Forgotten first Turkish-Muslim workforce in 1917
1917, Berlin-Mitte, Istanbul-Kadiköy
Sophienstraße in 2025 - Photo: TAM Museum
1917, Ottomon Orphans Sophienstraße/Große Hamburger Straße, Zeitbilder 35, May 3rd - Source: Ullstein-Bilder-Dienst
The story of over 300 Ottoman orphans sent to Berlin in 1917 and first welcomed at Koppenplatz primary school as part of a German-Ottoman training program embodies TAM’s mission: uncovering hidden German-Turkish histories, challenging simple migration narratives, revealing transnational layers in everyday spaces, and linking past and present—especially for Turkish-rooted families whose children still attend Koppenplatz primary school today.
Arriving in Berlin
The public primary school at Koppenplatz in Berlin served as a symbolic and logistical cornerstone in the little-known episode of Ottoman orphan apprentices sent to Germany during World War I. In April 1917, over 300 Ottoman orphans—primarily boys aged 12 to 18—arrived in Berlin as part of an educational and vocational training program designed through collaboration between the Ottoman and German Empires. Before dispersing to their respective apprenticeship placements across Germany, the boys were housed in city council quarters and brought to the schoolyard of the Koppenplatz primary school, where they were publicly welcomed by political representatives from both nations.
This moment was rich in symbolic significance. The gathering at Koppenplatz not only marked the orphans’ formal entry into German society and institutions but also represented the ceremonial beginning of an ambitious imperial project: the Ottoman state’s hope to build a modern, Turkish-Muslim skilled workforce through German-style vocational training, and Germany’s desire to expand its cultural and political influence within the Ottoman realm.
The staged photograph at Sophienstraße
The boys were photographed nearby Koppenplatz at the corner to Sophienstraße. All dressed in coordinated European-style uniforms—blue capes and fez-like hats. Among them were Ali and İsmail Dağlı, whose personal stories are central to the article of Dr. Nazan Maksudyan further below. Their successful apprenticeships and enduring German connections illustrate the long-term impact of the training scheme, which started at Koppenplatz.
The role of Koppenplatz
Koppenplatz primary school played a brief yet pivotal role in this transnational educational exchange. It became a symbolic stage where Ottoman imperial ambition, German soft-power aspirations, and the future trajectories of hundreds of orphaned boys converged. The ceremonial welcome at Koppenplatz marked their transformation from displaced youths into cultural intermediaries—young figures who would go on to carry German technical knowledge into the fabric of the emerging Turkish Republic.
The square takes its name from Johann Heinrich Koppe, a reform-oriented Berlin city councillor renowned for his dedication to education and social welfare. As such, Koppenplatz stands as a historical site of civic responsibility and inclusive public life—resonating in this context as a place where socially marginalized groups, like orphans, were given a chance to reorient their lives.
The school today
Today, the school sits at the geographic crossroads between the affluent neighborhoods of Mitte and the working-class, migrant-influenced communities of Wedding. Many children from families with Turkish roots are unaware of the deep historical connections that existed long before their parents ever arrived.
The story of the Koppenplatz orphans gives voice to forgotten actors in history and invites reflection on how early cultural exchanges have shaped modern imaginations of identities. It also reclaims a chapter that links Berlin and Istanbul in ways still resonant today.
Sources:
Afterlives of Ottoman Orphans in Germany during World War I:
Nazan Maksudyan, Microhistorical and Biographical Approaches to Technology, Expertise, and Labor in Turkey, German Studies Review, Volume 47, Number 2, May 2024, pp. 223-251
“Türkische Jugend in Berlin,” Berliner Tageblatt, Nr. 216, April 29, 1917