THE FIRST PORTRAIT OF MUSTAFA KEMAL

[Tosun Saral]

İsmail Tosun Saral

"Düşünce ve Tarih Aylık Tarih Dergisi", Kasım 2019, Nr: 62, p.4-11 translated from turkish by  Uncle Google.

 

In the First Great War, the Ottoman Empire, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria fought shoulder to shoulder on various fronts as allies, suffered and shed blood. Since the activities of the German military mission in this great and bloody struggle are generally more widely known in the Turkish public opinion, for some reason we do not remember or know about the activities of our Austro-Hungarian comrades in arms on our fronts. Our alliance with Bulgaria is never known or discussed.

On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarian public opinion was constantly informed about the course of the war through the articles of the war correspondents sent to the Çanakkale Front. For example, Arı Burnu was reported 2308 times and Anafarta  (Suvla) 123 times in the newspapers of 1915. In these news, the name "Mustafa Kemal" appeared in only one news and three newspapers.

"A breakthrough operation that the British tried to carry out in Arı Burnu was prevented.

It is reported from Istanbul  according to the report of 5^th Army on May 18th 5th Army : News about the British unsuccessful breakthrough operation on the Arı Burnu line: 16 Battalion Australians and New Zealanders desperately attacked the Turkish lines after intense artillery bombardment. The enemy attack was thrown back with a bayonet attack. The Turkish infantry under the command of Mustafa Kemal Bey distinguished itself excellently. Allied soldiers suffered huge losses. More than three battalions of soldiers who could not escape were bayoneted. Fieldmarshall Liman v. Sanders Pasha said that he was satisfied with the course of the battle. He described the soldiers under his command as “pretty magnificent.” “There can be no talk of any real success by the enemy so far,” he said. According to a news source from Amsterdam, the British lost 1340 officers and 16,187 privates in the Battle of Arı Burnu.”

In the newspapers of 1916, Mustafa Kemal appeared in two news : Neue Freie Presse Sofia Correspondent reports by telegraph on 13 August under the title „Commander of the Caucasian Army Mustafa Kemal Pasha”:) (Neue Freie Presse, 14.8.1916 ,s.6,  Mustafa Kemal Pascha Kommandant der Kaukasusarmee )

 

       “The Turkish Army, which achieved success against the Russians in Bitlis and Muş, is commanded by the very energetic general Mustafa Kemal Pasha. This commander once served as military attache in Bulgaria. This day is still remembered very well by everyone in Bulgaria.” (Neue Freie Presse 9.9.1916,s.2, Die Befreiung der Dobrudscha durch den Sieg bei Tutrakan)

The same newspaper mentions Mustafa Kemal in another news article titled "The Liberation of Dobrudja with the Tutrakan Victory, Comradeship of Bulgarians and Turks, Interview with Bulgarian MP Dimitri Atschkow":

“The well-known Macedonian Bulgarian politician Dimitri Atschkow, who has been in Vienna for a few days, told one of our correspondents about the Bulgarian victory on the banks of the Danube and the battles in Dobrudja.

Tutrakan Victory increased our self-confidence and filled the hearts of all Bulgarians with morale. During my last visit in Berlin and now in Vienna, I saw and was convinced again what a great and rock-solid comradeship in arms existed between the Bulgarians and their allies. Our victory against the treacherous Romanians in Tutrakan is not only celebrated throughout Bulgaria, but is also heartily echoed by our glorious allies. While the great success of the Bulgarian Troops in Dobrucha was welcomed by the Bulgarians, the liberation of Macedonia brought the same happiness. We Bulgarians, whether we are Northern Bulgarians, Thracians, Macedonians or Dobruchaans, always strive for national unity. Today, thanks to the help of our allies, our ideal of national unity has been realized. Our idea of National Unity finds great support among the soldiers and officers of our army who fight heroically shoulder to shoulder with our allies in every corner of Bulgaria. From these joint battles and victories comes a strong assurance that the future will be better. Because today we know very well that our interests and aspirations are the same. When Dimitri Atschkow was asked his opinion about the new battles in which the Turks participated, he said: “Bulgarians and Turks are threatened by a common danger and a common enemy. Today there is no disagreement between Bulgaria and Türkiye. We have the same interests. Turkey currently has excellent administrators. Turkish national hero Enver Pasha reorganized the Turkish Army with his iron will and inexhaustible energy. He brought it to perfect condition. Mustafa Kemal, of Macedonian origin, rose to the rank of general at a young age after excelling in the defense of Çanakkale and became the commander of the 16th Corps. Thanks to his military skills, he stopped major Russian attacks on the Diyarbakir front and brought glory to Turkish weapons. Thanks to his ability to find the right men, Enver Pasha appointed young but capable commanders to the heroic Turkish Army. These young people are in Dobruja today as our magnificent military brothers. Talat Bey, we can call him the Turkish Stambulow, successfully supported Enver Pasha in the reorganization of Turkey. Today, Bulgaria is fighting for its national unity with the support of its glorious allies Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. The Bulgarian army, rushing from victory to victory in Dobrudja, has still not forgotten the unqualified behavior caused by Romania in 1913, when the heroic sons of the Bulgarians were fighting in the unfortunate Madedonia for the national cause. Romanian soldiers stole the fruits of our victory. Today, every Bulgarian knows that he is ready to shed his blood to the last drop to realize the most just thing for the homeland and the National Idea. This awareness increases his determination greatly. "Bulgaria is eager to punish the country of impostors and shameful bandits like Romania by beating them." Dimitri Atschkow, a member of the Executive Board of the Macedonia Committee, is a very well-known figure in Prime Minister Stambulow's ruling party. He fought against the British and French in the Battle of Krivolak, which was recently won on the Macedonian front, and was awarded a medal of heroism. Mr. Atschkow also participated in the Balkan War. He worked hard for Turkish-Bulgarian rapprochement.”

It seems that Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) is not yet known and his name is just being heard as the "Hero of Anafartalar".( Neue Freie Presse 9.9.1916,s.2, Die Befreiung der Dobrudscha durch den Sieg bei Tutrakan)

Since there was a major obstacle between their allies and Turkey, the Germans decided to eliminate Serbia and open the Balkan route. By making a military alliance with Bulgaria on September 6, 1915, they achieved their goals with a German and an Austro-Hungarian army under the command of German General Mackenzen. With the opening of the road to Serbia, in November 1915, the long-awaited German military equipment finally reached the 5th Army defending the Gallipoli Peninsula. Along with the Germans, the Austro-Hungarian Army also came to help by sending two artillery batteries. In those days, an Austro-Hungarian army painter of Hungarian origin named Captain Wilmos Viktor Krausz, or Wilhelm Viktor Krauss in German, came to Istanbul. His mission was to paint portraits of important Turkish and allied military and civilian figures. Although it is not known exactly when Krausz came to Turkey, it is estimated that he came at the beginning of September 1915, with the opening of the Serbia road, since the date is marked as 25.IX.1915 in a painting depicting Kilitbayır. As a matter of fact, on the same days, two Austro-Hungarian artillery batteries, one a mortar and the other a howitzer, came as reinforcements to the Gallipoli Front, where the battles were ongoing, and caused a lot of trouble to the enemy.

Those who knew Captain Krausz in civilian life know that he painted exact portraits, that he was a tasteful and technically sophisticated portrait painter, and that the right man was chosen for this interesting task. They say that such a perfect value is not easy to find. (Neues Wiener Tagblatt (Tages-Ausgabe, 29.12.1916,s.32)

Wilhelm Viktor Krausz was born in 1878 in the former Hungarian territory of Neutra, which today belongs to Slovakia. His Jewish family immigrated to Vienna when he was only one year old. Since he was interested in painting after his primary and secondary education, he studied painting under Franz Rumpler at the Vienna Academy. Then he moved to Paris and became a student of Jules-Joseph Lefebvre and Tony Robert-Fleury. He studied under Heinrich von Zügel at the Munich Academy. He continued his painting education in countries such as England, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland. Although he very much wanted to join the Austro-Hungarian Military Press Agency (k.u.k. Pressequartier) as a war painter during the First World War, this wish was realized only on 22 November 1917. His rank was promoted from lieutenant to first lieutenant on 18.2.1915. With the rank of Captain of the Turkish Armed Forces, he first painted the portrait of Bulgarian Tsar Ferdinant. Then he went to Turkey. Due to the beautiful works he created, Kayser Karl gave Krausz the title of professor on 5.4.1918. Since 1933, the activity of the German NAZI party was increasing in Austria. Since Krausz was also a member of the Jewish Art House, he was excluded from the Künslerhaus painters in 1938. He immigrated to the USA to protect his life. He lived in New York for many years. After World War II, he frequently came to visit his homeland, Austria. During one of these visits, he died on April 29, 1959, in Baden, a spa town near Vienna.

Krausz, who came to Istanbul, painted portraits of many soldiers and civilian figures, especially Sultan Mehmet Reşat. In this collection, there is also a portrait of Mustafa Kemal with the words "Commandant de la Groupe des Anafartas" written on the side. The date on the portrait of Mustafa Kemal is 19.10.1915. There is also the signature of Mustafa Kemal in old letters on the portrait. Mustafa Kemal 10 December 1915 Although he resigned from his post as Anafartalar Group Commander, this resignation was not accepted by the 5th Army Commander Müşir Liman von Sanders Pasha, so Mustafa Kemal returned to Istanbul on leave.

In the portrait, Mustafa Kemal is depicted as a pale pink soldier with a pale and thin face, with deep blue eyes, blond eyebrows and moustache, and a light green Kalabak on his head, looking into the distance in deep thoughts. During this period, Mustafa Kemal was actually weak, sleepless, absent-minded and tired, both from bouts of illness and from the sadness he felt over the intense loss of his soldiers' sons due to the brutal violence of the war. Krausz portrayed Mustafa Kemal's mental and physical state technically perfectly. This thoughtful, blue-eyed blonde man, whose pale cheeks were sunken with weakness, looking forward with tired but determined eyes, did in 10 years what many Ottomans could not do in 300 years, cleared the dead soil that had covered the Turkish nation for centuries and brought the Turkish Nation back to life.

Years later, the name Mustafa Kemal is heard frequently. German journalist Thea von Puttkamer, who was a volunteer patient caregiver in Istanbul Military Hospitals during the Great War, published an article titled "Encounters with Mustafa Kemal" in her newspaper about Mustafa Kemal, who was becoming famous, and she was the first and last person to comment on Krausz's portrait of Mustafa Kemal.

“Although I am not a Cassandra, that is, a forerunner or seer of bad events, when I first met a man once, I immediately realized that he was a very strong personality that influenced those around him. Actually, I've only seen his picture. In the autumn of 1915, I saw a portrait drawing depicting Colonel Mustafa Kemal, which did not stand out among the drawings depicting all the well-known figures living in Istanbul at that time. Until then, I had never heard of his heroism in Anafartalar, which was attacked by the British in August 1915. I was speechless when I saw this pale and thin-faced Portrait in its Sahara green uniform, with neither hawk nor eagle eyes, but staring off into the distance. "There it is," I said to myself, "will and ambition. Maybe it is uncontrollable and selfish, maybe it is very talented, maybe it is ready to serve the happiness of the high society." These and similar feelings were later expressed by the Germans who fought in the Çanakkale Front. German soldiers were not very generous in praising their comrades-in-arms. However, they praised this Turk a lot. He managed to save the situation by personally taking control of the bad situation created against the Turks by his incompetent commander (Liman Pasha). In the background of the picture there is an unrepresented background: The eastern slopes of the Gallipoli Peninsula are vaguely visible. Behind Liman Pasha's army, Anzacs and Canadians climb the hills. Turkish forward posts are flocking to the arrivals. A gendarmerie battalion sent for reinforcement is completely destroyed. The battalion commander, who did not listen to the orders of the general headquarters, went to his death saying "God's will is done". At that time, a major (who will become the district governor) who was in reserve, on his own initiative, advanced the troops that were hastily brought to the peninsula by Anatolia, opened fire on the enemy, withstood and eventually attacked. A bullet hits him. He smashes his pocket watch. Kismet. "Anatolian soldiers obey such a great and close heroic Turkish officer." (Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Sept. 27, 1922, "Begegnungen mit Mustafa Kemal")

It is understood that Krausz only painted the portraits of Enver Pasha, Sultan Mehmet Reşat and Şeyhülislam Hayri Efendi by personally seeing them, that he did not go to the Çanakkale Front, and that he drew both the Çanakkale landscapes and the portraits of the front commanders by looking at photographs. For example, I can show the pictures of Egyptian Prince Said Halim Pasha and Müşir Liman von Sanders Pasha and his aide. When you look at these pictures, it is immediately clear that they are depicted from a photograph. According to information allegedly provided by Ruşen Eşref Ünaydın, this Austrian painter found Atatürk's physical appearance very interesting, took his photograph with a bellows camera with his permission, and drew the first portrait of Atatürk.

The originals of the paintings are today in the Army Museum (Heeresmuseum) in Vienna.

[Tosun Saral]

Grandvezier Egyptian Prince Sait Halim Pasha

[stevenbecker]

The KUK had a few Artists serving with there forces in Turkey, I record at lest two others who painted;

Maróti Géza     Civilian    KUK Offical War artist in Palestine    1917-18    (born 1875 died 1941) KUK
 

Hofmann Robert    ObLt    KUK 2/6th Mountain (Gebirgs) Bty  Comander at 2nd Gaza 4-17    1915-18    (born 1889 died 1987) KUK later a very famous artist and draw caricaturen wrote articles at "Die Muskete" awarded Ottoman War Medal 
 

While I am unsure if Hofmann painted during his command in Palestine?

While I can't find any German Artists so far who served in Turkey?

[Tosun Saral]

Hofmann Robert    ObLt    KUK 2/6th Mountain (Gebirgs) Bty  Comander at 2nd Gaza 4-17    1915-18    (born 1889 died 1987) KUK later a very famous artist and draw caricaturen wrote articles at "Die Muskete" awarded Ottoman War Medal 
  The Muslim figure on the side is  sheikh Assad of Jaffa. And the turk is Artillery Corporal Ahmet Efendi,  the Turkish crew of the KuK 10cm artillery battery number 20
Although Robert Hofmann lost his drawing notebook, in which he recorded the pictures he drew on the Palestinian front, in Anepta during these disaster days, the notebook was found and returned to its owner in 1937. The founder of the notebook was an indian officer. he collecyed the note book in his private war collection. While he was visiting Berlin in 1937 he gave the book to ferman military outhorities think,nh that the owner was a german.

Das Interessante Blatt, 1.7.1937

[Tosun Saral]

Maróti Géza  hungarian artist, architeck and sculptor. I mentioned about him in my book "Türklerle Beraber" a book about Kuk formations at the Turkish fronts., deepnote :157.     "Farih Rıfkı Atay, Privat secratery of Cemal Pasha  wrote in his book "Ateş ve Güneş" ( Fire and Sun) ,p. 158  that he drew the destroyed british tanks.  He was sent to the front by the Hungarian military museum to draw war paintings. He met Cemal Pasha and was on the front line  for weeks. He made 60 drawings on the front. He also painted Cemal Pasha. All his drawings are lost today. Lapus Angularis  IV. Fornasok a  Magyar  Epitészeti  Museum  gyüjtemén yéböl. Maroti Geza emlékiratai Budapest , 2002, 92-162