WW1 German War Memorial in Turkey

[Tosun Saral]

On the way from Adana to Kayseri auto road, on the top of Taurus Mountains there is a place called Camalan (pineplain). Camalan is in Pozanti district. In Camalan there are 20 German soldiers and 300 Turkish soldiers buried. Those soldiers were heavily wounded in Syrian Front and were transporting to a more safe place. Some of them died because of deseases. The Graves of those herocic soldiers was in ruin for a long time. The Turkish government restored the graves in May 27th 1994. The restoration and the soldir statues were made by Mr. Tankut Oktem.
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:DG ... =clnk&cd=8

Grave of German Sister Erika in Gallipoli

in Hamidiye Soldiers Graveyard on the Asian side of Gallipoli some 19 German soldiers were buried which were killed in March 18th 1915. The remains of those soldiers were later taken to the German grave yard in the garden of German Consulate in Istanbul on 1934.
http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:7CP ... clnk&cd=13

EIN GRABSTEIN FÜR DEUTSCHE GEFALLENE DER SCHLACHT VON GALLIPOLI
IM DEPOT DER TROIA-GRABUNG
Gebhard Bieg
For some years there has been a gravestone in the garden of the Troia excavation house for the German sailors who fell at Gallipoli. Elaborately worked, the stone was found near the village of Kumkale. German soldiers also took part in the battle for control of the Dardanelles in 1915, a fact that the German public has for the most part forgotten.
http://www.uni-tuebingen.de/troia/st/fi ... b8eng.html

[ottoman]

I don't know if they are considered as memorial, but cool stuff about WWI/Germany can be found in Harbiye Military Museum in Istanbul (Harbiye Askeri Müzesi in Turkish) such as the photos of Liman von Sanders and a small statue gifted by German soldiers to a Turkish commander.

[gallipoli1915]

I was on the peninsula last week... Just for touring and picturing... But when I saw Frau Erica's Grave, I was really upset... It is next to the muslim cemetery's wall of Yalova village... It's marmours were broken; very neglected, full of dirt...

[gallipoli1915]

Those German soldiers are now lying in İstanbul, Tarabya... In the garden of German Consulate Residance...

[Peter H]

Yetkin

Thanks for the photos.

Who was Frau Erica,a German nurse?

Regards
Peter

[gallipoli1915]

Hi Peter,

Frau Erica is a German lady who fell in love a Turkish officer in Germany, and after his returning home at the time of Gallipoli war, she has followed him to Gallipoli... Married him and worked as a nurse some field hospitals around Gallipoli.. But, when a heavy bombardment she's dead... Buried near Muslim cemetery in village Yalova on Gallipoli peninsula.
Actually just a love story, but we dont't have much about her...

Yetkin

[Tosun Saral]

Dear Yetkin, You made a historical fund. I was searching the grave of Erica for a long time. Thank you 1001 times.
Now if you please I would like to add something more for our forum friends. It is written on her grave stone that
"German nurse Erica wife of Capt. Ragip Bey MD who lost her life by a shell while curing the wounded Turkish soldiers. September 26th 1915"

[Wolfgang Klaus]

The story of the remembrance of the German contribution in and around Gallipoli is a very sad one. Until now there is not a single memorial on the peninsula or somewhereelse, which tolls honour of the more than 530 dead german seamen or soldiers. Around Gallipoli where more than ten graveyards, from which only the small one from Hamidie was moved in November 1936 to Istanbul. The cemetery on the Kilia Tepe from the Landungsabteilung was untouched but forgotten. Unfortunately after the war the German military had no opportunity to errect any monument because of the political circumstances. Even the Turkish side didn't build any graveyard in the first years after the war for their fallen soldiers. The Turkish view was, that the whole peninsula should be treated as a graveyard and stayed untouched. Nevertheless, the Turks couldn't stop the building of the Allied cemeteries but were not very happy with those big monuments. While in the later years alos the Turkish side changed their mind and started to build monuments and cemeteries, the Germans had just one single place in Hamidie and even this little graveyard was in a very bad condition. I think it is time to errect somewhere on the peninsula a stone, which reminds to the fallen Germans and the Turkish-German cooperation - even this might not be in the interest of Turkey.
The grave of nurse Erica, which I visited this year, is indeed not in a very good condition. But anyway - this is not a substitut for a monument for the soldiers.

Best regards
Wolf

[Tosun Saral]

Just after war the British and French came to Gallipoli for their dead soldiers. They erected huge monuments for the memory of their holy dead. They even attended a keeper for the cemetary. Turks also erected some litlle monuments such as NCO Yahya Çavuş, Lt. Çakmak (Brother of Fieldmarshall Fevzi çakmak) ect. Germany and Turkey was involving into their interior problems. For that reason they left the idea to erect a monument on the battlefield. In Sept. 3rd 1936 King VIIIth Edward visited Gallipoli battlefields under a hidden name. British never forgot their soldiers fallen at Gallipoli. Just after WWII they came again.
My story about that visit:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/7d696/1c1cb1/

One day a journalist asked Atatürk why Turks dont have huge monuments for the memory of their fallen soldiers. He answered
"The greatest monument is the Turkish soldier himself"

In 1950's the newspaper "Milliyet" collected a campaign to build a monument . The huge Turkish monument which can be seen miles away was erected with the money collected by the newspaper.

[Tosun Saral]

This poem of Mehmet Akif Ersoy (1873-1936) tells us why Turks dont have War dead monuments:

For The Martyrs Of Canakkale(Gallipoli)

Shot down, on their spotlessly clean foreheads they lie,
For the sake of Crescent what suns are setting, O God!
Hey Soldier! Who has fallen on the ground for this land!
It would be worth their while
For our ancestors to descend from heaven
And kiss your unsullied forehead!
How great you are; our religion is saved by your blood;
Only the lions of the Battle of Bedr were as glorious.
Who could dig the grave that won't be too small for you?
`Come', if I say, `Let's bury you into History!'
You won't be contained in it.
That book isn't large enough
For the epochs you played havoc with.
Only eternity can contain you.
Saying, `this is your tomstone'
If I could place the Kaaba on your head,
And listening to the divine inspiration of my soul
Write down your epitaph,
Then, if I could take the voult of heaven
As if it was a woollen cloak
And cover your bleeding tomb
With all the planets.
If I could build with April clouds
A dome over your tomb,
And extend the seven starred Pleiades from there;
You, enwrapped with your blood 'neath the chandelier
While lying there,
If I could bring the moon to your graveside
And make it attend on you as your keeper
Until daybreak,
And then, if I could fill your chandelier to the brim
With dawn;
If I could wrap round your wound
In the evenings with tulles of sunset,
Even then I could not say
I have done enough
To cherish your blessed memory.

[Peter H]

From flickr,poster blauepics.

German Consulate,Tarabya

[Peter H]

Same source.

The German Cemetery there, circa 1914-1918.

[Tosun Saral]

Tarabya is a town on Bosporus on the European side. The consulate stands just on the shore with a huge garden. Till the proclamation of Turkish Republic the kiosk was the residence of German Imperial Ambassador. After Ankara was made capital of the new Turkish state all embassies were taken to Ankara. I am not sure but the kiosk serves today also a summer residance for the ambassador in Ankara.

[Tosun Saral]

After my long searches at Austrian newspaper archives I found out that the nurse killed by a btirish plane raid on field hostipal was not german but Austrian from the district Liesing of Vienna his name was not Erica but Anna Schwarz. An idiot read her file which was written in old turkish letters wrongly. On the file it was written wife of Captain Dr. Ragıb Bey M.D.( Dr. Yüzbaşı Ragıb Bey refikası) which means wife of. the idiot translater read "refikası" (wife of..) as Erika