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What can I tell you about the 20 military classes [9]? Well, the Turkish government did not trust its minorities, the Jews, Greeks and Armenians. They were scared that in the event of war, these minorities would turn traitors. So they gathered all of them in the guise of serving in the military, but we weren’t really soldiers. They made us build roads. They gave us brown uniforms, which were not soldier uniforms. These were special uniforms for us. I did not present myself until the last day we were supposed to give ourselves in.
Anyway, they called these road builders the ‘Nafia’, which meant “road building”. They sent all of us to different places. I was sent to a place near Balıkesir. They called in 20 classes, and I was in them. There were even fathers and sons going together as it was 20 classes. They were all given these brown uniforms and asked to build roads. It lasted about 2 years. We worked in building roads, but we did not do a good job really. In fact, we did a terrible job.
Anyway, they called these road builders the ‘Nafia’, which meant “road building”. They sent all of us to different places. I was sent to a place near Balıkesir. They called in 20 classes, and I was in them. There were even fathers and sons going together as it was 20 classes. They were all given these brown uniforms and asked to build roads. It lasted about 2 years. We worked in building roads, but we did not do a good job really. In fact, we did a terrible job.
Period
Year
1941
Location
/Balıkesir
Türkiye
Interview
Izak Sarhon