Death on the Black Sea: The Untold Story of the ‘Struma’ and World War II’s Holocaust at Sea
| Author | Douglas Frantz, Catherine Collins |
| Publication information | Harper Perennial, April 13, 2004, 384 pages |
| Abbreviation | ISBN 10 0060936851 |
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Narrative
Death on the Black Sea tells the story of Struma, and World War II's Holocaust at Sea.
The book is a full accounting of an atrocity that has been largely overlooked.
The story begins with an account of pre-war Romanian history, and the brutalities that occurred even before the country joined the Nazis.
The British controlled immigration, and restricted it so as not to bother the Arabs and their oil supplies.
Struma left Romania in December 1941, with intent to sail out of the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus Strait, and on to Palestine.
The engine failed on the first day, was patched, and failed three days later.
Struma was towed by a Turkish tug to Istanbul harbor, where the ship stayed for almost two months, while bureaucratic nonsense was conducted to seal the fate of the passengers.
They slowly withered due to disease and lack of fresh food and fresh air.
There was even bickering over a plan to let the children leave the ship, a plan that never happened because Turkey, following a suggestion from the British, cut the anchor of the engineless vessel and simply set it adrift.
Joseph Stalin had ordered Russian submarines to sink all ships in the Black Sea to prevent them from getting to Germany, and a day after being set adrift, Struma was torpedoed, and quickly sank.
Nineteen-year-old David Stoliar was rescued by Turkish fishermen, but was imprisoned in Turkey; much of the book is his story.
Narrative
Death on the Black Sea includes numerous references and -especially- about 70 interviews with passengers who decided not to take the ship to Palestine, survivors of Struma (who were allowed to leave the boat in Istanbul), and the only one who survived the sinking, David Stoliar.
The authors were journalists in Istanbul for New York Times and Chicago Tribune and understand the Turkish mentality very well. The book outlines the Turkish Government's inability and lack of understanding of human suffering.
The Ottoman-like approach of waiting for weeks to make simple decisions was inhumane.
It is impossible to find (even now) Turkish officials who will admit their ethical, historical and human responsibility for the sinking and the loss of more than 760 innocent people,