Malte Fuhrmann: Haydarpaşa and Sirkeci – Istanbul’s Train Stations as Entangled Sites of Public Memory

Lecture
15. September 2026, 19:00
Orient-Institut Istanbul
Language: English

In 2024, a decision was taken to transform Istanbul’s two train termini, Haydarpaşa and Sirkeci, into cultural centers and museums and downsize their role for public transport. The planned Haydarpaşa museum of the archaeological remains of Chalkedon, the ancient settlement on the territory of today’s Kadıköy, and the future migration museum in Sirkeci may develop to be important sites of memory. However, this musealization threatens to overwrite the railway stations’ rich, entangled, and sometimes painful history. Paradoxically, the history of the railways, their impact on Istanbul, their passengers, and most especially their labourers, is in danger to be either completely forgotten or reduced to stereotypes.

One popular image of the railways in Istanbul around 1900 sees in them a harmonious collaboration between the German and Ottoman Empires, another the site of semicolonial exploitation and national emancipatory struggles. In this talk, Malte Fuhrmann will advocate a third position. Nationality did matter on the railways, but was mostly exploited in confrontations where the fault lines predominantly ran between financial and political elites on the one hand and the railway workers and the wider population on the other. He will trace the railways’ impact on Istanbul’s urban development in the late nineteenth century, to then focus on the strike of 1908, that provides valuable insights into the social and political dynamics that crystallized around the railways.

Malte Fuhrmann is a historian of the Eastern Mediterranean, Turkey, and Southeast Europe, with a focus on the modern history of colonialism, urban development, culture, memory, and transport infrastructure. He is currently the academic coordinator of the Hafiza İzmir: Izmir Memories Project at Gießen University. He has been a research fellow in Berlin, Istanbul, Bucharest, and Sofia, and has taught in Istanbul, Konstanz, and Bochum. Among his publications are the monographs Port Cities of the Eastern Mediterranean: Urban Culture in the Late Ottoman Empire (Cambridge: University Press, 2020), which focuses mainly on Salonica, Izmir, and Istanbul; of a history of Istanbul from antiquity to today Konstantinopel – Istanbul: Stadt der Sultane und Rebellen (“Constantinople – Istanbul: City of Sultans and Rebels”, Frankfurt a.M.: S. Fischer, 2019); and the prize-winning book on German colonialism in Salonica/Macedonia and Izmir/Western Anatolia, Der Traum vom deutschen Orient: Zwei deutsche Kolonien im Osmanischen Reich 1851-1918 (“Imagining a German Orient: Two German Colonies in the Ottoman Empire, 1851–1918”, Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, 2006). He is currently working on a monograph about Ottoman, Turkish, and Bulgarian entangled infrastructures and power.

Organized by the German Consulate General Istanbul and the Orient-Institut Istanbul as part of the Beyoğlu Heritage Days series of the Beyoğlu Municipality.

The language of the event is English. Participation is free of charge. To join this invitation in person please register through the link below. To join online no registration is necessary. Photos or videos will be taken during the event. By participating, you agree that these may be used on the OII website, newsletter and social media. The event will not be recorded.

VENUE

Orient-Institut Istanbul
Galip Dede Cad. 65, Şahkulu Mah., TR – 34421 Istanbul
Tel: +90 212 293 60 67 oiist@oiist.org www.oiist.org

REGISTRATION
To join this invitation at the venue please register here:

To join ONLINE please use this Zoom Link. No registration necessary.

https://maxweberstiftung.zoom-x.de/j/69184550262?pwd=qVN7sYXsnvFwuCvfUbwmtDHlhbYbWz.1

ID: 691 8455 0262
Password: 457890