mainedinhighpositionsuntiltheputschof 1960 -theendofthe‘Germanshort
century’.⁴⁹
Quodnonestinactis:TheSourcesandtheMemoirProblem
Thishistoryofmilitaryknowledgetransferdoesnotassumeapassiveadoption
ofGermanmilitarymindsetbythe‘taker’attheBosporus.Iwanttoprovideevi-
dencethatbothcountriesservedeachotherasmutualrolemodelsfromwhich
Germanyalsobenefited.Inthestudyofthesetransferprocesses,theego-docu-
mentsoftheofficersinvolvedareofspecialimportance.Theproblemsofthese
self-narrativeshavetobeconsidered.⁵⁰
Ofimportancearethespecialconditionsfortheproductionofmemory,es-
peciallyforthewartimeperiod.Asubjectiveview,limitedbythestandpointof
themeninvolved,hastobeimplied:“Howcanweexpecthistoricalobjectivity
frompeoplewhoparticipatedinahugewarwhenevenfourpeoplewhohave
seenatrafficaccidentdepicttheincidentincompletelydifferentmanner?”⁵¹
GencerÖzcan,“Türkiye’deCumhuriyetDönemiOrdusundaPrusyaEtkisi”[PrussianInflu-
enceontheArmyinTurkeyintheRepublicanPeriod]inTürkiye’deOrdu,DevletveGüvenlikSiya-
seti,ed.EvrenBaltaPakeretal.(Istanbul:IstanbulBilgiÜniversitesiYayınları,2010), 219 – 22 0.
Onthebeginningofthe‘AmericanperiodʼintheTurkisharmedforcesseeSerhatGüvenç,“ABD
AskeriYardımıveTürkOrdusununDönüşümü, 1942 – 1960 ”[USMilitaryAidandtheTransfor-
mationoftheTurkishArmy, 1942 – 1960]inTürkiye’deOrdu,DevletveGüvenlikSiyaseti,2 55 – 28 4.
OntheOttomanmilitarymemoirsseeMehmetBeşikçi,“AskeriTarihçiliğinGayriResmiKay-
nakları:AskerAnılarıveGünlükleri”[SemiofficialSourcesofMilitaryHistory;MilitaryMemoirs
andDiaries]inOsmanlıAskeriTarihiniAraştırmak:YeniKaynaklar,YeniYaklaşımlar,ed.Şayin
Cevatetal.(Istanbul:TarihVakfıYurtYayınları,2 012 ), 91 – 104 ;VolkerDepkat,“Ego-Dokumente
alsquellenkundlichesProblem,”inDieBiographieinderStadt-undRegionalgeschichte,ed.Mar-
kusStumpf(Münster:LWLArchivamtfürWestfalen, 20 11), 21 – 32.
İlhanSelçuk,YüzbaşıSelahattin’inRomanı[TheNovelofCaptainSelahattin],vol.1(Istanbul:
RemziKitabevi, 1973 ), 10 .Cf.onsubjectivityalsoHülyaAdak,“Identifyingthe‘InternalTumors’
ofWorldWarI:TalatPaşa’nınHatiraları[TalatPasa’sMemoirs],ortheTravelsofaUnionist
Apologiaintohistory,”inRäumedesSelbst:SelbstzeugnisforschungTranskulturell,ed.Andreas
Baehretal.(Köln,Weimar,Vienna:Böhlau, 2007 ), 153 etseq.Itshouldbenotedherethatthe
authorofthisstudycannotbeexcludedfromthoseconsiderations,asstatedbyaformerinstruc-
torinTurkishserviceinhismemoirs:“Thetrainedhistorianalsooftenperceivesthingsfromthe
personalpointofview.”HilmarRittervonMittelberger,“WandererinvierWelten!Erinnerungen
desGeneralsderInfanterieHilmarRittervonMittelberger,”vol.1.BayHStAIVHS 27 08,2.
12 1Introduction