Photos of Constantinople
Photos from the family archive taken in Constantinople.
Balkan War and World War One
Wounded Turks in the Balkan War, 1913
My grandmother, Ronya Datnowsky, was a volunteer nurse during the Balkan War in Constantinople.
Mrs. Abramowitz and two other war nurses, 1913 or 1915
Either Balkan War, 1913, or World War One, 1915.
Dr. Feinstein, of the Red Cross, September 1914.
The calendar on his desk helps date this photo to Wednesday, September 23, 1914. The Ottoman Empire would enter the war a little over a month later, on 29 October 1914.
Dr. Feinstein, of the Red Cross.
Wearing the Red Cross uniform, carrying a sword.
Dr. Feinstein, of the Red Cross.
Wearing a Red Cross uniform, holding a sword.
In February 1915, Dr. Feinstein made a donation to the Jewish National Fund on the occasion of Ronya's sister Eva (Liska) Datnowsky and Asher Mallah's marriage.
B'nai B'rith, Constantinople
"Ouvroir des Dames du B'nai B'rith" - B'nai B'rith Ladies' Embroidery Club, Constantinople, 1916.
Comite des Dames du Bnei Brit (Ronya, standing, second from the left), 1917.
Bnei Brit Ball (Gedeon/Gisy Abraham with black shorts and white collar), ca 1920
Tchiflik, Constantinople
Mr. Sonnenschein, Tchiflik, Constantinople.
Tchiflik teacher.
French novelist, Tchiflik, Constantinople.
Mr. and Mrs. Ackermann, Tchiflik, Constantinople.
Members of the Jewish Community in Constantinople
Rabbi Dr. David Markus (Marcus), date unknown.
Dr. David Markus was an active member of the Zionist community in Constantinople.
Administrator of the Goldschmidt German-Jewish school in Pera at the time of Herzl's visit in 1901.
Chief Rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Constantinople.
Social Circle
Dr. Baruch Kahane, 1917
To my dear Mr. Moritz Abraham and Mrs. Ronya, in memory of my military service during the Great War. Loschitz, May 1917.
Territorial Army. Rabbi Dr. Baruch Kahane. Imperial and Royal Army (kaiserlich und königliche Armee, or K & K), Regional Command #19, Loschitz (Moravia).
Dr. Baruch Kahane was a friend of the Datnowsky and the Auerbach families, as evidenced by this group donation to the Jewish National Fund published in the October 26, 1917 issue of Jüdische Rundschau.
For Dr. Baruch Kahane, currently in Loschitz:
Abraham Datnowsky, Libau, congratulates Dr. Baruch Kahane on his 50th birthday: 2 (marks?)
Rabbi B.M. Auerbach and wife, staff doctor Dr. Elias Auerbach and wife, Dr. Heinrich Loewe and wife for the same event.
Abraham Datnowsky was Ronja's father. Rabbi Borukh Mendel (B.M.) Auerbach was Israel and Elias' father; Elias' wife was Ronya's sister Berha. Dr. Heinrich Loewe was Israel and Elias' brother-in-law.
My father added these details: "Professor at the Rabbinical Seminary of Berlin. Friend of the Auerbach family; [his home is] where we went to celebrate the Passover Seder, where we [Uriel and his brother Gisi] would fall asleep, because it was very long. The meal was prepared by Frau Hase, his non-Jewish landlady who was completely familiar with all the Jewish customs and the complete ritual."
(Since Dr. Baruch Kahane was a resident of Berlin, it is likely that he did not belong to the family's social circle in Constantinople as previously assumed; The connection with the family however is clear since they would attend his Seder more than a decade later. )
Friends of the Abraham and Datnowsky family in Constantinople
Olga Mizrahi, Ronya Abraham, Dr. Feinstein, Fuchs, Teora (?), 1916.
This appears to be a picnic with friends on the beach. Aside from the people identified on the photo caption, the man in the back with the spectables and mustache seems to be Moritz Abramovitz. See photos of Dr. Feinstein with his uniform above.
Perlmutter, Magnlnik (sp?), Fanny Rubin, Mrs. Abramowitz, Dr. Biram, Ronya Abraham, M. Abramowitz, Moritz Abraham, etc.
This appears to be another picnic with friends, this time in a field. Aside from some familiar faces and names (Perlmutter, Rubin, Abramowitz) are a couple of fez-wearing gentlemen and an unknown man dressed in the English fashion in the back with a cap. Undated, assuming it's around the same time as the beach photo, ca 1916.
Beach party with friends. Constantinople, 1916.
The woman throwing the ball may be Ronya. A man with a sailor cap is playing a Turkish mandolin.
Groups
Ronya Abraham with Vladimir Jabotinksy's mother and Dr. Katznelson. Cospoli.
The only inscription next to the photo is "Ronya A. with Vladimir Jabotinksy's mother and Dr. Katznelson. Cospoli."
Ze'ev Jabotinsky's mother is holding Ronya's arm, suggesting some familiarity, I assume from Moritz and Haim's work within various Constantinople Zionist groups. Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the Revisionist Zionist leader, was in Constantinople between 1908 and 1914 on the behalf of the Zionist Organisation (ZO), so I assume this photo was taken during that time, most likely closer to 1914.
Dr. Katznelson (presumably the man with the beard on the far right, based on the similarity with this photo), was the president of the board of directors of the "Treasure Bank of the Jewish Settlement", the holding company for the Jewish Colonial Trust (Jüdische Colonial Bank), which later became Bank Leumi.
Assuming that "Dr. Katznelson" is Dr. N. Katzenelson, originally from Libau. "After having joined the Organization at one of the first Congresses, he soon became a prominent member, particularly in the domain of financial affairs and institutions. One of the devoted friends of Herzl, he accompanied him on his visit to Russia in 1903, and took part in some of his political efforts there. In 1905 he was appointed President of the Board of Directors of the Jewish Colonial Trust, and regularly gave his reports of the activities of this Institution, as well as of those of the A.P.C. at the Zionist Congresses. [He] accompanied Wolffsohn in [1907] to Constantinople on a political mission. Dr. Katzenelsohn was a member of the First Russian Duma, and was for many years very active in the work of the I.C.A. for the emigration of the Russian Jews, a question on which he also submitted reports to the Zionist Congresses."
I assume that the other people on the boat are not random passengers, but belong to a group of Zionist leaders. In particular, the man with the white goatee and spectacles (fourth from the left) bears a rather striking ressemblance with Ahad A'ham, founder of "cultural Zionism".
Since Moritz does not appear on the photo, he may have been the photographer.
- Sources and References
- www.gutenberg.org (Dr. Katznelson)
- en.wikipedia.org (Ze'ev Jabotinsky)