The Municipality of Kalamaria and the Historical Archive of Refugee Hellenism (HARH), in collaboration with the Sports and Cultural Association (ASC) of Admiral Votsis held on October 21, 2021 the unveiling of a monument in honor of Admiral Nikolaos Votsis, in the homonymous settlement of Kalamaria.

The doxology was presided over by the Most Reverend Metropolitan of Nea Krini and Kalamaria Mr. Ioustinos, together with the Archimandrite of Holy Temple of Saint Panteleimon, Mr. Bartholomew. This was followed by greetings from His Excellency, the Mayor of Kalamaria I. Dardamanelis, the Deputy Minister of Macedonia-Thrace S. Kalafatis, the Deputy Regional Governor of Thessaloniki V. Patoulidou, the Commander of the NANG Captain P. Kanoutos, the Secretary of the Sports Club “Admiral Votsis” M. Papadopoulou and the sculptor S. Myronidis.

The Most Reverend Metropolitan Mr. Ioustinos emphasized the value of the place chosen for the monument, as it is located in front of the 4th & 5th Lyceum of Kalamaria, so by seeing it, the new generation will be able to gain strength, envision and create epics, such as our ancestors created.

“Today, the historicity and tradition of Kalamaria blend with art. We are giving a landmark, a point of reference, here in Votsi, in Eastern Thessaloniki, in our Kalamaria, where we will all visit and honor our ancestors and the struggles they fought so that we can be free today”, said the Mayor of Kalamaria, Yiannis Dardamanelis.

“Today we honor Admiral Votsis, a hero who by his example dictates a firm attitude of Greece. If Admiral Votsis was alive today, he would send the same message in the same way: That we have firm red lines in the face of challenges and we do not step back. This is what we have decided as the Greek government and we will abide by it until the end”, emphasized the Deputy Minister of the Interior, responsible for Macedonia and Thrace, Stavros Kalafatis.

“This place that gives birth to heroes must also honor them. And it honors them in the best way”, said the Deputy Regional Governor of Thessaloniki, Voula Patoulidou.

Visibly excited, the Commander of the NANG Captain Parisis Kanoutos, during his greeting, emphasized: “I assure you that even today the same spirit possesses the captains and crews of our ships, which sail the Aegean and the Eastern Mediterranean, ensuring the sovereignty and sovereign rights of our homeland”.

For her part, the Secretary of the Sports Club “Admiral Votsis”, Malamo Papadopoulou, did not hide her joy and emotion, as she said, “it was everyone’s desire to have a point of reference for Admiral Votsis, whom the Club has been honoring for 90 years, offering social work through sports and culture”.

The creator of the monument, Stavros Myronidis, very aptly pointed out that “something different was chosen than another bust, which the children would pass by. Perhaps the students of the local schools will come and deposit their own paper boats at the monument writing their thanks and gratitude to Admiral Votsis and all the heroes who fought for the freedom of our country!”

The President of HARH and Professor Emeritus of AUTH, Ananias Tsirambides, made a historical report on the feat of Votsis on October 18, 1912.

Then the three marble parts of the monument were unveiled by the Mayor of Kalamaria and the President of HARH. This was followed by the laying of wreaths, the observance of a minute of silence and the playing of the National Anthem by a three-member section of the Municipality’s philharmonic orchestra led by its director I. Koukas.

Also, the politician G. Komninos on behalf of the “Hellenic Solution”, the parliament members S. Simopoulos, I. Amanatidis and K. Adamou, the Admiral G. Theocharidis, the Fire Chief X. Papadopoulos and the Police Officer L. Dimitriadis, representing respectively, the 3^rd Army Corps, the Fire Department and the Police Department of Kalamaria. From the Municipality of Kalamaria, the General Secretary E. Fyka, the President of the Municipal Council D. Kyratzis, the Deputy Mayors of Education – Sports A. Giannakos, Technical Services N. Pantelidou, Civil Protection D. Mouratidis and Cleanliness – Recycling S. Matsaridis, the heads of Municipal Parties Th. Bakoglides and A. Temekenidis, as well as many Municipal Councilors. Also present were the President of the Sports Club “Admiral Votsis” A. Tsolakos, the President of the “Christos Kalemkeris” Museum of Photography P. Kalemkeris and the President of the Efxinos Club of Thessaloniki G. Lysaridis. Finally, flag bearers from the schools of the Settlement attended, as well as athletes and dancers dressed in traditional costumes of the Sports Club “Admiral Votsis”. Particularly honorable was the presence of the Professor Emeritus of the AUTh P. Kofos, grandson of the Litochorian navigator of the torpedo boat 11 M. Kofos, as well as the 94-year-old Kalamarian A. Maltsidis, author of the book “Nikolaos Votsis and the torpedoing of Fethi Bulent” which was published in 2012.

Coordination and presentation: G. Mavroudis and M. Kazantzidou, historians of HARH.

Technical support: P. Gavrielidis, audiovisual media operator of the Municipality.

Photography: Photo Votsi, G. Karagiozidou.

Police officers of the Kalamaria Department, as well as officers of the Civil Protection of Kalamaria ensured the smooth running of the event.

The Municipal Council of Kalamaria will establish the 18th of October every year, as a day of celebration of this feat, by students of the schools and residents of the Settlement.

The monument is located in the landscaped square at the junction of M. Alexandrou – Anat. Thrakis and Ionias, in front of the 4th and 5th Votsis Lyceum. It was a decades-long dream of many named and anonymous residents of the settlement and from now on it will be its landmark. From the QR (Quick Response) barcode pasted on the facade of the monument, any visitor can obtain a detailed description of the feat, as well as the history of the Settlement, by scanning it with his mobile phone.

Year of monument construction: 2021

Construction material: Marble

Artist: Stavros Myronidis

The feat of Rear Admiral Nikolaos Votsis

By Ananias Tsirambides, Professor Emeritus AUTH

President of HARH of the Municipality of Kalamaria

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, dear residents of Votsi,

It is a great emotion for all of us, because we have been waiting for this moment for years. It is worth saying very briefly a couple of words about this hero whose name our neighborhood bears.

Nikolaos Votsis was born in Hydra in 1877. He was the son of Ioannis Votsis and Maria Kountouriotis and the great-grandson of the Hydra shipowner Georgios Kountouriotis.

The supremacy of the Greek Fleet can be seen from the first operations such as that of the torpedo boat 11 which raises the morale of the Fleet to heights. This is the feat of Rear Admiral Nikolaos Votsis.

The disposition of the Greek land forces on their way to Thessaloniki is covered by the Hellenic Navy with torpedo boats 11 and 15 and the gunboat “SFAKTIRIA” which are sailing off the coast of Pieria, protecting the unloading of food for the advancing Greek Army. At the same time, they block any attempt by the Turkish Fleet to approach the Macedonian beach to supply the Turkish Army. Votsis is aware of a plan by the Ministry that foresees the destruction of the two Turkish battleships “Fethi Bulent” and “Moin Jaffer”, the 1st docked in Thessaloniki and the 2nd in the port of Smyrna. Thus, he conceives the idea of sinking the former.

Being in Skiathos, he submits a request to the Ministry of Marine, asking for permission to carry out this raid. The Ministry approves the project. On October 1, 1912, he arrived at the Macedonian beach, and put his simple but bold plan into action: entering the Thermaikos Gulf from the shallows of the Axios estuary.

In the realization of the plan, he is helped by two citizens of Litochoro: Michail Koufos, skipper of a small sailboat that often makes the journey Skala Litochoro – Thessaloniki, and his friend Nikolaos Vlachopoulos, also a sailor who knows the water route very well.

Votsis enters Thermaikos around 9 in the evening. After a two-hour wait, he proceeds unnoticed towards the mouth of Axios and continues at full speed towards his goal. At 11:20 in the evening of Oct. 18, 1912, he clearly sees the Turkish battleship. In front of the White Tower are anchored foreign warships and some passenger and cargo ships. Votsis now has “Fethi Bullet” at 150 m, the tension is at its peak, and everything must be done with speed and precision. He immediately gives the order to fire the right bow torpedo and immediately after the left one. The blows are well-aimed and fierce on the right side of the battleship, causing a great wave and opening a breach in it, so it began to sink rapidly. The torpedo boat then picks up speed and moves away from the same course of the shallows.

The “Fethi Bulent” sinks and takes with it into the cold waters of Thermaikos the ship’s imam and six sailors, who at that time are sleeping. The rest of the crew jumps into the sea to be saved or boards the lifeboats. It is a dark and cold night.

At 4 a.m. on October 19, the T-11 arrives at Vromeri Katerinis and its heroic commander, Rear Admiral Votsis, telegraphs his report to Athens. In the morning he continues his main mission which was the support of the advancing Greek Army.

Votsis’ feat causes a frenzy of excitement in public opinion. A week later on the feast of the patron Saint Demetrius, Thessaloniki, after almost 500 years of slavery, welcomes our liberating army with unbridled enthusiasm and cheers. The city is decorated in blue and white.

Votsis retired with the rank of Rear Admiral in 1922 and died in September 1931, aged 54.

Thessaloniki honored him by erecting his bust next to the White Tower and giving his name in 1934 to our Settlement. Today the Municipality of Kalamaria also honors him by inaugurating this monument in his honor.

Marbles from the Macedonian land make up the three parts of the monument. The sculpture workshop “Hellenic Marble Initiative” of Stavros Myronides, based in Agios Antonios, sculpted them in this form and placed them on this pedestal. We thank him very much.

We thank the craftsmen and other employees of the Municipality for the zealous execution of all individual tasks.

We thank the previous municipal authority and the then Mayor Theodosis Bakoglides for starting the works, and also the current one with Mayor Yiannis Dardamanelis for the completion of the project. Thus, a dream of decades of named and anonymous residents of the Settlement is being realized today. Our Municipality has decided that this day will be celebrated every year by the schools of the Settlement, as a day of commemoration of the feat of Admiral Votsis.

We especially thank AUTh Professor Emeritus Prokopis Kofos, grandson of the Litochorian navigator Michalis Koufos, Argyris Maltsidis for the book he wrote about the feat of Votsis and Georgios Papadopoulos for his 30-year contribution to the community of the neighborhood through the local Sports Club, who honor with their presence today’s ceremony.

By scanning the bar code of the monument with your mobile phone, you can get detailed information about both the feat of Votsis and the history of the Settlement.

With today’s unveiling of the monument, all residents of the Neighborhood pay tribute with deep gratitude to Admiral Votsis, because:

• He fought with unparalleled courage and bravery defying death,

• He demonstrated in practice his immense love for the country,

• He contributed significantly to the liberation of Thessaloniki and our beloved Macedonia!

Thank you all for your presence.

Την Κυριακή 2 Φεβρουαρίου 2020, το Ιστορικό Αρχείο Προσφυγικού Ελληνισμού (ΙΑΠΕ) του Δήμου Καλαμαριάς και η Ισραηλιτική Κοινότητα Θεσσαλονίκης (ΙΚΘ) πραγματοποίησαν τα αποκαλυπτήρια της Στήλης Μνήμης του Εβραϊκού συνοικισμού Κάμπελ, στη συμβολή των οδών Εθνικής Αντιστάσεως και Αριστείδου στον συνοικισμό Βότση. Επίσης, στην πρόσοψη του κλειστού γυμναστηρίου της ΓΓ Αθλητισμού στην οδό Αριστείδου, έγιναν τα αποκαλυπτήρια ενημερωτικής πινακίδας στην ίδια θέση με τη Συναγωγή εκείνης της εποχής. Να σημειωθεί πως σ’ αυτήν φιλοξενήθηκε για 45 χρόνια (1933-1978) ο ΑΠ Σύλλογος Ναυάρχου Βότση.

Ακολούθησε εκδήλωση στο δημοτικό θέατρο «Ναύαρχος Βότσης» του 4^ου και 5^ου Λυκείου Καλαμαριάς (Μ. Αλεξάνδρου & Ανατ. Θράκης 9), η οποία περιλάμβανε χαιρετισμούς του Δημάρχου Καλαμαριάς κ. Ιωάννη Δαρδαμανέλη, του Προέδρου του Κεντρικού Ισραηλιτικού Συμβουλίου Ελλάδος και της Ισραηλιτικής Κοινότητας Θεσσαλονίκης κ. Δαυίδ Σαλτιέλ και του Προέδρου του Α.Π.Σ Ναυάρχου Βότση κ. Αθανασίου Τσολάκου. Ακολούθησαν οι ομιλίες των κ. Ανανία Τσιραμπίδη, Ομότιμου Καθηγητή ΑΠΘ και Προέδρου του ΙΑΠΕ και κ. Λέοντος Ναρ, Δρ. Νεοελληνικής Φιλολογίας του ΑΠΘ και συγγραφέα, εκπροσώπου της ΙΚΘ Η εκδήλωση ολοκληρώθηκε με συναυλία σεφαραδίτικων τραγουδιών από τη χορωδία της ΙΚΘ.

Η εκδήλωση πλαισιωνόταν από έκθεση φωτογραφίας.

Ιστορικά στοιχεία

Ο εβραϊκός συνοικισμός Κάμπελ ιδρύθηκε το 1927, στην ανατολική πλευρά της Θεσσαλονίκης, με σκοπό να στεγάσει Εβραίους πυροπαθείς της πυρκαγιάς του 1917. Σ’ αυτόν εγκαταστάθηκαν περίπου 210 άπορες οικογένειες (788 άτομα) και διέθετε καταστήματα, σχολείο, φαρμακείο και συναγωγή στεγασμένη σε πλίθινο θάλαμο με τσιμεντένια κυρτή στέγη.

Τη νύχτα της 29^ης Ιουνίου 1931, μέλη της εθνικιστικής (αντισημιτικής και αντικομουνιστικής) οργάνωσης «Εθνική ΄Ενωσις “Η Ελλάς”» επέδραμαν και πυρπόλησαν τον συνοικισμό, δολοφονώντας τους Λεωνίδα Παπά και Λεόν Βιδάλ και τραυματίζοντας πολλούς άλλους. Την επομένη της καταστροφής, που αποτέλεσε την κορύφωση των μεσοπολεμικών προστριβών μεταξύ γηγενών- προσφύγων, Χριστιανών-Εβραίων, οι για δεύτερη φορά πυροπαθείς Εβραίοι στεγάστηκαν προσωρινά αλλού, ενώ η περιοχή πέρασε στην κυριότητα του δημοσίου. Στον νέο πλέον συνοικισμό «Ναυάρχου Βότση» εγκαταστάθηκαν πρόσφυγες, ενώ μεταπολεμικά στη θέση των ξύλινων ή πλίθινων θαλάμων ανεγέρθηκαν πολυκατοικίες, σηματοδοτώντας την τελευταία φάση ανοικοδόμησης στην περιοχή.

The Historical Archive of Refugee Hellenism of the Municipality of Kalamaria in cooperation with the Municipality’s Culture Department and under the auspices of the Holy Metropolis of Nea Krini and Kalamaria held an event of remembrance and honor for the 100 years of the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus on 2 December 2019 at the Melina Merkouri Municipal Theatre. At this event the following took place:

1. Presentation of the book “Witnesses …..100 years later” by the journalist Nikos Aslanidis.
2. The documentary “The Band” by the same journalist, which won two awards at the 21st International Documentary Festival of Thessaloniki in March 2019, was presented.
3. Paying tribute to the prolific and well-known in and outside of Greece Professor Emeritus of History of the University of Western Macedonia and member of the Board of Directors of HARH Konstantinos Fotiadis.

The book “Witnesses … 100 years later” contains testimonies of first-generation refugees, most of which refer to the “white death marches” and the labor battalions. The book includes interviews with survivors of the genocide. These interviews were taken during the 40 years of Mr. Aslanidis’ journalistic career by first-generation refugees. Some were published in newspapers and magazines; others were heard on radio stations and others were presented on television. The book was introduced by the Professor Emeritus of the University of Western Macedonia, Mr. Konstantinos Fotiadis.

The documentary “The Band” refers to the true story of the Genocide and concerns the mass murders of the Greeks of Pontus by the butcher Topal Osman. It is based on the book written by Yannis Papadopoulos who was born in 1898 in Giresun and died in 1985 in Kavala. He was a musician, a member of the Giresun Philharmonic Orchestra which consisted of 13 Greeks and 3 Turks. This orchestra was forcibly “recruited” by Topal Osman to follow his tours and its members would play Turkish marches while the tsetes were slaughtering, raping and robbing the Greeks. At the end, the bloodthirsty Topal Osman gave the order and all the members of the orchestra were slaughtered. The only one who miraculously survived was Yannis Papadopoulos. He managed to come to Greece and settled with his family in Kavala. But he never played music again.

The documentary was created on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus and is dedicated to the memory of the 353,000 victims.

 

Biography of Professor Emeritus Konstantinos Fotiadis

Konstantinos Fotiadis was born in Ano Zervochori of Naoussa in 1948 to refugee parents. In 1966 he finished the Private High School of I. Kangelidis in the village of Angelochori. In the academic year 1966-67 he was awarded a scholarship to the Faculty of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. At the University of Tübingen he studied History (Ancient Greek, Modern European and Balkan) for a total of ten semesters, Empirical and Modern Folklore for eight consecutive semesters, under the distinguished Professor and founder of the department Bausinger, and for one semester Political Science. In December 1989 he was elected Lecturer in the History of Hellenism of the East at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki from the 15th century onwards. In 1993 he was elected Assoc. Professor of History of Modern Hellenism at the Department of Primary Education of the Pedagogical School of Florina and in 1997 he was elected Professor of History of Modern Hellenism.

Today he is Professor Emeritus of Modern History at the Department of Primary Education of the University of Western Macedonia. He has been Dean of the Florina Pedagogical School, the Organizing Committee of the First World Council of Hellenes Abroad, the Centre for Pontic Studies, the Committee for Pontic Studies, the Scientific Committee of the Centre for the Study and Development of Greek Culture in the Black Sea and the Scientific Committee of the “Jason” program of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki for the dissemination of the Greek language and culture in the countries of the former Soviet Union. He has written a large number of articles and books on Pontian and Asia Minor Hellenism, while organizing exhibitions and events on these issues throughout Greece and in many European countries. His top work was the 14-volume “The Genocide of the Greeks of Pontus”, published by the Greek Parliament, the product of his many years of research in numerous archives in Greece and abroad. He has been awarded 12 honorary distinctions. He has been for many years a member of the Board of Directors of HARH and Chairman of its Scientific Committee.

The woodcut “Mother and Child” is by the engraver Tassos Alevizos and was used as a poster with the kind permission of the A. TASSOS Society of Visual Arts

 

“To you who stretched out your loving hand to embrace my immigrant little one”

 

Kalamaria honored the villages of Macedonia that saved its children during the German Occupation, in a moving event on Sunday, March 31st at 6.00 pm at the Melina Merkouri Municipal Theatre (corner of Metamorfoseos and Argyroupoleos).

During the German occupation, the difficult winter of 1941-42 urgently raised the issue of survival in Thessaloniki, Kalamaria and Athens, especially for the young orphans and children of poor families. In Kalamaria and Thessaloniki, the Greek Red Cross, in cooperation with the Pontic Association “Efxinos Leschi” and personalities who were involved in public affairs (e.g. in Kalamaria Michalis Metallidis and Sophia Aslanidou), sent about 1000 children to villages of Central and Western Macedonia. From March 1942, children’s missions began by buses, trucks and trains, accompanied by the Red Cross volunteer supervisor, Eliza Kydonaki, and other volunteers. The children were of refugee origin, from 5 to 15 years old.

In several villages, the residents did not hesitate for a moment to respond to the call for the rescue of the children. Boys and girls were sheltered, fed and raised, for one or more years, mostly by refugee farming families. Thanks to the self-denial and solidarity of these people, hundreds of children were saved from hunger and diseases brought on by the harsh German occupation.

The Municipality of Kalamaria, the Historical Archive of Refugee Hellenism and the Chair of Pontic Studies of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki organized this honorary event during which, as an expression of gratitude for the solidarity and the rescue of the children, the villages and the families that hosted them, as well as the institutions and the pioneers of this action, were honored.

The event was the first publication of the findings of a research project of the Historical Archive of the Refugee Hellenism and the Chair of Pontic Studies, following visits to the villages and the collection of archival documents and oral testimonies from the elderly residents of the villages and from people who had experienced this hospitality as children.

History of the settlement

By Ananias Tsirambides, Professor Emeritus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Member of the Board of HARH

1915-1918:

Our English-French allies created and operated military installations (airfields, camps, warehouses, hospitals) from the beach of Karambournou to Phoenix and the War Academy and east to the limits of the later regional moat, for the needs of the Thessaloniki Front against the Central Powers. They also constructed a railway line for the transport of ammunition from the port of Thessaloniki to the area of the War Academy. It crossed eastern Thessaloniki passing roughly parallel to Papanastasiou, from Charilaou and the outskirts of Votsis and Phoenix.

1916:

On an area of about 100 acres, the British established a camp that served as an engine room and camp for the soldiers of the Indian Battalion. This camp was located between the present-day Streets of M. Alexandrou – Anat. Thrakis – Ektoros – Pericleous – Keramopoulou.

1917-18:

The British created the allied cemetery (today behind the Dalipi camp). This was the period when they brought the first piped water from Chortiatis for the needs of the cemetery and other facilities. They also drilled several boreholes to find water which they located around the junction of Kalantidou and Lassani Streets. With pipes they transferred it to a large tank behind the present 14th Public School (Lassani-Kaesarias Streets).

1920:

From May of this year refugees from Caucasus and after September 1922 (Asia Minor Catastrophe) refugees from Pontus, Cappadocia, the rest of Asia Minor and other regions of Turkey arrived by ship to Kalamaria, where several of them (mainly of urban origin) settled permanently. The Refugee Care Committee temporarily housed them in the allied wards.

1923:

Next to the allied cemetery, the municipal (then community) cemetery of Kalamaria was created.

The entire area of the Votsis settlement, as well as the whole of Kalamaria, was the fields of the Pylaiotes (Kaputzidianoi) and a Turkish owner of manors, Hamdi Bey. The area was called “buffaloes’ strata”, because it was the passage of buffaloes for the cattle breeders. Apart from livestock products, okra cultivation and viticulture were the main occupations of the inhabitants of Pylaia until the 1960s.

In particular, the area east of Ethn. Antistaseos  (during the Turkish occupation Yalkar, then Vas. Olgas, then Grammou-Vitsi) was called in Turkish Yeni Tsavous, i.e. ‘New Sergeant’.

1925:

The British sold the camp with all the facilities to the Anglo-Jewish businessman Campbell. Then the first refugees began to settle around the periphery of the camp, where they lived in makeshift houses. The settlement is now known as “Campbell”.

1927:

The Jewish community of Thessaloniki buys the premises from Campbell, as well as 35 neighboring properties by expropriation. A new settlement for the rehabilitation of fire-stricken Jews is established. Relocation and settlement of 210 poor Jewish families in wards in the eastern part of the military camp. They remained there until 1931.

1929:

Construction of a power plant (junction of Pontou and Aegaiou Streets) for Kalamaria. From 1946 to 1957, the electricity supply was continued by the “Thessaloniki Suburbs Electricity Company Petychakis and Co”. Then it was taken over by the PPC.

1931 June 30:

Burning of the Jewish settlement of Campbell by members of the Nationalist Organization “National Union Hellas”. Destruction of synagogue, school, pharmacy and 6 large chambers. Two dead, the Christian baker Leonidas Pappas and the Jew Leon Vidal. In August, the Jews leave the settlement of Campbell permanently.

1932:

It is renamed to settlement “Stylianos Gonatas”, who at that time was Minister General of Macedonia (16 December 1929 – 4 November 1932). But he refused this honor. In August of the same year the camp was bought by the Greek State (final contract in 1969).

1930 beginning of the decade:

The Wireless Police Station began to operate as a branch of the A’ Police Station. Until 1941 it was housed in a section of the 2nd allied chamber (approximately at the junction of Lassani and Chatzipanagiotidou), then until 1953 in a single-family house immediately after the tavern of Krikela. In the period 1953-73 it operated in a two-story villa before the junction of Vas. Olgas and Aegaiou. In 1973 it was abolished.

1933:

Housing for 45 years of the “Admiral Votsis” Landscaping Association in the abandoned synagogue. Maintenance of the building by voluntary work of members and athletes. Final concession in 1969 by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Demolition of a crumbling building in 1980, due to the earthquake of June 1978. Construction of an indoor two-story gym of the General Secretariat of Sports on the same site in 1987.

1934:

The settlement is given the name “Votsis” in honor of the glorious Admiral Nikolaos Votsis who managed to sink the Turkish battleship Fethi Bulent in the harbor of Thessaloniki (18.10.1912) during the struggle for the liberation of Macedonia.

In the same year, the main Street of the settlement and some of its houses were electrified.

1935:

Construction of 16 four-family houses and 18 two-family houses by the Providence for housing refugees on both sides of the Streets Ethn. Antistaseos, Lassani, Aristeidou, Aristotelous.  In the same year, Dalipi camp was established as an artillery base and then an armored tank base to this day. Placement of the antenna of the Armed Forces Radio Station (today ERT3).

1940:

Start of urban public transport with one gaz vehicle and three drivers from Ethnikis Antistaseos and Omirou to Depot, where the tram starting point was.

The restaurant Perikoklada started to operate on Vas. Olgas by Kritikos from Constantinople, which in 1948 was moved across the Street (today 32 Ethn. Antistaseos) with the new name KRIKELAS after his nickname.  The lights of Krikelas were extinguished in March 2005, while a high-rise building was built in its place.

1.1.1943:

Kalamaria becomes a municipality with an area of 6.5 km2 and a population of 10,500 inhabitants.

The Votsis settlement after the occupation

1950:

By this year there were five livestock stables in the settlement.

1953:

The State decides on a system of self-housing, i.e. allocation of a plot of land and a loan from the Land Bank according to the number of members of each refugee family, so 150 detached houses were built east of Ethn. Antistaseos for residents who lived in allied chambers until 1958.

1955-56:

Opening of a regional ditch by MOMA as a flood control project. It is 15 km long, 10-17 m wide, 2-25 m deep. It starts from Ano Toumba, passes through the outskirts of Votsis and flows out after the School of Judges in Phoenix.

Until 1965 there was no sewage network, so all houses had individual septic tank. The Streets were earthy, mud everywhere, which is why the name of Kalamaria as the city of “tsamouria”, i.e. muds, is considered successful.

They took their summer baths in Aretsou and Krini, where they went on foot or in Perea with the urban bus.

1959-62:

The Votsi workers’ residences were built opposite the Dalipi camp (Proodos settlement with 38 apartments). Also, the three three-story buildings of the UNO at M. Alexandrou Street, the residences of the workers and dockers (settlement of K. Karamanlis initially and after 1974 St. Panteleimon) and finally the workers’ residences in Phoenix (1200 apartments).

Until about 1965, at the junction of Ethn. Antistaseos 139 and Anapafseos, a weighbridge for trucks and carts was operating and the corresponding tax was paid. The neighborhood was informally called “Foros”.

1965:

The WSOTh (now called EYATh) tank is constructed next to the cemetery. The gradual connection to the residential houses begins.

1970 beginning of the decade:

Electric lighting of Grammou – Vitsi Avenue (Ethn. Antistaseos). Asphalt and gravel paving of roads.

1983:

Inauguration of IKA clinics in a prefabricated building (Kalantidou Street). It was a great success of the Sports and Cultural Association of Admiral Votsis with Athanasios Alexakis as its president.

1984:

The Kalamaria Land Registry Office is established, initially housed at the Kazazi-Kaladidou junction and since 2000 in Phoenix.

1986:

The operation of the 2nd KAPI (Open Protection Center for the Elderly) of Kalamaria in Kifissia settlement began, initially at Souri Street and since 2008 in a two-story municipal building at Cappadokias Street.

1987:

The easternmost part of the settlement (80 acres) was included in the city plan with a building factor of 0.8 compared to 2.4 that applied to the rest of the settlement.

1995 November:

The Waste Transfer Station (Municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis) started operating at the eastern boundary of the settlement (next to the Media Markt hypermarket).

2020:

The terminal of the Thessaloniki Metro station at the eastern boundary of the settlement with the Municipality of Pylaia-Chortiatis (at the end of Erythrou Stavrou Street) was completed.

In the neighboring areas of the Settlement, craft and industrial units were operating (Alatini pottery, Kazazi factory, Makedoniki Eriourgia, ELAYF textile factory, Phoenix hinges and padlocks, Stamatiadis Christmas toys), as well as the offices of the newspapers “Ellinikos Vorras” and “Esperini Ora”, where many residents worked. Unfortunately, today they have all been shut down.

Until the end of the 1950s, i.e. before the start of the intensive reconstruction, there was much more greenery in the Votsis settlement. There were many pine, cypresses, acacias and other evergreen trees, as well as shrubs and flowers in the yards of the houses.

 The Tsirambides refugee family

Narration by Ananias Tsirambides, Professor Emeritus of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Member of the Board of HARH

In the summer of 1914, Venizelos’ government welcomed 3,260 Greek refugees from Caucasus. The Care Committee showed them parts of our free Macedonia, where most of them settled. But some of them immigrated to America, while some returned to Caucasus, as was the case with relatives of my grandmother Anna Anastasiadou from Demir Kapi. They did not like the heat. They preferred the cold climate of Caucasus with temperatures up to 20 degrees below zero and snow for six months every year up to three meters high.

“The egg is baked under the sun”, was their typical phrase.

Many thousands of Greek refugees from the East passed through the disinfection station and the Kalamaria camp. First the Caucasians, then the other Pontians, the Smyrnians, the Constantinopolitans, the Cappadocians, etc. About 22,000 of them died of diseases, mainly malaria and typhus (hamnia).

“Cursed and desolate Karambournou, graves all around. Open and look at them, all children from Kars”.

Thus the muse sang the sad death toll of that time in Kalamaria.

On June 3, 1920, 3,550 refugees, including most of the families of the village of Konk, departed from Batum on the ship Argo. With them are many families of Tsirambides. They, apart from cattle breeding, were also engaged in logging. In Turkish our surname means “family of woodcutters”.

Sailing close to the coast and after a short stop in Constantinople they arrived in Kalamaria after 6 days. On the way three people died on board the ship and were dumped into the sea. They were promised much for Greece, but got little, said grandfather Alexis. The people from Konk, on Christmas Eve 1920, came by carts to Drosato Kilkis, where the Care Committee settled them in empty houses of Turks and Bulgarians.

2150 refugees departed from Batum on August 27, 1920 on the ship Eleftheria and arrived in Kalamaria on September 3. Among them were the remaining families of Tsirambides from Konk, the Anastasiadis families from Demir Kapi in Ardahan, including the 17-year-old girl Anna (my grandmother), and other families from villages in Ardahan. The rest of the Tsirambides families, including my now married grandmother Anna, stayed in Kalamaria for about seven months until Easter 1921, when they too settled permanently in Drosato Kilkis.

“Work and run, and never have enough bread to eat”. It was the widowed mother’s curse (?) to her then 17-year-old daughter Anna, my grandmother, because she did not want to go in and out of the hospital. Here in Kalamaria, her mother Simela (~52 years old) and her brother Lazaros 7 years old died of typhus.

Anna married in the Kalamaria camp Stelios Ioannidis, who also died of typhus a few months later in Drosato. In the spring of 1922 Anna married my grandfather Ananias, a widower with two boys who also died young at her hands (2 and 12 years old). After two deaths of her own babies she was finally lucky enough to see two boys Efthymis (1927), my father, and Panagiotis (1929).

On the other hand my grandfather Dimitris Chalyvopoulos came from Serpuske of Argyroupoulis. He had attended the 4th grade in high school in the school of the same name, he was a cantor in the church of Plagia Kilkis, where he settled after his marriage. He was very hard-working and nervous. His wife Angeliki Giannakidou came from Seyutli Tsalka, located 80 km west of Tbilisi. There were 10 brothers, among them Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and with Adam as their father, that is the whole Old Testament.

“Whoever does not have (a more reliable card) throws an ace”, grandfather Georgios Serides used to say, whenever he played cards with my father Efthymis (his nephew) and other uncles.

His wife Anna was first cousin to my grandfather Ananias. Illiterate but unreachable in the “tanomeni” soup, nettle soup and yofkades.

The American help with the Marshall Plan (1948-1953) reached also Kalamaria.

“These Udra (UNRRA) parcels do not fill the belly. These are the words of the right-wing pro-Americans, to deceive the world”.

This was the typical response of some of the Kalamaria refugees who were infected by the Bolshevik virus, according to History Professor Kostas Fotiadis.

Hard work, honesty, respect and solidarity were some of the virtues of our refugee ancestors. They took root in their new homeland by working hard and patiently. They sacrificed themselves for their children.

May their memory be eternal.

The beginning of the newer history of the 1st System dates back to 1956, when the unforgettable Georgios Kalantidis, the leader of the system, moved to 15, Mourouzidon Street, where a wooden building was constructed by its ranks to house, even temporarily, all its members. The contribution of the then Mayor of Kalamaria, Stavros Karatzas, who later served as chairman of the Social Support Committee of the System, is also important.

During the same period, the 2nd Sea Scout System was added to the Scouts of Kalamaria, which was based on the beach of Aretsou and housed in the old pumping station there. It is worth mentioning that the System had its own boat for the training of the Sea Scouts. It ceased to operate in 1968.

In 1956 the 5th Air Scout System was founded, the first of its kind in the Regional Scout Ephorate of Thessaloniki, under its auspices until 1959, when it passed under the jurisdiction of the Local Ephorate of Kalamaria. The System was inaugurated by King Paul and was initially housed in the area of Nea Krini. In 1965 it ceased to operate.

The Local Scout Ephorate of Kalamaria was created in 1957 and initially included the 1st Scout System of Kalamaria, the 2nd Aretsou Sea Scout System and the 5th System of Air Scouts.

In the early 1970s, on the initiative of Loukas Dimitriadis, the Equestrian Scout Club of Thessaloniki was created, which was based at Kodra camp and its members were Charalambos and Ioannis Partsalidis and Dimitris Isaakidis, scouts of the 1st System of Kalamaria. In 1973 this Scout Riding Club took part in the 24th Jamboree of Unitarians at the Scout Center of Chortiatis. The presence of the Scouts of Kalamaria was dynamic throughout its operation.

In 1980 the ranking members of the 5th Air Scout System of Kalamaria decided to change the specialty from aerial scouting to naval scouting and thus the 9th Sea Scout System was established, which in 1985 moved to 23 Kapodistriou Street in Nea Krini, where it remained until 2000, when the Municipal Council of Kalamaria decided to give it a new home in the Student Halls of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Nea Krini. The contribution of the Professor of the Department of Geology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Municipal Councilor Ananias Tsirambides was important.

In 2010, the 9th Kalamaria Sea Scout System was awarded the Medal of Meritorious Service of the Greek Scouts for its 25-year presence in the area.

The 7th Scout System of Kalamaria is the youngest member of Scouting in the Municipality. It was founded in October 1998 in the area of Votsis and was initially housed in a rented shop. In 2013 it found a permanent solution to the housing problem, when with the decision of the municipal authority and the help of Mayor Theodosis Bakoglidis, moved to the ground floor of the 5th High School of Kalamaria.

The historical course of the Systems of Kalamaria is directly intertwined with their harmonious relations with the respective municipal authority, since they constantly enjoy its unreserved support in all their activities and needs. Thus, in 2006, after the intervention of the then Mayor Christodoulos Economides, the 1st System was installed in a newly built wooden building at 11 Mourouzidon Street, where it continues its activity until today.

In 2010 the Local Ephorate of Scouts of Kalamaria celebrated the 100 years of Scouting in Greece at the Municipal Theatre of Chilis Street.

In 2012 the 1st Scout System of Kalamaria was awarded with the Medal of Exceptional Acts for its 50 years of continuous operation and in 2014 with the Medal of Scouting Merit for its 75 years of presence in the scouting movement.

In 2012 Kalamaria Scouts took part in the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the liberation of Thessaloniki held at the White Tower.

In 2016, as part of the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the 1st Scout System of Kalamaria at the Municipal Theatre of Chilis Street, an anniversary scarf was awarded to the old leaders.

In 2005, after many years of action by the leader of the Scouts of Kalamaria, Stavros Makoulidis, the Ministry of Agriculture granted the Greek Scout Corps in the area of the community of Karteres of the Municipality of Langadas an area of 10 acres for the creation of a camping area for the scouts of the whole country. It is only 35 km from Thessaloniki.

Today, three Systems are active in the area of Kalamaria, the 1st Scout System, the 7th Scout System and the 9th Sea Scout System. Since 2014, the systems of the Local Ephorate of Kalamaria have been administratively united with the 1st System of Scouts of Thermi, the 3rd Sea Scout System of Nea Michaniona, the 6th Sea Scout System of Perea and the 12th Sea Scout System of Epanomi and all together form the Local Ephorate of Scouts of Kalamaria – Anthemounta, of the Regional Ephorate of Scouts of Thessaloniki.

The 90 years of presence of the Scouts in Kalamaria have been catalytic for the local community and the promotion of the principles of Scouting, educating children of all ages with love and consistency. The road was long, difficult, uphill, but full of smiles, adventures, emotions and many memories and hope for the future that will always accompany those who cross the threshold of Scouting.

Thank you.