From 1933 to 2023: The Turkish Academy, Jewish Academics, and Prof. Dr. Davut Arditi

Less than three months after Hitler took office, following the boycott of Jewish businesses that began on April 1, 1933, he enacted the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service on April 7, 1933.

This law was the green light for the process of intimidating those who were not of pure, or Aryan, blood—especially Jews—as well as those who were anti-Nazi, followed by their systematic removal from their jobs, their isolation from social life, and finally, their erasure from the face of the earth.

Naturally, as in all regimes that fear the light of knowledge, scholars and scientists were the first targets.

Academics of Jewish origin or with socialist leanings were excluded from centers of science and learning, and their activities were restricted and banned. Academic figures fleeing Germany and later Austria were looking for safe harbors.

To assist these individuals, organizations such as the “Emergency Committee” in New York and the “Academic Assistance Council” in London began their operations.

Many Jewish academics also packed their bags for Kemal’s Turkey to take up posts, heading toward Istanbul.

In fact, upon the instructions of the Great Atatürk, Dentist Alfred Kantorowicz, who was in a concentration camp, was also rescued from the Nazi camp and brought to Turkey.

With the initiative of these foreign professors who served in Turkish universities and left behind lasting works, education was developed in almost all fields, from medicine to engineering, agriculture to literature, and music to the fine arts, and the next generation of scientists, most of whom are still alive today, were trained.

Some of these foreign scientists became Turkish citizens, while others preferred to return to the homelands from which they had been expelled 13 years earlier, following the end of World War II. Some accepted invitations from US universities that offered more favorable conditions. Meanwhile, some passed away in our country and were buried in this land.

Although I have added to the above, I copied most of it from

https://www.salom.com.tr/arsiv/haber/64078/turkiyeye-gelen-cogu-yahudi-kokenli-alman-profesorler-ve-albert-einst

address.

There are dozens of articles and documents on the subject, and even a book published by TÜBİTAK. Documentaries are also available.

In fact, the story of the son of a Nazi who fled to Turkey—whose native language was Turkish and who grew up on the streets of Ankara—who became the General Manager of the Mercedes truck factory, is a continuation of this tragedy, but a beautiful story.

Therefore, I leave that part to those interested and knowledgeable, and I am writing my own story.

Around 1996, while I was looking for both a university and a topic for my master's degree in America, my path crossed with Prof. Dr. David (Davut) Arditi.

I was more ignorant back then.

Thanks to the “RESISTANCE” courses we took at university, such as statics, strength of materials, and structural analysis, our minds were still pristine.

Straightforward.

Unrefined.

Without a single fold or groove for neurons to latch onto.

Mono-oriented.

Not programmed for multi-dimensional thinking.

Still 10-15 years away and at least 500 books left to read.

Let us not forget the effects of the Cold War.

Whether leftist, rightist, religious, or whatever else one might be.

These were years when it never occurred to me that people whose names were not Ahmet, Mehmet, Osman, Ömer, or Ali could be Turkish.

It was also a time when I was surprised to see names like Dimitris Dermetas, Mike Kayaoglu, Denis Kolcuoglu, and Alex Trapezonta in the corridors of Stevens Institute of Technology on the banks of the Hudson River in New Jersey.

I asked, who are these people?

The first names were Anglo-Saxon, the surnames were Muslim, even from Trabzon.

Just as my Arab friends with whom I worked on construction sites in New York thought that anyone whose name was not Ahmet, Mehmet, Osman, Ömer, or Ali was not Turkish.

Just as my Arab colleagues, upon learning that my name was Gökhan, would ask those named Ahmet, Mehmet, Osman, Ömer, or Ali whether this Gökhan was Turkish or Muslim.

May God not leave anyone in ignorance.

Perhaps it does not cause trouble for the person themselves, but it becomes torture for others,

Be it known.

As I talked with Professor Davut Arditi, whose diction was much better than mine, my mind slowly began to open.

Our professor was from İzmir.

He was a Turkish Jew from İzmir.

While he was an academic at METU, he left Turkey after 1980 and went to London, and then to Chicago. He continued his academic career at the Illinois Institute of Technology.

When I heard this, I remembered Prof. Dr. Karl Von Terzaghi, the Jewish professor who was the founder of soil mechanics. He came from Germany, worked as an academic at ITU and Robert College, and established the first soil mechanics laboratories.

Professor Terzaghi, who was of Anglo-Saxon origin, went to America like Professor Davut, who was of Turkish origin, and worked as an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

From the interest he showed me, I understood that he had only physically left İzmir and Anatolia; his soul was still here.

He still continues his duty as a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago.

Professor Davut has been conducting research in the field of “Construction Management” for a long time, a scientific discipline that is considered quite new compared to others, finding its place after the 1990s.

I am also one of the first researchers to start working in this field.

Together with our professor Prof. Dr. Talat Birgönül, the founder of the “Construction Management” discipline who guided us at METU, Professor Davut Arditi formed the main framework of our field of study.

Many young researchers conducted studies and research in America with the guidance of Professor Talat and the invitations and opportunities provided by Professor Davut.

They met the rigorous promotion criteria of prestigious universities, such as the requirement for a 1-year post-doctoral research period and publishing in Q1-Q2 journals, with the support of Professor Davut Arditi.

They rose quickly and became Professors.

Professor Davut carried the “Construction Management” discipline, which had previously been confined to the framework of “Site Manager Duties” and “Legislation” in Turkey, to a universal dimension.

He took the theses and articles written out of the corners of sectoral journals and published them in the world's important scientific journals for which he served as editor.

The efforts of Professor Talat and Professor Davut ensured the rapid institutionalization and international recognition of the “Construction Management” field.

The Turkish Academy, which progressed with the support of the Jewish professors who came to Turkey in 1933, achieved progress 100 years later with another Turkish Jewish professor, Davut Arditi.

May God be pleased with them all.

The “Construction Management” discipline of the Turkish Academy, together with Professor Davut Arditi and Professor Talat Birgönül, was saved from being a local, arid, barren, and rural scientific field.

Academics who are recognized and have publications and projects in the universal field have been trained.