A silver tray, two small vases and a silver flask engraved with the icon of Agios Georgios are all the belongings Ourania Stamatiadou-Koutsogiannis’ grandparents managed to bring with them to Greece. These objects are part of her family history, but also of the history of all refugees. Ourania believes that their value lies in their ability to disseminate and preserve refugee history.
For Ourania Stamatiadou-Koutsogianni, the story of her grandparents, starting with their origins, then their exodus and the new life they built at the refugee neighbourhoods of Nea Ionia, is part not only of her family history, but also of the history of Asia Minor Hellenism in general, of the refugee movement of 1922 and the new refugee settlements which sprung up all over the country.
From grocery shop owner in Vatum, Pontus, to travelling greengrocer in Piraeus, Georgios Tsouchnikas and his family became refugees twice, both times carrying along their few possessions. Among them were these scale weights; important work tools, but also reminders of the shops he left behind and proof of his hope that he would be using them in his new life.
Savvas Leptourgidis, a retired journalist, was born in 1948 in the American Women’s Hospital in Kokkinia and grew up in Keratsini, in the refugee neighbourhood of Amfiali, where he still lives. This icon of Agios Savvas is not only a part of his own and his family’s past, but also a piece of his homeland’s culture.
Refugees from Alikarnassos in Asia Minor arrived at Heraklion in Crete and founded the settlement of Nea Alikarnassos. There are two churches serving the needs of the community, Agios Nikolaos and Panagia Kamariani, built later. The church of Agios Nikolaos was founded by the refugees soon after their arrival and it was originally a wooden construction.
