Image credits »© Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep. F, 290 (eDok), Nr. D_006893 (Thomas Platow).

In Ernst Reuter’s biography, the period of his Turkish exile remains largely unexplored. Thanks to his aptitude for languages, he was soon able to teach and write publications in Turkish. During his time in Turkey, Reuter carried out continuous and productive research into Turkish urbanism, and published prolifically – especially after taking up a professorship in municipal politics at the then University of Political Sciences in Ankara in 1938. With his pragmatic and socialist municipal positions, which had formed during his time as departmental head of transport in Berlin in the 1920s and as Lord Mayor of Magdeburg between 1931 and 1933, Reuter provided the Kemalist-centralist modernization of Turkey through a “reform from above” with sustainable and effective orientation in the field of urban development.

The aim of this project was to sift through the relevant holdings of libraries and archives in Ankara and Istanbul and to compile a catalogue of works that rendered Reuters publications, speeches, and lectures accessible to historical researchers with abstracts in German and English. The results were published in 2015: Heinz Reif/Barış Ülker: Herausforderung und Inspiration. Challenges and Inspirations. Ernst Reuter als Stadtreformer in der Türkei. Ernst Reuter as an Urban Reformer in Turkey (Zeitgeschichte im Fokus, Bd. 3) , Berlin 2015.