IZMIR REVISITED BY A DESCENDANT OF THE ASIA MINOR CATASTROPHE
By Catherine Tsounis
Hellenic News of America
Nov 13 2008
PA
"When are you going to write about Izmir (Smyrna as Greeks still refer
to the Ionian city)", asked Despina, my daughter. "I met a medical
student from Indiana whose parents are Greek Macedonian/Turkish Moslem
from Izmir. She wants to read about your impressions."
It is now 86 years after the Asia Minor Catastrophe of Smyrna. The
Greeks in Chios have still not gotten over the loss of Tseme
(Cesme). Macedonians still talk about their ancestral homes. These
families are third and 4th generation born Greeks. The loss of a way
of life remains.
My grandfather, Christos Dimitrios Pappas (Papantonakis) was born in
Kato Panagia, in Tseme. Smyrna is a state in Turkey that encompasses
the province of Tseme (Cesme).The municipality of Tseme had komopoli
(small cities) such as Kato Panagia.
He knew he had an ancestor who was a priest because of his surname,
Papantonakis. He was probably of Cretan background. "My mother was
from Tseme, of a Cretan family from Sfagia, tracing back to 1776",
according to John Basil, of Long Island. "Many Cretan families found
refuge in Smyrna’s shores during its tumultuous freedom struggle that
lasted until 1912."
After the 1774 naval battle of Tseme in the Russo-Turkish War, the
Greek population increased. The first immigration wave was from Crete,
Peloponnese, Evia, Chios and Psara. Eighty percent of the population
of Tseme after 1774 was Greek. They did not have any written records,
because of the Asia Minor Catastrophe. A family’s history was from
oral tradition and by analyzing the roots of names.
Christos Papantonakis’ father (my great-grandfather) fell in love with
a girl from a Maltese family in the neighborhood of Kordelio. They
married with the condition that they would raise their children in
the Greek Orthodox faith. A true romance that can be summed up in
Glykeria’s Greek traditional song "Ti se meli senane, apo pou ime
ego (What does it matter where I am from)…I come from Kordelio to
Athens to marry you." Christos was a giant of a man for his time:
6 ft. 1 inch, a blonde, before premature baldness, with hazel eyes,
born in approximately 1888. His childhood recollections included
going secretly to worship at a Catholic Church that infuriated his
father. His Mother died young, leaving him an orphan in the care of
his older sisters, Cleopatra and Athena, who were Greek Orthodox nuns
and a brother who immigrated to Alexandria, Egypt.
Christos was educated to chant religious hymns. According to family
tradition, he chanted in the Cathedral of Smyrna and two local churches
before becoming a cook in the Merchant Marine prior to W.W. I. Our
grandfather obtained his American citizenship papers before 1915. At
that time the requirements included having an employment sponsor, a
certain amount of years in the USA, passing an American test written in
English and having literacy skills. Christos Papantonakis was a focused
person who set a goal of American citizenship through knowledge.
In 1915, he went to Chios to marry. He met Despina Gagas, a vivacious,
brunette teenager with light blue eyes, from his hometown of Kato
Panagia. Christos married her without a dowry on August 15, 1915 in
the Metropolitan of Chios. It was a love match as was his parents.
Old photos show he wore European, cosmopolitan attire. No evzone
dress! He often said he was from "Smyrna that was the Paris of the
Middle East. I knew how to swim because I lived by the sea." He was
a champion swimmer who saved a drowning man at Rockaway Beach of
the 1930’s. Our childhood in 19’s Astoria, New York was marked with
an emphasis on Greek language, St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church
that was built by patrioti, Archimandrite Polizoides, rebetika and
remembering our Asia Minor roots.
I recently decided to go back to Smyrna to see the truth. Argyro, of
Sunrise Tours in Chios, arranged a tour with several teachers from
Kardamyla for a two day tour of Tseme (Cesme), Smyrna (Izmir) and
Ephesus. I wanted to understand the Greek perspective, traveling in
a Greek speaking group. Our guide, Ali Papazoglou, was a Greek-Moslem
from the island of Kos, who lived in Kordello, Izmir. We took a ferry
boat from Chios City to Modern Day Cesme. Because I had an American
passport, I was allowed through Turkish customs quickly. Our bus trip
through the state of Izmir showed a rich, fertile land that looked
like the islands of Limnos and Kos. Extreme police security was
present in a mall we stopped at, with very expensive prices. I could
not understand why persons from Athens would shop in Turkey. They
have better products and prices in Athens.
Along the road, guide Ali showed us the Cathedral of Tseme province,
known as Agios Charalambos, the town of Alatsata, Karaburum and
other Greek places of one hundred years ago. Ali gave us the Greek
perspective by mentioning the names and history of areas that now had
Turkish names. The entire tourist group from Athens was emotionally
moved. One of our Greek tourists crossed himself when the ruins of a
particular Greek Church was shown. Others would become enthusiastic
looking at a Turkish Mosque, at the site of a former Greek Orthodox
Church. All I saw was what it is today: a Turkish landscape devoid
of anything Hellenic. Meanwhile, I was totally astounded by what was
taking place before my eyes. No mingling in the streets. We stayed
on the bus, moving along a modern, high speed throughway. Travel in
Greece is one hundred percent more enjoyable, because of freedom and
intermingling with the citizens who all know English.
When we reached Izmir, Ali said "Kordelio is still a cosmopolitan
community as it was under the Greeks. There are still some aristocratic
homes standing. The Greeks had a philosophy: live for today and do
not worry about the past or future." Finally we reached the harbor
where the massacre took place. Ali said "this is it." A pin could
have dropped and all would have heard it in this tourist bus. The
two day tour with Sunrise Tours of Chios was memorable because of
this unique Greek guide who tried to help us envision an Asia Minor
before 1914 and 1922.
When I returned to Chios City, Argyro of Sunset Tours purchased the
books Mika Asia Explorer and Stefanides, Chios and Smyrni travel
guide. In these Modern Greek books, I pieced together the rich
history of Kordelio. The suburb is at the northern tip of the gulf of
Smyrna. Its Greek name was Peraia that means to cross over to the other
coast. Kordelio received its name from the twelfth century monastery of
"Moni Kordoleontos". The suburb lied in the municipality of Karsigiaka.
The community of Kordelio in 1888 had five thousand inhabitants. Half
were Greeks from Mytilene, Chios, Samos, Ikaria, Mani. The other fifty
percent were Armenians, Catholics, Protestants and Cretan Turks. In
1921, The Greek Command of Smyrna counted seven thousand, five hundred
Greeks, three hundred Turks, 200 Armenians, one hundred and fifty
Israelites, eight hundred and fifty Levantines (Franco-Catholics),
Serbs and other nationalities.
Most of the residents of Kordelio had their businesses in Smyrna. There
were many farmers, gardeners, cattle stock farmers, fishermen and
grocers. There were three Greek Orthodox churches. In the center were
Agia Anna, St. John Prodromos and Agia Marina. They belonged to the
Metropolitan of Ephesus. Kordelio became the second headquarters of the
Metropolitan. They had a boy’s and girl’s school, two kindergartens,
theaters, cafenia, movie houses, clubs and athletic organizations. The
enchantment of Kordelio is legendary in Greek culture and is in
folk songs. The refugees from Kordelio have a settlement outside
Thessaloniki. "My great uncle was Chrystosomos Hatgistavrou, the
Metropolitan of Ephesus," said Demetrios Hatgistavrou, of East Hampton,
Long island. "His eyewitness account entitled, ‘A Report prepared For
the Patriarch of Constantinople by Metropolitan of Ephesus Chrystosomos
Hatgistavrou’ shows the massacre of every Christian in Ionia (Western
Asia Minor)."
Christos Demetrios Papantonakis of Kato Panagia, with roots in Kordelio
and Kato Panagia, Smyrna, was a Nabisco factory worker in New York
City during this turbulent era. . "He was a quiet, low key person
who enjoyed reading all about his Hellenic culture," according to his
cousin, Daisy Lainis. The tall, quiet spoken man was considered a hero
for saving his wife’s family by helping them immigrate to the United
States from their refugee quarters at the Frourio (Fortress) in Chios
during the 1914 persecution and cataclysmic 1922 catastrophe. The
simplest persons in a time of tragedy accomplish acts that determine
the future of generations.