HANNOVER
Turkey erected the bronze memorial for its citizens, five Jewish, two Muslim and one Orthodox Armenian, Perla Behar-Behar, Iso Cory, Jacques Nahoum, Dr. Jakob Jekutiel Neubauer, Max Neumann, Marco Ojalvo, Elyo Sarfati, Garabed Tachdijan, who were killed at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Lower Saxony state in 1944-1945.
Turkey's Ambassador to Germany Huseyin Avni Karslioglu opened the memorial.
The ceremony started with the screening of the Turkish movie "Turkish Passport" depicting the efforts of Turkish diplomats enabling Jewish people escape from Nazi cruelty and shelter in Turkey.
Noting that 126 Turkish citizens stayed at the camp, Karslioglu said they found out the identification of those 8 people a couple of years ago and added they wanted to remind the suffering of Turkish citizens and that their suffering was not forgotten.
He said "Several of our ambassadors and consul generals across Europe helped our Jewish originated citizens with altruism, despite the threats of the Nazis".
Turkish Jewish Community leader Daniel Altaras said Turkey's efforts were unforgettable and thanked Turkey for the memorial.
Lower Saxony Integration Minister Aygul Ozkan said the opening of the memorandum was a unification against racism and discrimination.
