Lamec Saad and a Map of Smyrna

Mavi Boncuk | 

Lamec Saad (1852-1931). In the second half of the 19th century there were serious massacres of the Maronite population in Lebanon. Many children became orphans - including Lamec Saad. During a study trip to Lebanon, the orientalist Laurenz Reinke (1829-1896) took care of two orphans, one of whom was ten-year-old Lamec Saad. He took both of them to Germany, where they received accommodation, thorough German lessons and four years of normal schooling. Lamec Saad graduated from a private school in Telgte. After the establishment of the German law in 1871, construction of the Baghdad railway began in Istanbul. In 1872, Lamec Saad successfully applied for a job with the Turkish railway service. But after only three years the project had to be discontinued due to a lack of funds. Saad therefore returned to Germany, where he studied medicine at the University of Würzburg and received his doctorate in 1880. In the same year he worked briefly as an assistant doctor in the German hospital in Istanbul, before taking on the position of quarantine doctor in the small town of Khanekin at the International Medical Administration. Khanekin was of particular importance as a transit station for Shiite pilgrims from Persia, since Karbala, a holy place of pilgrimage for Shiites, lies south of Baghdad. 

After four years, Saad was transferred to the Black Sea city of Burgas. In 1888 he married the German Dora Brüning. Together they went to Trebizond, Erzerum and Jaffa. In the 90s he worked in Istanbul. From 1896 until his retirement he lived and worked in Jaffa. 

The Saad family then returned to Germany and settled in Berlin. During the First World War, Saad had to earn extra income with his publications because his pension from Turkey was not forthcoming. During this time he met the oriental-loving writer Armin T. Wegner (1886-1978), who characterized Saad as follows in his travelogue "At the Crossroads of the Worlds" published in 1930: "[...] Although he is neither a scientist nor an artist, In many years of contact with the people he has gained an experience that no scientific observation or artistic empathy can rival in depth.« 

[The information on Lamec Saad is based on the commendable article by Peter Sieve in the journal Kulturland Oldenburg, No. 147 .]

Lamec Saad
Sechzehn Jahre als Quarantänearzt
in der Türkei

366 Seiten, Hardcover mit Schutzumschlag
Mit 19 Abbildung
Euro 38,00 [D]
ISBN 978-3-96662-101-4

Bir Marûni hekimin Osmanlı dönemine ait hatıraları...

19. yüzyılın son kolera salgını ve Doğu’da uygulanan karantina. Lübnanlı bir Marûni olan Lamec Saad (1852-1931) 10 yaşındayken evlatlık olarak Almanya’ya götürüldü. Würzburg’da tıp eğitimi aldı (1878-1880). 1880 yılında İstanbul’a geldi. Hotel Pesth’e yerleştikten sonra Alman Hastanesi’nde asistan hekim olarak çalışmaya başladı. Görevi dışındaki zamanlarını Péra’daki Della Suda, Galata’daki Modella ve İstanbul tarafındaki Kirkor Efendi eczanelerinde geçirdi. Yabancı doktorların imparatorluk topraklarında doktorluk yapması Mektebi Tıbbîye’nin açtığı sınavı kazanmalarına bağlıydı. Saad, bu sınava girip kazandı ve böylece imparatorluğun birçok noktasına yayılan 16 yılı karantina doktoru olmak üzere 30 yıl sürecek ve görev ve yaşam serüveni başladı. İran sınırındaki Hanikin’den Trabzon’a, Erzurum’dan Yafa’ya, Çatalca’dan Konya’ya kadar birçok yerde görev yapan Saad’ın kitabı o günlere dair birçoğu tıp tarihimizle ilgili birçok ilginç olaya tanıklık etmekte ve dilimize kazandırılacağı günü beklemektedir.

It is a life of troubles and adventures that unfolds in this book. The author, a German doctor, was an official of the International Medical Council in the small town of Khanekin in Iraq on the Turkish-Persian border, in Trebizond and Burgas on the Black Sea, in Erzerum, the center of the Armenian unrest, in and near Constantinople and finally in Jaffa Employed in quarantine service. For many years he lived entirely among Orientals, only exceptionally did he meet Europeans who were passing through. Whenever cholera broke out in the interior of the country or the bubonic plague that was endemic there was brought in from Persia, he had to go on lengthy journeys, almost constantly risking his life, to track down the source of the evil, force the recalcitrant provincial authorities to take the necessary sanitary measures, set up and inspect cordons and grapple with the quarantined indigenous pilgrims and travelers of all kinds. As a human document the book is full of interest, but it will also prove extremely instructive from other points of view. It provides a deep insight into the conditions in Turkey before the overthrow, into the boundless neglect of the administrative service, the poverty and helplessness of the population, the robbery and traffic problems, the fanaticism and superstition of even the better classes. All of these circumstances are described without any literary embellishment, with a simplicity that borders on the sober and is therefore convincing, and thus constitutes a valuable contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the current situation in the Balkans. [From the publisher's advertisement from 1913]

The text of the new set follows the Berlin 1913 edition, published by Verlag Dietrich Reimer (Ernst Vohsen).

contents

Vorwort | 1. Nach Konstantinopel | 2. Von Konstantinopel nach Khanekin | 3. Meine amtliche Stellung | 4. Das Leben an der türkisch-persischen Grenze | 5. Die Pilger nach Kerbela und Nedschef | 6. Jagdvergnügen und Abendunterhaltung | 7. Vier Monate unter Pestkranken | 8. Landwirtschaft und Industrie an der türkisch-persischen Grenze | 9. Ärztliche Praxis und Krankheiten | 10. Das Räuberunwesen an der türkisch-persischen Grenze | 11. Versetzung nach Burgas, Urlaub und Reise nach Trapezunt | 12. In Trapezunt | 15. In Erzerum | 14. In Jafa | 15. In Tschataldscha | 16. Mission nach dem Vilajet Konia | 17. Mission Jalova-Engure | 18. Im Parloir Galata (Konstantinopel)

Foreword | 1. To Constantinople | 2. From Constantinople to Khanekin | 3. My official position | 4. Life on the Turkish-Persian border | 5. The pilgrims to Karbala and Nedshef | 6. Hunting Pleasures and Evening Entertainment | 7. Four Months Among Plague Victims | 8. Agriculture and Industry on the Turkish-Persian Border | 9. Medical Practice and Diseases | 10. The robbery on the Turkish-Persian border | 11. Transfer to Burgas, vacation and trip to Trebizond | 12. In Trebizond | 15. In Erzerum | 14. In Yafa | 15. In Chatalja | 16. Mission to the Vilayet Konia | 17. Mission Jalova-Engure | 18. In the Parloir Galata (Constantinople)