Tag #127421 - Interview #98039 (Izak Sarhon)

Both my sons were active in community activities.  They went to Jewish youth clubs.  Sami went to Kardeslik Dernegi in Kurtulus and Yusuf went to Dostluk Dernegi in Osmanbey.  [Both Kardeslik Dernegi, which closed at the beginning of the 1980s because of lack of members, and Dostluk Dernegi, which still continues its activities, are Jewish youth clubs.  They are institutions that the Grand Rabbinate supports financially.  Their activities aim to attract Jewish young people, who come and socialize and take part in social, cultural and philanthropic activities.  The main aim of these clubs is to bring Jewish youth together and thus prevent assimilation]  They did activities like the theatre, dancing etc... They would go to these clubs every night after dinner, either because they had rehearsals for some performance they were preparing or just because they wanted to be with their friends.  Yusuf was very busy with theatrical performances in Dostluk Dernegi.  He once wrote the scenario of Leon Uris’ book called “QB VII”, directed and acted in the play he also called “QB VII”.  Dostluk Dernegi, at the time had a president called Jojo Eskenazi, a very charismatic man.  They used to collect money at the performances and then look after 100 poor families with that money.  We were happy that our sons were involved in this kind of thing and that they were going to these clubs, because there they were also with Jewish girls.  Actually, that is where Yusuf met his wife, Karen, at Dostluk Dernegi.  They were involved in a play together and during the rehearsals they started going out together.