BY RICHARD VARTANIAN
(U.S. Air Force 1953-1961)USA ARMENIAN LIFE MAGAZINE
December 2, 1941, the MV Struma, an 1867 relic steamboat, now fitted with an unreliable diesel engine, departed Romania with 10 crew members and about 781 Jewish refugees aboard fleeing the Nazis, destined for Palestine. The diesel engine failed and the ship was towed to Istanbul on December 15,1941.
A 10-week impasse followed between British diplomats and Turkish officials over the fate of the refugees.
Due to Arab and Zionist unrest in Palestine, Britain was determined to minimize Jewish immigration to Palestine. Under pressure from Britain, Turkey denied the refugees permission to come ashore.
On 23 February 1942 Turkish officials boarded Struma, engine not working, and towed Struma out into the Black Sea and cast Struma adrift about 10 miles off Istanbul. On the morning of 24 February the Soviet submarine Shch-213 torpedoed Struma, it quickly sank. There was only one survivor, 19-year-old refugee, David Stoliar, who died in Bend, Oregon in 2014 at age 91.
Turkey’s inhumane towing of this engine-less ship out to the Black Sea, & casting it adrift,—Turkey sure as hell is responsible for its sinking—and the deaths of the about 791 persons aboard this ship.
Towing the ship out to sea, casting it adrift, with no engine, no water, no food, no medical help, making it a wartime target for Soviet submarines, is exactly the same inhumane genocidal depravity as Turkish officials did to Armenians on their death marches to Deir Zor!!! Be rid of them! Let them perish!
Readers, you can bet your life and not lose it , that many, possibly all, of the Turkish officials who made this depraved 1941/1942 decision, participated in Turkey’s 1915 Genocide of Armenians, Greeks, Assyrians, & other Anatolians !
Feb. 24, 2015, Turkey for the first time hosted an official commemoration event for Jews killed in Struma ship disaster of 1942. Culture and Tourism Minister Ömer Çelik represented the government, over “shared pain”,— bonding with the vulnerable Jewish community in Turkey participating in a Turkish sanitized version of the Turkish caused tragedy.
ISRAEL officials who are intimate with Turkey in denying the Armenian Genocide,—and for money are intimate with Azerbaijan to sell them weapons to kill Armenians,—and the Israeli Supreme Court permitting Israel’s supply of weapons to Azerbaijan to continue as “no evidence exists that they are used against Armenians”,—again for money,—ALL make a Mockery of and Desecrate—the Memorials at Ashdod and Holon in Israel commemorate those who were killed by Struma’s sinking.ISRAELI officials, in their hypocritical double-standard, would be apoplectic if:(1) Armenians produced & sold Zyklon-B Gas to the Nazis to kill Jews in the Nazi Gas Chambers at Auschwitz.(2) Armenians accepted looted Jewish gold, including gold teeth & fillings plundered from Jewish dead, to sell war materials to Israel’s enemies,—as Turkey sold to Nazi Germany.(3) Armenians, claiming neutrality, sold weapons to enemies determined to annihilate Jews and Israel.
Note these two Links:
https://www.archives.gov/research/holocaust/finding-aid/civilian/rg-84-turkey.html
09/06/02 Eizenstat Special Briefing on Nazi Gold “Turkey was the only neutral to accept arms for its military from both the Allies and the Axis.”
Turkey owes us an apology over the ‘Struma’
This is the worst tragedy in the history of illegal immigration to Palestine.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Richard Vartanian Born Chicago 1935 Resident of Pasadena since 1946 Family: Father’s side Sepastia & Gürün Mother’s side Adana & Palu Served in the U.S. Air Force 1953-1961 Used my aviation knowledge gained in the Air Force to establish my aviation business in 1965 to the 1990’s, — serving both international & domestic clients, — both military & civilian.