Salavador

Short time ago I wrote about the largest civilian marine disaster of World War II and bestiality, in which nearly 4,000 Jews were actually sentenced to death. Unfortunately, “the travellers to death” in the ship named Struma were not the only ones who were exposed to the brutal treatment.

Today I will try to give some information to my friends possessing humane feelings to the victims of Nazi bestiality, some information about another atrocity inflicted on innocent Jews by present-day Turkey.

Like in the case of Struma, after Hitler seized power and expanded his “empire“ in Christian Europe within incredibly short time, the Jews living in Bulgaria abandoned everything that had been created by themselves and their parents a grandparents and whole generations of their predecessors, in fear of the coming genocide.

And just with the things that could be monetized, thy tried to get to the “Promised Land”, not knowing what they could face.

352 Jews used the little money they had left to pay for a boat. Unfortunately, even a person not familiar with ship construction could tell that the so-called boat could never reach the “Promised Land”. The sailboat was named Salavador.

Salavador. The name sounded good so that the ticket sellers could lure those who would be sent to death. The travel agency was well aware of that. The original name of the boat was unattractive, Tsar Krum… It was a small boat, 20m long and 5m wide, made of wood, dilapidated, left abandoned somewhere at the far end oft the port until that moment…

So they paid the travel agency for the voyage, but when they boarded the boat, they saw that the boat could not sail anywhere … They were promised that a towing boat would pull their boat. Those who were trying to escape death had no choice but to trust the agents … 352 people on a 20 m long and 5m wide dilapidated boat set off on their journey to death they had paid with the last money they had ….

On December 3, 1940, the boat left Varna, it took three days before it reached Istanbul, where some more extortionists were waiting to blackmail the passengers who were actually sentenced to death … The Turkish authorities did not allow to continue the journey, but they did not let anyone leave the boat.

They knew that every hour the people were waiting for would lead to death, given the shortage of water, food and hygienic possibilities on the 20-meter-long boat where 352 human souls were packed… After six days of extortion they got what the people travelling to death still had on them and the authorities allowed the voyage to continue… The passengers were not allowed to get off, leave the boat and seek help with the Instanbul Jews who were supported by European or American Jewish organizations.

On December 12, 1940, “Salavador” was forced, really, it was forced to continue sailing … and a storm was expected to come …
So the boat could cover only a few miles before the first surge of the expected storm split the boat into pieces as early as near the Silivri suburb of Istanbul …

Many of the passengers did not even know how to swim, not to mention the children on the boat …
It was the month of December and it was very cold of course…
The vast majority of passengers finished their last trip in the waves of the chilling sea…

And those who managed to reach the shore in the end were not allowed to get help. They suffered from hypothermia and left this scary world…. But the local villagers did not forget to take everything valuable that was still left in their clothes and on their bodies…

Despite the all of the obstacles, 122 people were saved…. They survived only because there was a synagogue and a Jewish community in the Silivri suburb, which overcame the insurmountable obstacles and saved the 122 humans souls, at least….

But the state did not like that, it was not expected that any of the 352 human beings would survive …. Those surviving in the synagogue and thus in the Jewish community were taken and sent to the homeless facility in Beyoglu.
Subsequently, 63 survivors were deported back to Bulgaria and they managed to escape from there.

Thus, 59 souls were saved, only thanks to bribes. They finally reached the promised land on 19^th March 1940 …

Those who had got drowned or died because of cold were allowed to be buried at the Jewish cemetery in Silivri, but even there their bones and souls were not given the state of eternal peace … One day the Turkish state ceded that cemetery and opened it for building….

But fortunately, in the meantime, the Jews managed to build their own state and that state, i.e. Israel, took the bones of those victims (apparently they were paid for it) to Israel, and since 1974 the remains can finally lay in eternal peace in the Har Herzl Cemetery in Yerushalaim … ..

I would like to present a video recording of that tragedy, including the “joyous” Turkish press report on this tragedy: