Seeking a place to rest and
rest and rest
• Historian Brian Johnson who works with the American Board in Istanbul is currently [2001-3] engaged in compiling an accurate a list as possible of the names and nationalities of those buried at Ferikoy, from its opening in the 19th century to the present
• Johnson: The cemetery is of inestimable historical value. Resembling a museum of funerary art, it contains examples of different styles of monument and memorial from the 17th century to the present
• The consuls general of Germany, the United Kingdom, the U.S., the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary and Switzerland have the duty of managing the cemetery. They exchange the task of management biennially
NIKI GAMM
The American poet Robert Frost’s words come to mind about having so far to go before I sleep, far to go before I sleep. Death is the great leveler, try as we might we can't cheat.
For some there is an opportunity to choose where they may rest, for others not. Neither culture nor centuries can make any difference.
TANDARADEI*
Under the lindens on the heather,
There was our double resting-place,
Side by side and close together
Garnered blossoms, crushed, and grass
Nigh a shaw in such a vale;
Tandaradei,
Sweetly sang the nightingale.
I cam a-walking through the grasses;
Lo! My dear was come before.
Ah! What befell then-listen, listen, lasses-
Makes me glad for evermore.
Kisses? - thousands in good sooth:
Tandaradei,
See how red they’ve left my mouth.
There had he made ready - featly, fairly -
All of flow'ring herbs a yielding bed,
And that place in secret still smiles rarely.
If by chance your foot that path should tread,
You might see the roses pressed,
Tandaradei,
Where e’enow my head did rest.
How he lay beside me, did a soul discover
(Now may God forfend such shame from me):
Not a soul shall know it save my lover;
Not a soul could see save I and he,
And a certain small brown bird:
Tandaradei,
Trust him not to breath a word.
*By Sir Walther von der Vogelweide (a 13th century German poet) Transl. by Ford Madox Ford in A Little Treasury of World Poetry.
After Death*
We died, hoping for something from death
In a great void the charm was broken
How could you ever forget that song?
A piece of sky, a tuft of boughs, a bird’s feather -
Living was a habit we had acquired.
Now there is no news from that world
Nobody misses us or asks for us
It is so dark here, that at night
Window or no window, it is all the same,
In the flowing water there is no trace of our reflection.
*By Cahit Sıtkı Taranci (a 20th century Turkish poet) Transl. by Bernard Lewis in The Penguin Book of Turkish Verse
Does it matter where one lies? So many of us are unaccounted for like the lost souls in shipwrecks, forgotten wars, unidentified graves, towers inexplicably and unspeakably destroyed.
Perhaps if you give thought to it -- and how many of us do? - it would be a quiet place to rest for eternity, with towering trees and flowers and birds twitter-witting above. We might want to lie next to loved ones who have gone on before or on a hillside affording a magnificent view. Or be cremated, as is the tradition in some cultures and have one’s ashes sown to the winds, to become as one with the earth more literally and more quickly than happens when one is buried in a grave.
If you live in Istanbul, the decisions are fairly clear-cut. If Muslim, you have available to you virtually all of the cemeteries in and around the city. For those who are foreigners or belong to one of the minorities that are protected under the Lausanne Treaty, the cemeteries are separate. Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Protestant and within the Protestant cemetery, the plots seemed to be grouped roughly according to different nationalities.
And one can see what an extraordinary mixture the centuries have brought to Istanbul in the Ferikoy Protestant Cemetery. Historian Brian Johnson who works with the American Board in Istanbul is currently engaged in compiling an accurate a list as possible of the names and nationalities of those buried at Ferikoy, from its opening in the 19th century to the present. For sources, he is using the cemetery registry, death certificates and burial permits (when available) and accounting records. His task is not made simpler by having to use barely legible records and deal with alternate spellings. Once the list is prepared it will be used as the basis for a memorial for the dead at Ferikoy, especially those without permanent grave-markers. He is also working on a history of the burial ground that will eventually be published in booklet form.
Johnson told the Turkish Daily News, "The cemetery is of inestimable historical value. Resembling a museum of funerary art, it contains examples of different styles of monument and memorial from the 17th century to the present. The stones proper up along the walls are one of the last tangible links to the old Frankish burial ground in the Grand Champs des Morts, Pera's 'Great Field of the Dead' which was lost in the wake of urban expansion during the 19th century.
"The origins of the cemetery date back to 1853, when the Ottoman government declared that the graveyard of the Franks at Pera was no longer suitable as a burial ground. A new site was granted near the Imperial War Academy in Pangalti as a cemetery for Istanbul's Protestant and Catholic communities. This initiative aimed at clearing ground for urban development in the Taksim area.
"Four years later the allotted space was deemed insufficient for the dead of both communities, and a second grant - issued by order of Sultan Abdulmecid I in 1857 - assigned over one hectare of land in Ferikoy (the site of the current cemetery) as a burial ground for the Protestants. The grant was made to the embassies of the contemporary leading Protestant powers: Great Britain, Prussia, the U.S., Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Hanseatic Cities. The first body was interred at the new site in November 1858, but the cemetery did not official open until early in 1859. Although the burial ground was created primarily for foreign nationals, a separate section in the southwest corner is reserved or Armenian Protestants. Throughout the course of its history, members of other faiths also seem to have been buried there, including a few Muslims - Indian prisoners from the British army in World War One, who died while in captivity. Since its opening, a total of roughly 5000 individuals have been interred at the site."
Today’s cemetery
Entering the cemetery seems to bring one to a different world although the street that runs alongside is noisy with traffic. Here one readily sloughs off the hubbub amid the greenery. Johnson described it as "typical of nineteenth-century Western burial grounds, which were essentially designed as funerary gardens, with monuments to the dead placed among trees and shrubbery to create an idyllic environment for the expression of one's feelings and sentiments towards the departed."
As you wander around, inevitably you look at the writing on the gravestones. Drowning, childbirth, plague - how young some of these people were! Johnson drew attention to the very dramatic stone that came form the old Frankish burial ground at Pera. It displays an image of funereal cypresses and a horse-drawn chariot, or bier, out of which protrudes Death's bony arm holding a scythe.
Others are strikingly simple such as that of George Pulteney Malcom, who was a young British Army officer on his way home from India in 1837 when he contracted the plague and died.
Some are just a name and date. Who will later remember Theodora McKenna of the vivid blue eyes and the pride and joy she had in receiving a letter from the king of Norway, her birthplace, on the occasion of her 100th birthday? Who will later remember Grace McKenna Erkan, her daughter, who brightened the lives of many friends and visitors to the Sheraton Hotel Istanbul during the years she presided over the housekeeping division there until shortly before her death?
The spelling on some of the gravestones seems erratic some times. Stonecutters were mostly anonymous and local. According to Johnson, "a few moments bear the names or initials of the carvers, such as that of 'Koco Pungi,' one of three Greek brothers who worked in the stonecutting industry in the mid- twentieth century. The shop where the Pungis plied their trade still exists in Galata - in the shadow of the tower. According to the current owner, the brothers were master masons, whose skill no contemporary local marble worker can match. The Pungis and other stonecutters of the same caliber have all died or emigrated from Turkey, leaving little more than a dim memory of their craft and trade."
The consuls general of Germany, the United Kingdom, the U.S., the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary and Switzerland have the duty of managing the cemetery. They exchange the task of management biennially. Their principal duties include issuing burial permits and authorizing construction of monuments as well as supervising upkeep, repairs and accounting.
"Contributions from the supervising nations and Istanbul's resident foreign community, as well as income from burial permits, have long served to cover the cemetery's expenses," Johnson added. "A list of interment fees was first issued in 1858 and revised in subsequent decades. The cheapest burial choice was for five years, after which the bones could be disinterred and placed in an ossuary, allowing the grave site to be reused. Extra payment was required for a permanent concession and permission to construct a monument."
The consulate general of Switzerland is currently in charge of the administration and information about procedures and fees for burial, including purchase of a plot in advance, can be obtained from there.
The cemetery is open to visitors during daylight hours. The caretaker and his family live in a house just by the entrance. He works alone and considering that there are many trees on the site, he does a good job. Johnson suggested that having an assistant would help with the upkeep but it might be even better to organize a volunteer association of local residents to assist at the site. He pointed out that small cemeteries in the U.S. are often maintained in this fashion, with volunteers devoting one weekend every month or two to help clean the grounds.
The Visitors’ Lodge was built in 2000 and at the same time the drives and paths were paved and chapel remodeled. On the wall of the Lodge is a picture of Emma "Charlie" Ehrmann, who loved the Ferikoy Cemetery and wished to provide permanent memorials for those buried in unmarked graves. It is her bequest that has made possible both the preservation project and the documentation project that are being overseen by Alan McCain, the general secretary of the American Board in Istanbul.
Who was Emma "Charlie" Ehrmann?
Emma Sandilands Greet Ehrmann was born in Oakland, California on May 10, 1921 and died in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995. Her father Allan S. Boyd, was a colonel in the United States Army; her mother was Kate Greet Boyd. A brother, David S. Boyd, a captain in the United States Navy, Retired, survived her.
Educated at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, she was granted bachelor and master-of-arts degrees from that institution. While there she met Professor Howard M. Ehrmann; they were married on September 9, 1947.
For the next forty years Professor and Mrs. Ehrmann traveled frequently and remained for long visits in various European countries. During the 1960s she began research on various aspects of living and working in 19th century Istanbul and even after the death of her husband in 1989 she continued to spend considerable time in Turkey. She was proficient in the Turkish language and made many friendships with Turks and with other Americans who shared a love for this country. Her friends called her "Charlie."
Strong-willed and self-assured, Charlie would still take time to talk with even the newest of entrants in the field of Ottoman history. She was full of good ideas, anecdotes and suggestions. Her travels and studies were extensive and she seemed to know people everywhere and maintained an extensive correspondence. She was not someone that you easily forgot once you had had contact with her. It was a privilege to have known her, even briefly.
Mrs. Ehrmann made generous bequests on her death to the Admiral Bristol (American) Hospital and the Protestant Cemetery in Ferikoy, Istanbul.
Istanbul - Turkish Daily News - achives 21-7-2002
• Historian Brian Johnson who works with the American Board in Istanbul is currently [2001-3] engaged in compiling an accurate a list as possible of the names and nationalities of those buried at Ferikoy, from its opening in the 19th century to the present
• Johnson: The cemetery is of inestimable historical value. Resembling a museum of funerary art, it contains examples of different styles of monument and memorial from the 17th century to the present
• The consuls general of Germany, the United Kingdom, the U.S., the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary and Switzerland have the duty of managing the cemetery. They exchange the task of management biennially
NIKI GAMM
The American poet Robert Frost’s words come to mind about having so far to go before I sleep, far to go before I sleep. Death is the great leveler, try as we might we can't cheat.
For some there is an opportunity to choose where they may rest, for others not. Neither culture nor centuries can make any difference.
TANDARADEI*
Under the lindens on the heather,
There was our double resting-place,
Side by side and close together
Garnered blossoms, crushed, and grass
Nigh a shaw in such a vale;
Tandaradei,
Sweetly sang the nightingale.
I cam a-walking through the grasses;
Lo! My dear was come before.
Ah! What befell then-listen, listen, lasses-
Makes me glad for evermore.
Kisses? - thousands in good sooth:
Tandaradei,
See how red they’ve left my mouth.
There had he made ready - featly, fairly -
All of flow'ring herbs a yielding bed,
And that place in secret still smiles rarely.
If by chance your foot that path should tread,
You might see the roses pressed,
Tandaradei,
Where e’enow my head did rest.
How he lay beside me, did a soul discover
(Now may God forfend such shame from me):
Not a soul shall know it save my lover;
Not a soul could see save I and he,
And a certain small brown bird:
Tandaradei,
Trust him not to breath a word.
*By Sir Walther von der Vogelweide (a 13th century German poet) Transl. by Ford Madox Ford in A Little Treasury of World Poetry.
After Death*
We died, hoping for something from death
In a great void the charm was broken
How could you ever forget that song?
A piece of sky, a tuft of boughs, a bird’s feather -
Living was a habit we had acquired.
Now there is no news from that world
Nobody misses us or asks for us
It is so dark here, that at night
Window or no window, it is all the same,
In the flowing water there is no trace of our reflection.
*By Cahit Sıtkı Taranci (a 20th century Turkish poet) Transl. by Bernard Lewis in The Penguin Book of Turkish Verse
Does it matter where one lies? So many of us are unaccounted for like the lost souls in shipwrecks, forgotten wars, unidentified graves, towers inexplicably and unspeakably destroyed.
Perhaps if you give thought to it -- and how many of us do? - it would be a quiet place to rest for eternity, with towering trees and flowers and birds twitter-witting above. We might want to lie next to loved ones who have gone on before or on a hillside affording a magnificent view. Or be cremated, as is the tradition in some cultures and have one’s ashes sown to the winds, to become as one with the earth more literally and more quickly than happens when one is buried in a grave.
If you live in Istanbul, the decisions are fairly clear-cut. If Muslim, you have available to you virtually all of the cemeteries in and around the city. For those who are foreigners or belong to one of the minorities that are protected under the Lausanne Treaty, the cemeteries are separate. Armenian, Greek Orthodox, Protestant and within the Protestant cemetery, the plots seemed to be grouped roughly according to different nationalities.
And one can see what an extraordinary mixture the centuries have brought to Istanbul in the Ferikoy Protestant Cemetery. Historian Brian Johnson who works with the American Board in Istanbul is currently engaged in compiling an accurate a list as possible of the names and nationalities of those buried at Ferikoy, from its opening in the 19th century to the present. For sources, he is using the cemetery registry, death certificates and burial permits (when available) and accounting records. His task is not made simpler by having to use barely legible records and deal with alternate spellings. Once the list is prepared it will be used as the basis for a memorial for the dead at Ferikoy, especially those without permanent grave-markers. He is also working on a history of the burial ground that will eventually be published in booklet form.
Johnson told the Turkish Daily News, "The cemetery is of inestimable historical value. Resembling a museum of funerary art, it contains examples of different styles of monument and memorial from the 17th century to the present. The stones proper up along the walls are one of the last tangible links to the old Frankish burial ground in the Grand Champs des Morts, Pera's 'Great Field of the Dead' which was lost in the wake of urban expansion during the 19th century.
"The origins of the cemetery date back to 1853, when the Ottoman government declared that the graveyard of the Franks at Pera was no longer suitable as a burial ground. A new site was granted near the Imperial War Academy in Pangalti as a cemetery for Istanbul's Protestant and Catholic communities. This initiative aimed at clearing ground for urban development in the Taksim area.
"Four years later the allotted space was deemed insufficient for the dead of both communities, and a second grant - issued by order of Sultan Abdulmecid I in 1857 - assigned over one hectare of land in Ferikoy (the site of the current cemetery) as a burial ground for the Protestants. The grant was made to the embassies of the contemporary leading Protestant powers: Great Britain, Prussia, the U.S., Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and the Hanseatic Cities. The first body was interred at the new site in November 1858, but the cemetery did not official open until early in 1859. Although the burial ground was created primarily for foreign nationals, a separate section in the southwest corner is reserved or Armenian Protestants. Throughout the course of its history, members of other faiths also seem to have been buried there, including a few Muslims - Indian prisoners from the British army in World War One, who died while in captivity. Since its opening, a total of roughly 5000 individuals have been interred at the site."
Today’s cemetery
Entering the cemetery seems to bring one to a different world although the street that runs alongside is noisy with traffic. Here one readily sloughs off the hubbub amid the greenery. Johnson described it as "typical of nineteenth-century Western burial grounds, which were essentially designed as funerary gardens, with monuments to the dead placed among trees and shrubbery to create an idyllic environment for the expression of one's feelings and sentiments towards the departed."
As you wander around, inevitably you look at the writing on the gravestones. Drowning, childbirth, plague - how young some of these people were! Johnson drew attention to the very dramatic stone that came form the old Frankish burial ground at Pera. It displays an image of funereal cypresses and a horse-drawn chariot, or bier, out of which protrudes Death's bony arm holding a scythe.
Others are strikingly simple such as that of George Pulteney Malcom, who was a young British Army officer on his way home from India in 1837 when he contracted the plague and died.
Some are just a name and date. Who will later remember Theodora McKenna of the vivid blue eyes and the pride and joy she had in receiving a letter from the king of Norway, her birthplace, on the occasion of her 100th birthday? Who will later remember Grace McKenna Erkan, her daughter, who brightened the lives of many friends and visitors to the Sheraton Hotel Istanbul during the years she presided over the housekeeping division there until shortly before her death?
The spelling on some of the gravestones seems erratic some times. Stonecutters were mostly anonymous and local. According to Johnson, "a few moments bear the names or initials of the carvers, such as that of 'Koco Pungi,' one of three Greek brothers who worked in the stonecutting industry in the mid- twentieth century. The shop where the Pungis plied their trade still exists in Galata - in the shadow of the tower. According to the current owner, the brothers were master masons, whose skill no contemporary local marble worker can match. The Pungis and other stonecutters of the same caliber have all died or emigrated from Turkey, leaving little more than a dim memory of their craft and trade."
The consuls general of Germany, the United Kingdom, the U.S., the Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary and Switzerland have the duty of managing the cemetery. They exchange the task of management biennially. Their principal duties include issuing burial permits and authorizing construction of monuments as well as supervising upkeep, repairs and accounting.
"Contributions from the supervising nations and Istanbul's resident foreign community, as well as income from burial permits, have long served to cover the cemetery's expenses," Johnson added. "A list of interment fees was first issued in 1858 and revised in subsequent decades. The cheapest burial choice was for five years, after which the bones could be disinterred and placed in an ossuary, allowing the grave site to be reused. Extra payment was required for a permanent concession and permission to construct a monument."
The consulate general of Switzerland is currently in charge of the administration and information about procedures and fees for burial, including purchase of a plot in advance, can be obtained from there.
The cemetery is open to visitors during daylight hours. The caretaker and his family live in a house just by the entrance. He works alone and considering that there are many trees on the site, he does a good job. Johnson suggested that having an assistant would help with the upkeep but it might be even better to organize a volunteer association of local residents to assist at the site. He pointed out that small cemeteries in the U.S. are often maintained in this fashion, with volunteers devoting one weekend every month or two to help clean the grounds.
The Visitors’ Lodge was built in 2000 and at the same time the drives and paths were paved and chapel remodeled. On the wall of the Lodge is a picture of Emma "Charlie" Ehrmann, who loved the Ferikoy Cemetery and wished to provide permanent memorials for those buried in unmarked graves. It is her bequest that has made possible both the preservation project and the documentation project that are being overseen by Alan McCain, the general secretary of the American Board in Istanbul.
Who was Emma "Charlie" Ehrmann?
Emma Sandilands Greet Ehrmann was born in Oakland, California on May 10, 1921 and died in Washington, D.C. on October 16, 1995. Her father Allan S. Boyd, was a colonel in the United States Army; her mother was Kate Greet Boyd. A brother, David S. Boyd, a captain in the United States Navy, Retired, survived her.
Educated at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, she was granted bachelor and master-of-arts degrees from that institution. While there she met Professor Howard M. Ehrmann; they were married on September 9, 1947.
For the next forty years Professor and Mrs. Ehrmann traveled frequently and remained for long visits in various European countries. During the 1960s she began research on various aspects of living and working in 19th century Istanbul and even after the death of her husband in 1989 she continued to spend considerable time in Turkey. She was proficient in the Turkish language and made many friendships with Turks and with other Americans who shared a love for this country. Her friends called her "Charlie."
Strong-willed and self-assured, Charlie would still take time to talk with even the newest of entrants in the field of Ottoman history. She was full of good ideas, anecdotes and suggestions. Her travels and studies were extensive and she seemed to know people everywhere and maintained an extensive correspondence. She was not someone that you easily forgot once you had had contact with her. It was a privilege to have known her, even briefly.
Mrs. Ehrmann made generous bequests on her death to the Admiral Bristol (American) Hospital and the Protestant Cemetery in Ferikoy, Istanbul.
Istanbul - Turkish Daily News - achives 21-7-2002