David Fresco, widely known and beloved Turkish writer and journalist, died this week in Nice, France. He was 84.
A descendant of Spanish exiles who were expelled 400 years ago and scattered throughout eastern Europe, Mr. Fresco was born in Istanbul, then Constantinople, in 1849.
Under the influence of Haskala, name given to the Jewish “Enlightenment” or growth of modern and western interests among the Jews in Eastern Europe, he became successively editor of a number of Judaeo-Spanish periodicals and a translator of famous Hebrew and French books. One of the high spots of his career was his success in arranging the famous interview between Theodor Herzl, founder of political Zionism, and Abdul Hamid II, Sultan of Turkey, in 1901.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
