Istanbul Pogroms of 1955: the Greek Kristallnacht

The 1955 Istanbul Pogroms - Mostly Greek, but also Armenians, and Jews were attacked - 10 killed - 3500 homes and 4000 shops were destroyed . It was the end of the Greek community's significant presence since the days of Constantine and earlier. And the start od massive exodus of other minorities from that historical city.

The 6 and 7 September of 1955 were a black day indeed. A very macabre day when organised Turkish mobs targeted mainly the Greek community but also other minorities in Istanbul with the clear intent to do as much harm as possible. They burned and destroyed hundreds of previously marked and identified businesses, killing scores. But more tragically, they put an end to any significant Greek presence in the city since thousands of years. The numbers dropped from more than 100,000 to under 1000. It was the end of what was left of an all encompassing Costantinople-Istanbul.

These very tragic systematic mob attacks events were dubbed The "Greek Kristallnacht", echoeing the tragic night the jews and their businesses were attacked by Nazi thugs in 1938 in a prelude of much more serious assault and annihilation that followed. Hundreds (thousands?) of these Istanbul rioters were brought in to the city by chartered buses and taxis from several remote areas to execute the planned intimidation and therefore forced expulsion of the Greeks. And unfortunately they succeeded in their plan: to evict the Greeks and wave goodbye to scores of Armenians and other minorities from that majestic city of Istanbul.

The Istanbul Pogrom, also known as the Istanbul Riots, or the Σεπτεμβριανά in Greek and the 6-7 Eylul Olayları in Turkish (both literally Events of September), was a pogrom directed primarily at Istanbul’s 100,000-strong Greek minority. Jews and Armenians living in the city and their businesses were also targetted in the pogrom, which was orchestrated by the Demokrat Parti-government of Turkish Prime Minister Adnan Menderes.

The rioters did everything to destroy the most possible within the shortest time. They knew the police were not about to intervene, but had to act fast nonetheless and show the Greeks that they are basically not welcome anymore. They were most "active" in the Beyoglu Pera area and they damaged much more than just property: They killed what was left of Istanbul's cosmopolitan history.

Being married to a woman from Istanbul, I have heard and seen enough to fully grasp the very deep shock that the 1955 riots caused. My late father in law Vahan used to say that the 1955 pogroms were as devastating as any other event, shaking not only the Greeks, but also the collective psyche and insecurity feeling of jews and armenians, prompting massive immigration in the months and years that followed the 1955 organised riots.(The arrest, exile and execution of the Istanbul Armenian intelligentgsia on April 24, 195 was the prelude of the Armenian Genocide.)

On the night of November 9, 1938, Hitler's Nazis burned synagogues all over Germany and Austria, smashed shop windows, looted stores, ransacked Jewish homes, and killed dozens of Jews. Twenty thousand Jews were arrested. The event was called Kristallnacht (Crystal Night) because of the piles of broken glass strewn on the sidewalks and streets. It was a prelude to the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps to come and is often considered the beginning of the Holocaust.(photo Bettman/ Corbis)

Workers clean red paint at the entrance of the Greek Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. The consulate is on Istiklal Caddesi (Pera, Beyoglu) and today is heavily protected by security around the clock. Too bad, not many Greeks are left in the city...

A Greek cemetary after some friendly visit from the mob acting to inflict the most damafe to the community in the shortest possible time...

The attacks by the mob began at 5.50pm on 6th September and ended at 2am on 7 September with the imposition of martial law. However, during this 8 hours of frenzy the police assisted and guided the mobs in their relentless path of destruction in a very well organised pogrom.

The 100,000 rioters came well equipped with lists of Greek addresses to target scattered through 45 square kilometres; Armenian and Jewish property was also attacked in the frenzy.
There were three systematic waves of destroyers. “
The first wave destroyed metal doors and barriers to all churches, house and businesses. They smashed all obstacles to entry.
The second wave commenced pilfering and the pillaging. They came with trucks so as to systematically loot and carry off their booty. But the basic job of the second wave was to begin the destruction of the houses, the apartments, the church, the stores and then to move on, just as the first wave moved on very quickly.
The third came some time later to finish off the marauding.” The pilfering or destruction of Greek businesses was so great that it produced a food shortage in Constantinople. The price of eggs rose 6 times and as most bakeries were utterly destroyed people had to wait in line for a piece of bread. People had nothing to eat and nowhere to sleep. (Houses were looted, and then destroyed by pouring gasoline

The rioters in very celebratory mood after their rampage while below...

...The Greek Patriarch Athenagoras is inspecting and lamenting in a  desacrated Othodox church in Istanbul. He was a lonely figure indeed.

The Armenian Patriarchate in Istanbul (Kum Kapi) is now under 24/7 police protection (Photo: Krikor Tersakian)

The Istiklal Pera (2009), where most of the riots occured. Few of these youth today have much knowledge about what happened right there in 1955 that changed the character of their city. (Photo: Krikor Tersakian)



Krikor Tersakian Montreal Canada 2009