A book dedicated to the specific settlement of the Municipality of Kalamaria, where a large number of refugees settled. Mr. Ananias Tsirambides, Professor at the Department of Geology of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Municipal Councilor of Kalamaria, was personally involved in the research and collection of the material, as well as in its processing.

The information contained herein comes from newspaper articles, archival material, resident interviews and the author’s memories. The information about individuals whose life is intertwined with the history of the settlement makes the book enjoyable and lively, while at the same time help the reader to understand their character. Through the photographs, faces, neighborhoods, scenes of daily life and social and cultural events are sketched. The book makes extensive reference to the history of the construction of the Holy Church of St Panteleimon, as well as to the foundation of the sports club ‘Admiral Votsis’.

Thessaloniki in the 19th and early 20th century was the coveted city of the Ottoman Empire, the Selanik for the Sublime Porte, but also the “Jerusalem of the Balkans” for the Jews of Europe. At the same time it constituted, together with its Macedonian inland, the “apple of discord” of the Balkan nationalisms, which with the Balkan Wars attempted to resolve the outstanding issues of the Aemos Peninsula. Since 1912, the population ratio has tended to be reversed, as the former multi-ethnic city of a declining empire was transformed into the urban environment of a nation state.

The fire of 1917 adds to the gradual population change the forced transformations that occur in the architectural landscape, which is cut off from the traditional images and past of the 19th century. However, the above changes, no matter how subversive they were in relation to the Ottoman past, would not be able to overturn the population map of the city in such a short time after its liberation.

The book was the fruit of research by the HARH and includes rich archival material (photographs, documents, newspaper articles, excerpts of oral testimonies, etc.), as well as 23 texts by the historians of the Historical Archive on the path of the club, the sporting and cultural sections that operated within its framework, the administrative and sporting factors that played an important role, but also the organized fan associations that supported Apollo.

The publication concerns the history of Kalamaria in the period 1940 – 1967. During this period the new political identity of the residents of Kalamaria was formed and developed. A decisive event was the foundation of an independent municipality.

The needs of survival did not prevent the residents of Kalamaria from being active in all areas of everyday life and from leaving their own mark in the fields of work, education, collective organization, entertainment, culture and religious life.

Kalamaria gradually ceased to be an isolated settlement of pre-war Thessaloniki and developed into an area where the basic infrastructure was being modernized. In the 1950s, the coastal zone was upgraded and from the 1960s the population composition of Kalamaria was enriched and new settlements were created.

The National Foundation for the Protection of Poor Children of Macedonia “Aristotle” has been, for more than 50 years, a cradle of care and affection for children who were orphaned or deprived in the inter-war and post-war years.

Through texts and photographs the reader can get information about the actions and activities of the Foundation. During its long journey from 1926 to 1983, the Foundation with its many names, but established in the memory and soul of the residents of Kalamaria as “Aristotle”, has produced professionals and above all citizens who are well known in their field and useful to society as a whole.

The scope of this photographic-historical album is to highlight the history of Kalamaria, not as part of the wider Thessaloniki region, but mainly as a region with its own identity.

The form and content seek to present the history of the city not so much from analytical texts, but from the combination of various historical sources. From documents, photographs and press reports of the time, as well as from oral testimonies. Thus, Kalamaria ‘speaks for itself’.

Through the oral testimonies and the personal language of the old residents of Kalamaria, the way the refugees saw the new place and how they lived their experiences becomes clearer. On the other hand, photographs give a picture of the place and the people, documents present the official side of events, while the press adds a ‘third eye’ to all this.

In September 1995, on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the disasters and atrocities against Greeks in Constantinople, the Historical Archive of Refugee Hellenism organized a two-day conference (on 11 and 12 November).

The aim of the conference was the multifaceted study and presentation of the topic “Hellenism in Constantinople, Imbros and Tenedos between 1923 and 1995″. The present publication is the proceedings of this two-day conference.