Transfer of Western Knowledge to Turkey: Institutionalized Policy of Translation and Library Building

Abstract

In 1932 the Turkish Government decided to westernize the country's higher education and library systems. But there was a substantial shortage of human resources to undertake the task. Having been informed of the flight of professional intellectuals from Nazi persecution in Germany for whom America was out of reach because of its restrictive immigration laws, state department practices, and anti-Semitic hiring bias at its universities, Turkey in 1933 invited over 190 of them to be part of its modernization efforts. Among the invitees was a team of philologists, expert librarians, archivists and bookbinders. These conservators of knowledge, gathered over generations, were ready and willing to oblige. To them this was the gift of life. They contributed greatly to the organization of a modern European system of libraries and document archives in Turkey. In addition, a monumental program was set up to translate the major works of classical (Greek and Roman) and general European literature into the Turkish language.