DID THE KEMALISTS SELL THE BODIES OF DEAD GREEKS TO MAKE SOAP? Summarized from an article by historan Vlassis Agtzidis by pontosworld Historian Vlassis Agtzidis recently uncovered three newspaper reports of 1924 which detailed how the administration of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (the Kemalists) sent 400 tonnes of dead human remains (approximately 50,000 human bodies) to the port of Marseilles, France aboard a British ship. The reports appeared in The New York Times, a French newspaper Midi and also a Greek newspaper Macedonia at the time. The news reports describe how the human remains originated from the port of Mudanya on the Sea of Marmara in Turkey, and were transported on a British ship called the Zan. Agtzidis argues that the remains of these dead bodies may have been destined for the manufacture of soap, a practice which is believed to have occurred during the Jewish Holocaust. A recent film by director Eyal Ballas titled ‘Soaps’ delves into the myth that Germans used the bodies of dead Jews to manufacture soap. According to Agtzidis, France was pro-Turkish during the period in question and it would not have been an ethical issue for them to purchase the bones of dead victims for industrial use. On the 24th of December 1924 the Greek newspaper ‘Macedonia’ reported that the Zan did in fact arrive at the port of Salonica, however the contents of the cargo were not publically reported. Salonica at that time was overflowing with genocide survivors so it is possible that authorities chose to keep the cargo contents quiet so as not to aggrieve the survivors of the Greek Genocide. Despite this however, workers at the Salonica port were aware of the fact. In his book titled Chronicles of the Great Tragedy, C Angelomatis states that workers at the port reacted to the cargo’s contents but Greek authorities were not allowed to take action due to British intervention. Angelomatis writes: “Athenian newspapers published the news as follows: The docking into the port of Salonica of the English ship Zan from Mudania has transferred four hundred tons of dead Greek bodies. The workers at the port who made the revelation, prevented the ship from sailing away, but the British consul intervened and the ship was allowed to sail on. Angelomatis adds: They were the bones of Greek heroes ... they were the bones of our Greek soldiers who were either killed en masse, or were made to die slowly in extermination camps, the worst of which was the camp of Usak.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 09:14:25 +0000
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