Now new in our holdings:
Turkish Magazine from the 1950s – 1970s
Hayat: volumes of the years 1956 – 1974
The journal Hayat (Life) is an interesting source of Turkish cultural history. It is now in our collection.
We have acquired almost all the issues from the magazine’s peak, starting with No. 1 from 1956.
Hayat German Union Catalogue of Serials (ZDB)
Individual pages or articles can be ordered as copies via interlibrary loan.
Topics
The magazine presented a mixture of entertainment, travel, fashion, culture, politics and sports. The style clearly parallels with similar publications of this era in Western Europe or in the USA. Colourful covers of celebrities and the full-page illustrations inside were intended to arouse interest.
In terms of content, the focus was not only on international events and personalities, but also on national topics from politics, culture and history. Multi-page articles on caliphs and pashas or the column “Geçmiş Günlerden Bir Yaprak” (A paper from days gone by) reflect a strong Turkish emphasis.
History
The weekly magazine was published in Istanbul from 1956 until the 1980s. Until the 1970s, Hayat was Turkey’s most widely circulated magazine, with almost 200,000 copies. During this time, it was edited by the author, journalist and university lecturer Şevket Rado.
With the increasing political radicalisation in Turkey at the end of the 1970s, Hayat lost its function. The magazine was closed down in 1979 as a result of a strike. The re-launch attempt by another editor in the 80s did not match the success of the previous decades.