HO 144/15926 and HO 334/128/1228

            Rebeka Behar was born in Number 4 Parma Kapou, in Pera, the European quarter of Constantinople, on December 25, 1899. Her parents, Mordecai and Djolla Behar (née Taitasak) remained in the city, acquiring Turkish citizenship. By 1931, the couple lived at 15 Toptchou Tchikma Sokak 15, Yasidji, Galata, Istanbul.

            Rebeka Behar was educated in Galata, Constantinople. She left school at the age of 14 in 1913, after which was employed as a clerk by various local firms in the city, including as cashier to the Italian company Lazzaro F. Marino, which closed down upon the declaration of war. Behar then became a governess in the household of Chief Rabbi Haim Nahum, where she gave lessons in English to the rabbi’s wife and daughter. In November of 1918, she was engaged as a  “lady secretary and accountant” by the Directorate of Ship Repairs, (Foreign), British Admiralty, in Constantinople. This office closed at the end of January 1919, and she was then immediately hired by the British High Commission as a clerk, remaining in this employment until May 31, 1920. To improve her position, Behar then left and worked as a clerk for Messrs. Cookson, Tudd & Co., Ltd., General Merchants. She remained with this firm until April 1921, when she was engaged at His Britannic Majesty’s Supreme Court as the judge’s clerk. In November of 1923, Behar obtained a Turkish passport. In August 1924, the Court was closed and the atmosphere became increasingly difficult for Rebeka, her family, and other Jews who had openly expressed sympathy with allied countries.

            Rebeka Behar’s father reportedly fled Turkey because of his pro-British and pro-U.S. sentiment probably around the time the Britannic Majesty’s Supreme Court was closed (though he apparently later returned). According to Rebeka’s testimony, the Chief Rabbi had been very friendly with the U.S. Ambassador in Constantinople. After the Armistice, owing to his pro-American and pro-British views, he and his family departed for New York. Behar explained to her solicitors that since before the war, she and her family were “particularly favourable to the British influence.” When the war broke out, Behar and her family “naturally had no opportunities of showing their allegiance to the British Empire but amongst themselves their opinion remained the same.” After the Armistice, Behar worked as a clerk in charge of the claims of British subjects against the Turkish government in the Office of the High Commissioner General. Her sister and brother worked at the British General Head Quarters under General Milne and General Sir Charles Harington. Behar then worked as a clerk in the Supreme Court of the British Consulate General, but after the evacuation by the Allies from Constantinople and the closing of the British Supreme Court, her open association in her work with the British nationality made it impossible for her to safely reside in formerly Ottoman territory. She departed in September of 1924 and arrived in England in October of 1924, at which time she duly registered as an Ottoman alien.

            Behar first resided with her sister and her sister’s husband, Lindley Stuart Downing. Downing, a switchboard fitter at the Head Post Office at Aldershot and Post Office engineer, had met Rebeka’s sister around 1921 when serving in the Royal Corps of Signals in Constantinople. he married this sister on August 31, 1923 and returned with his new wife to England in October of that year, settling at 89 Grosvenor Road, Aldershot. The couple then moved to 6 Kings Road, Fleet, in Hants. Rebeka remained at the home of her sister and brother-in-law in Aldershot and subsequently at Fleet until December 2, 1924, when she moved 82 Adelaide Road, Shepherds Bush, London. She returned to lodge with the couple on June 3, 1925 and left again on November 8, 1925.

            Rebeka Behar’s frequent moves were perhaps related to difficulties aliens often encountered in securing employment. On June 2, 1925, she obtained a clerical post in the Translating Department of Messrs. Thomas Cook & Son, Ltd., General Passenger, Forwarding & Insurance Agents, located first at Ludgate Circus, and then at Berkeley Street, W. Before hiring Behar, the firm had been obligated to ask the Home Office for permission. Owing to staff reduction, Behar left the firm in May of 1931 and remained jobless for about six weeks. She was then engaged as a clerk and bookkeeper by Mr. I. Goldberg, a waterproof garment manufacturer at 6 David Mansions, Goulston Street, E. She earned a weekly wage of £2. Owing to trade depression, she was let go on January 29, 1932.

            Behar’s unemployment in 1932 gave the Home Office pause. A police investigation showed that after her discharge in January of that year she proposed applying for unemployment benefits and had only £50 in Post Office savings. The Home Office kept an eye on her employment status as they considered her case.

            Behar had not qualified for naturalization in 1925 because she had by then resided in England for less than a year and had not yet fulfilled the requisite years of residency. In 1930, she attempted to take advantage of the loophole offered by clause 3(2), which gave special dispensation to Ottomans who could prove they had belonged to Christian or Jewish communities that had been opposed to the empire. Behar claimed to be a Spanish Jew, but was unable (or perhaps unwilling?) to obtain a certificate from former Ottoman Chief Rabbi Nahum that she was an Ottoman Jew of Spanish origin, a member of the congregation of Spanish Jews in the United Kingdom, and that that community was opposed to the enemy forces during the war. Through her solicitors, she explained to the Home Office that her parents were Spanish Jews and that in that sense she was indeed a member of a community of Spanish Jews. However, to the best her knowledge and belief, “such a definite and distinct community did not exist, so it is was quite impossible for her to furnish documentary evidence that she was a member of such a community or that that community was opposed during the late War to the former enemy Governments.”

            Behar had many excellent referees and well-placed men who intervened for her, to no avail. Aside from her brother-in-law, another British-born subject vouching for her was Robert Charles Hayter, principal of the firm of Hayter & Sons, Plumbers and Decorators in Reading. Hayter had met Rebeka Behar through his grandson, who was related by marriage to Rebeka, and had hosted Rebeka at his home several times. Another referee was Sir Lindsay Smith, a retired judge at Her Majesty’s Britannic Court in Constantinople. He first met Behar in April 1921, when she commenced her employment as clerk to the Court over which he presided in Constantinople. Since that time, he had kept in constant touch with her and the two had occasionally exchanged social visits. Other referees included a  ventilating engineer, a personal friend since 1925, and a builder/decorator.

            Judge Thorp, her former employer at the Supreme Court, took special interest in Behar’s naturalization case. In 1925, he visited the Home Office to inquire whether Behar qualified for the loophole in Article 2(6) of the British Naturalization and Aliens Act of 1914, which made a special exception for Ottomans who had engaged in military service on behalf of the British. Ultimately, however, the Foreign Office decided not to consider her clerkship for the British Admiralty in Istanbul as Crown service. When the judge heard the negative outcome, he resolved to pursue the matter with the Foreign Office, but nothing came of it. Two additional well-placed individuals intervened on her behalf. In 1930, Harry Wynne of the Société de Géographie de France and author of Guide to Corsica-The Isle of Beauty, informed the Home Office that Behar was a friend of his. He submitted to the Home Office the requisite forms and her identity card on her behalf. In 1928, Captain A. R. Evans of Edinburgh visited the Home Office to inquire about Behar’s case. Behar’s “first class references,” to quote a Home Office official, and the fact that she had worked for the British in Constantinople as secretary to the Judge of a British court finally convinced the Home Office to expedite her case in 1930.

            Behar’s human capital also eased the naturalization process. The Home Office noted that she spoke, read, and wrote English and many other language well. These skills, as well as her employment in a clerical capacity in England for the previous six years, exempted her from the usual tests.

            Rebeka Behar stated that her motivation to become a British subject stemmed from her intention to remain permanently in England, her education in an English school in Turkey, her sentiments, which were entirely English, and facilitation in obtaining employment. All in all, she applied five times for naturalization between 1925 and 1931. A single woman, she is one of the few Ottoman-born women who submitted an application at large (that is, not under the cover of a husband). She was naturalized on April 18, 1932. This file was originally closed until 2033 and declassified on March 21, 2006.