Great interest for ‘Prisoners of War’ by Kemal Giray

YUNUS Emre Institute in London hosted the signing and talk of the book Prisoners of War at the Ottoman Front during WWI on Thursday 3rd February. The event started with a talk by the author, Kemal Giray and then followed by a Q&A session as well as a book signing.

Prisoners of War at the Ottoman Front during WWI is a postal history book based on philatelic material, letters, postcards, original photographs and other documents belonging to the prisoners of the Great War from both sides who fought on the Ottoman front. The majority of the material compiled in this book were collected over twenty-five years by the author of the book, Kemal Giray, who is a professional philatelist, and a Fellow of The Royal Philatelic Society London.

Rich in primary materials and first-hand experiences, the book narrates how prisoners of war (‘PoW’) on both sides of the Ottoman Front managed to keep both themselves and their hopes alive. Presenting snippets of the daily life of prisoners and tracing the scars left by the war on the human soul, Kemal Giray leads the audience through an unrevealed and deeply personal history of the Great War.