Reinscribing the Dönme in the Secular Nation-State The leading Kapancı families are represented here, especially the
Kapancı. The list includes Namık Kapancı, the banker listed in the 1913
Thessaloníki Electoral Register, who was buried in Bülbüldere in 1932 , his
tombstone also describing him as a banker, and Osman Kapancı buried
nearby in the same year, and the wives and daughters of Mehmet and
Yusuf Kapancı.
Many of the deceased buried in the Kapancı section were professionals.
One finds portly, bespectacled doctors, for example, such as the “Saloni-
kan Doctor Ziya Osman” ( 1866 – 1933 ), who served as the school doctor at
the Terakki school, selling prescriptions for a discount at board member
Ethem Efendi’s pharmacy,^47 “Salonikan Doctor Rıfat İnsel” ( 1859 – 1935 ),
who had served on the board of the Terakki in 1904 – 5 , and the joint
Terakki Feyziye Commerce School in 1905 – 6 ,^48 Dr. Osman Ögˇütmen
( 1895 – 1940 ), Dr. Mehmet Vamık, and Dr. Tevfik (d. 1931 ), who the Greek-
language Faros tēs Makedonias newspaper reported in 1891 had developed
a cure for tuberculosis.^49 So too one finds timber and textile merchants
and their descendants, also lawyers and bankers, foreign consuls, and bu-
reaucrats, such as comptrollers in government offices. As we have seen,
Dönme played a crucial role in the 1908 revolution. We also see here the
graves of Salonikan telegraphists who may have been instrumental in that
effort, such as İbrahimzade İsmail and Emin Efendi.
Another visible profession is that of schoolteacher. One finds the
graves of many who taught at the Kapancı schools, women, as well as
men. This includes Ahmet Mithat Efendi ( 1861 – 1932 ). His tombstone
reads: “O visitor! Teacher Ahmet Mithat Efendi is buried here. The de-
ceased taught at many schools and with great self-sacrifice served Turkish
education for over half a century. May God grant his wife Raziye Hanım
and his children patience, and may his soul be flooded with light.” The
reference to Turkish education makes sense in the light of the Dönme
conversion to secular nationalism in that period. Another example is
the grave of Ethem Müfit ( 1872 – 1932 ), a relative of Hasan Akif ’s, whose
tombstone reads:
Etem Müfit, one of the teachers of the Salonikan Terraki and Feyziye School,
is buried here. This man with a good disposition and pure heart was a person
loved by all. While young, death found him in a hotel room in exile. That
must have been what God wanted. Destiny spared him the pleasure of having
his own children. This great sorrow was overcome by the love of the students
whom he taught, the nephews who loved him as a father, and especially the