Curriculum Vitae of Fernando Paolo Aliotti:
born in Smyrna (Turkey) 5 Feb 1898
died in Rome 6 Feb 1996

Period from 1919 to 1925
Right after WWI, which had ruined my father, I went to work at his office in Smyrna as a cashier while looking out for other work in Smyrna. I landed a job with the Khedivial company handling their shipping policies. From there, in 1921, I went on to become private secretary to Henry van der Zee.

After a year and a half they made me company representative on the ship Helka which carried coal from the Black Sea to Smyrna, Greece and Egypt. This was a tough assignment but a good experience.

At the time of the 1922 fire of Smyrna I was responsible for taking 600 refugees on board and transporting them to Mytilene. From there I went on to Piraeus, where the Van der Zee family had taken refuge, and suggested to my boss Hendrik that I should return to Smyrna to retrieve merchandise that had been left there. Back in Smyrna I signed a highly profitable contract with Gerry [probably Gary] Tobacco.

In 1923 I got married and the Van der Zees, who were very happy with my work and had acquired two more ships, made me manager of their new Istanbul office. I was in charge of all coal operations involving the three vessels of the new W.F. Henry van der Zee company.

In 1925 the business encountered severe problems and the Van der Zees sold their fleet but wanted me to take over the coal department in Izmir which had been headed for years by Mr. Issaverdens. This elderly gentleman, fearing for his position, categorically refused to work with me, so Mr. Van der Zee let me go as he could find no other place for me in the firm.

Period from 1926 to 1935
In December 1925 I left the Van der Zees and, being unemployed, began to install electricity in the many new houses being built by friends in Karşıyaka. Soon a Turkish insurance company offered me a job. The pay and prospects there were poor, and I moved on to the Izmir office of Oriental Carpet as an accounting assistant in their Persian department. After a few months I was transferred to their “cloth” factory in Halka-Pınar in order to familiarize myself with wool in preparation for assignment to Persia.

There followed a year in Istanbul, and in 1927 I was transferred to Tabriz as assistant manager to fill in for the manager, André Aliotti, who was taking leave for four months. A few months after his return I was given a permanent post as co-manager of their major agency at Kirman.

In 1935 the carpet industry went into deep crisis and the Persian government placed all foreign carpet firms under a single “agent” which had to do business with Persian companies. Oriental Carpet thereupon pulled out of Persia. Mr. Edwards, OC’s general manager in London, asked me to remain as their agent in Kirman, but as the prevailing situation would have made this very difficult I refused.

I received an offer from Mr. Hoffinger, manager of Ford in Egypt, whose life I had saved in Persia and who stayed for several weeks at our home in Kirman, to become inspector for Ford in Syria. I turned it down, preferring to join my brother Bubi in Rhodes (then Italian) where he had just built a factory which later became Saife.

Period from 1935 to 1950
Brief summary: Spent all these years in Rhodes except 1944-46 in Italy. Overcame various challenges stemming from the war, the liberation, and the transfer of Rhodes to Greece. Left Rhodes for Italy in 1950.

Period from 1950 to 1954
Brief summary: This period is spent in Italy and Australia. Family quarrels made for unhappy Australian sojourn and prompted return to Italy.

Period from 1954 to 1961
In March 1954, Bill Giraud invited me to return to Izmir to manage a printed fabrics factory to be built there under the name of Basma Fabrikası affiliated with Pamuk and Cloth. I arrived in Izmir in April and proceeded to oversee the construction project, including the installation of the machinery ordered from Germany. I went on to manage the operation successfully until January 1961. At that point the Turkish authorities were unwilling to extend my work permit as a non-shareholding foreign manager. In addition, Pamuk encountered difficulties and Mr. Giraud decided to put its manager Mr. Icard, who had worked with him for years, in charge of the factory in my stead as that was the only post he could be moved to. As a result I had to leave.

Period from 1961 to 1968
Brief summary: Returned to Italy, found work and stayed there. 1968 is last year covered by this memoir.

 Notes: 1- The Aliotti family do have some web sites dedicated to family geneaology, with photos of the Aliotti family here and there are revealing photos of Smyrna just before, during and after the fire of 1922.
2- More on Mr A. Cecil Edwards (presumably the same as described as above, the general manager of OCM) here. At present no proof this Edward (married 1909) is related to the Anthony Francis Edwards who was born in 1810, editor of the Impratial in Smyrna named in other testimonies.