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Sigmund Weinberg and Carl Carlmann in a Mystery car in Istanbul
This picture comes from Edna Anzarut-Turner's family collection. It was taken in Constantinople in 1908. The driver and the owner of the car is Sigmund Weinberg, a very important figure in the cultural history of Turkey. Sigmund Weinberg was Constantinople's first filmmaker and opened the first film theatre in Constantinople. Besides this, in his shop in Constantinople, he carried some of the most novel technologies of the era, such as photographic and film cameras, gramophones and phonographs, optical devices, binoculars, bikes and motorbikes, and automobiles as well.
Next to him, we see Carl Carlmann who owned one of the major department stores in Constantinople throughout the first half of the twentieth century. In the back seat, there is a newlywed couple, Leon Anzarut and Caroline Melkenstein-Anzarut who are the grandparents of Edna Anzarut-Turner.
In some Turkish sources, Sigmund Weinberg is noted as the person who brought the “first” automobile to Constantinople. However, this picture is very likely from 1908 and this obviously is not the first car in Constantinople. The first automobiles were brought to Constantinople in the late nineteenth century. As a researcher working on Sigmund Weinberg, I am trying to figure out his business connections and I would appreciate if anyone can let me know the make and the model of the car in the photograph.
Words by Prof. Dr. Savas Arslan. Bahcesehir University, Constantinople.
Published:
Monday May 25th, 2020
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Comments
Savas
05 June 2020, 15:59
https://www.dailysabah.com/feature/2018/01/12/the-ardous-story-of-automobiles-in-the-ottoman-empire
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Edna
18 February 2024, 16:56
Even my grandparents who rode in that car told me it was the first car to be allowed and to be driven there.
Why are you trying to discredit and dismiss this?
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Why are you trying to discredit and dismiss this?
Grimmo
25 May 2020, 22:46
The Sultan of Turkey ordered a German car in 1900, but he declined to ride in it when it arrived at his palace and its noise and smoke probably put him off permitting public use but Weinberg’s might well have been the first private car permitted to be owned and driven in Istanbul.
In September 1905, when Mr. R. L. Jefferson of Coventry was reluctantly granted the first permission by the Sultan of Turkey to drive to Constantinople, the following was in the UK press: “... the Balkan Peninsula is still closed to this modern form of locomotion. This is particularly the case with Turkey. Motor cars are embargo in the Ottoman Empire, and this restriction has been sternly enforced since motoring became the recognised method of travel”. That the Sultan’s uncle was severely hurt in a car accident in Egypt in February 1904 can’t have helped.
As late as July 1908, under pressure from importers, the government reminded those interested in the car trade “of an Imperial Irade, issued at the time of the introduction of the first car, decreeing that motor cars will not be allowed to pass through public thoroughfares. This applies to the capital and suburban districts, as well as the island of Prinkipo.”
Opinion then: “Turkey, of all countries, is perhaps the last where automobiles could expect to become popular, at any rate for years to come. The reason of this is plain. The roads and bridges suitable to such traffic are exceedingly rare. Nevertheless, a certain number of cars have been introduced by enterprising speculators but their use in towns, more especially in Constantinople and suburbs, is strictly prohibited, owing to the danger of accidents.”
The Sultan’s ban lifted maybe by September 1908, when an international “motor pilgrimage” was reported entering Turkey, but as late as July 1909 the American Consul said: “Its 30,000,000 people are practically without motor-cars and it remained virgin territory”.
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In September 1905, when Mr. R. L. Jefferson of Coventry was reluctantly granted the first permission by the Sultan of Turkey to drive to Constantinople, the following was in the UK press: “... the Balkan Peninsula is still closed to this modern form of locomotion. This is particularly the case with Turkey. Motor cars are embargo in the Ottoman Empire, and this restriction has been sternly enforced since motoring became the recognised method of travel”. That the Sultan’s uncle was severely hurt in a car accident in Egypt in February 1904 can’t have helped.
As late as July 1908, under pressure from importers, the government reminded those interested in the car trade “of an Imperial Irade, issued at the time of the introduction of the first car, decreeing that motor cars will not be allowed to pass through public thoroughfares. This applies to the capital and suburban districts, as well as the island of Prinkipo.”
Opinion then: “Turkey, of all countries, is perhaps the last where automobiles could expect to become popular, at any rate for years to come. The reason of this is plain. The roads and bridges suitable to such traffic are exceedingly rare. Nevertheless, a certain number of cars have been introduced by enterprising speculators but their use in towns, more especially in Constantinople and suburbs, is strictly prohibited, owing to the danger of accidents.”
The Sultan’s ban lifted maybe by September 1908, when an international “motor pilgrimage” was reported entering Turkey, but as late as July 1909 the American Consul said: “Its 30,000,000 people are practically without motor-cars and it remained virgin territory”.
James
25 May 2020, 13:45
See this link for a photograph of 1907 De Dion Bouton Type BG with swing seat tonneau bodywork. Car has an 8 hp single cylinder engine. https://www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/5187928830
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