.S. as U.S. citizen
As with the newspaper article we saw yesterday, the information is not entirely correct – the last names for both of Helene’s children, Eva’s address. The list includes the different “locations” of Bilin during Helene’s lifetime.