Tag #123023 - Interview #90376 (Lazar Abuaf)

That evening, I mean the evening of September 6, 1955, [14] I closed up the store around 7 p.m., we were supposed to meet with my older brother Kemal who worked in a store named Bakara, right across my store; we saw a tremendous crowd in the street.  We tried to understand what was happening but could not pinpoint anything.  A lot of looters were walking with sticks in their hands, shouting “Raise the Turkish flag”.

I separated from Kemal at Taksim, and walked toward Tunel to get to my house.  The looters were breaking the windows of stores with sticks, and emptying the contents of the stores into the streets. They first broke the windows of my store that I doted on, they scattered the goods I had inside, they broke the huge crystal full-lengthed mirror at the entrance.  I witnessed these events and could not do anything, these people were blind with rage.  I stood and watched quietly and bawled.  When the bums went away, I entered the store, pulled down the shutters and raised the flag. I entered the house crying.  The disaster continued all night.  That night I decided to leave Istanbul and settle in Israel.  I had 3,000 liras in the bank, I gave half of this to my partner and decided to immigrate with my family.  All through the night, we saw refrigerators thrown from windows, washing machines, radios, record players, mounds of fabric that were squeezed between cars and pulled and torn, the streets were full of knee-high fabrics.  The events continued till 3 or 4 in the morning, and the military took charge of the situation, placed a curfew and things calmed down. 

At 6 in the morning, I walked from Shishane towards Eminonu to better understand the destruction all around. All the stores were destroyed, the streets where the fabric stores were filled with heaps of rags, hundreds of broken appliances covering the streets.  The three-story “Kadikoy Bonmarshesi” (Superstore of Kadikoy), that was considered the first giant store of its kind was gone.  Of course most of the stores that were destroyed were ones that belonged to nonMuslims.  Even though what I saw was scary, it was proof that it wasn’t just me that was targeted.  I retraced my steps toward Tunel, the soldier there said “Sir, you cannot proceed from here, there is a ban”.  When I said “My store is a little further down, it is destroyed, how can I not go and see, please use your conscience”, he let me.  Even though I entered the street, there was nothing in place of my store, I could not locate it.   Even though I finally found the place with difficulty, they had even tried to bring down the walls with axes.  All my merchandise, my gloves, my scarves, the handbags made from genuine alligator skin, whatever I had, they tore with knives, and they stole a lot of my merchandise too.  I found the cash register of the store, 50 meters away, next to the building that is Karaca Theater today.  I calculated, my losses were exactly 70 thousand liras. The same day, the prime minister of the period, Adnan Menderes [15] and the mayor of Istanbul (unfortunately I do not remember his name), addressed the people from an open car and said “My dear citizens, may you all recover soon.  We will determine your losses, please take in the merchandise that is undamaged and we will establish your losses”.

I gathered my merchandise, put the ones that were relatively in good condition inside a safe, and sat and cried and cried, and then went home.  My decision to immigrate to Israel was strengthened.