CHRISTOS PAPOUTSY DISPELS MYTHS OF 1922 CATASTROPHE
Hellenic News of America
Sept 18 2009
"The facts about Smyrna have always been sketchy," said Christos
Papoutsy in the preface of his book "Ships of Mercy: The True Story of
the RESCUE OF THE GREEKS Smyrna, September 1922. "Did events really
unfold as many Greeks and others believe? We decided to find out
the truth, as we believe that all sides need to know, without doubt,
what occurred in Smyrna during September 1922."
The current Modern Greek perspective is that American warships were
in the Smyrna harbor and turned a blind eye. Japanese ships rescued
civilians. America and the WWI allies double-crossed the Modern Greek
government by ordering them to march into Anatolia . Then, the major
powers abandoned them when the Turks pushed the Greek army back to
the coast.
Official documents uncovered by Mr. Papoutsy reveal Asa Jennings,
a former Methodist pastor for ten years, was the real hero. In 1922,
he was secretary for boy�s work at the YMCA in Smyrna . According
to the 1923 Saturday Post, Jennings was "an average person risen
to extraordinary heights by circumstance." Mr. Papoutsy believes "
Jennings knew he was facing the greatest challenge of his life. Could
he, one man work a miracle and save hundreds of thousands of innocent
people?"
"Jennings formed the American Relief Committee to house the most
vulnerable, feed as many as possible, and protect where they could the
helpless from the Turks," said grandson Roger Jennings. "U.S. Consul
George Horton was requested by Jennings and the Committee to take
action on behalf of the refugees, but did nothing. When the foreign
community was ordered to leave the city on ships, all left except
Jennings. Jennings put his wife and three children on a U.S. Navy
destroyer, and drove through the violence at great risk of his own
life to the Turkish Army camp. Jennings got a meeting with Kemal Pasha
(later known as Ataturk) and worked out the terms for the evacuation of
the refugees. Jennings then returned to the port, and was provided with
a boat and coxswain by the U.S. Navy to visit ships in the harbor."
"Jennings first went to a French ship, but the captain refused
to get involved and sailed off with an empty ship," continued
his grandson. "Then Jennings was able to begin the coordination of
removing Smyrna refugees from the quay, by bribing an Italian Captain
to land them in Mytilene. After overcoming obstacle after obstacle,
Jennings was able to get the Greek Prime Minister and his Cabinet to
place all the ships in the Aegean at his disposal. He even evacuated
refugees from Aivali and Tseme. The rescue would not have been possible
without very significant help from Captain Theofanidis of the Greek
battleship Kilkis."
Roger Jennings, the grandson and archivist of Asa Jennings official
sources, believes the "Italian ship captain was soliciting a
bribe. This was a rescue situation. For example, at Dunkirk , the
British citizens who took their boats to rescue British soldiers
did not demand payment. My grandfather, Asa Jennings raised money
to pay the Italian captain who demanded more. AKJ (Asa Jennings)
answered with a proposal that he go on the ship to Greek territory
to negotiate the disembarkation of the refugees from the ship. That
trip led AKJ to see Greek soldiers and empty ships. However, the
Italian�s character was deplorable."
"Asa Jennings was never commissioned an Admiral by the Greek
government," explained Roger Jennings. "Persons called him Admiral. He
did not wear the uniform of the Greek Navy, receive any money from
the Greek Government, take orders from the Greek Government or in
any way appear as an official of the Greek Government. He was called
Admiral, because he commanded 26 ships at first and 55 ships after
Smyrna was evacuated."
According to grandson Roger Jennings, "AKJ blackmailed the Greek Prime
Minister after they refused to make ships available to save 300,000
Greeks in Smyrna who were at risk of death. His blackmail was a last
resort only when all other efforts to get the ships to rescue the
Greeks had failed. The ultimatum was that AKJ would send his next
message without putting the message in code so all the world would
know the Greek Government allowed the Turks to kill 300,000 Greeks
in Smyrna ."
During a personal interview with Roger Jennings, he revealed to me
that "Asa Jennings evacuated 350,000 persons from Smyrna . The most
amazing part of his story should encourage anyone not to give up in
the face of physical handicaps. My grandfather, Asa, was stricken at
the age of twenty-eight years with typhoid that left him weak with
a fever and a curvature that lost 3 inches in height (in plain words
a hunchback). He was supposed to die. His wife opened the Bible and
read St. John�s 11th chapter, 4th verse that says �This sickness
is not to end in death, but is for the honor of God, that through
it the Son of God may be honored�. That was 1906. Asa Jennings
survived. There is no coincidence. Redemption was in September 1922,
when he evacuated the Smyrna refugees. AJK was born on September 20,
1877 and died January 27, 1933. He was 55 at the time of his death."
"This is a story about human character," said grandson Roger
Jennings. "There were many people who could have helped the refugees,
but did not. Those who put their own interests before those refugees,
who wanted to avoid the most unspeakable of crimes and death included:
George Horton, the Italian captain, French ship captain, General
Frankou, the Greek Prime Minister and his cabinet. Those who put the
lives of others before all other interests were Asa K. Jennings and
Captain J. Theofanides of the ship Kilkis. Captain Theofanides’ help
in beginning the first evacuation by a Greek ship and his personal
intervention with the Greek Government, makes him a Greek hero,
who is unknown by the Greek public today."
"When AKJ would walk the streets of Greece , people would kneel out
of respect and kiss his hand and feet," said Roger Jennings. "At
the Treaty of Lausanne, Asa K. Jennings represented both the Greek
and Turkish sides for the exchange of prisoners of war. He was the
only person respected by both sides. The Greek government awarded
him their highest medals of honor."
The belief that the United States did not act to save civilians
is false, according to his research. Mr. Papoutsy has investigated
accounts from captains� and ship logs that describe the role of
Jennings and the United States Navy. "The Destroyer Litchfield in
particular evacuated Greek and Armenian refugees after September 12,
1922," said the author. "Destroyers assisted civilian relief agencies,
attempting to feed and evacuate thousands from famine and war." This
is all cited from the Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval
Operations, Naval History Division in Washington D.C. U.S. Rear
Admiral Mark Bristol commanded the American naval detachment in
Smyrna . Admiral Bristol, in a report to the Secretary of Navy,
said Mr. A.K. Jennings of the YMCA demanded Greek ships from the
Greek Prime Minister for evacuation. Amazingly, Jennings stated that
he would publish facts to the world that the Greeks and the Greek
government refused to render assistance to Greek refugees in Smyrna ,
if they did not act. They relented. Jennings commanded the Greek ships.
I personally was amazed to discover that Marjorie Housepian Dobbins�
account in " Smyrna 1922: Destruction of a City" was inaccurate,
regarding Japan �s assistance in evacuating refugees. This
assumption is based on oral records of survivors, without specifying
particular Japanese ships, or records. Mr. Papoutsy stated that
numerous popular books written about the Smyrna Catastrophe repeat
their statements. Every single captain�s logs documentation
from the nations present record each nation�s participation in
evacuating Greeks in varying degrees. Research shows, according
to Christos Papoutsy, "that the Japanese naval ships were not the
primary rescuers of the Greeks…but Japanese naval ships were not
even present in Smyrna Harbor during September 1922, never mind
leading the rescue." This is documented by the following: three
Japanese governments; Japanese Military History Department, the
Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies and the Information
and Culture Center of the Japanese Embassy. All these sources say no
Japanese military or merchant vessels were in these waters.
In fact, Japan sympathized with the Turkish government. The author
believes stories of Japanese rescue ships origin will never be
known. He believes "that a Japanese fishing boat or merchant ship was
present in a nearby harbor…..such a vessel provided some help. But,
clearly, there were not a large number of Japanese ships leading
the rescue."
Many of us, almost a century later are unaware that "the refugee
population was unique in that it was largely women and children, the
ill and the elderly," according to the writer. Mr. Papoutsy claims
Greece accomplished an extraordinary achievement. Six years after
the 1922 Catastrophe wrecked human lives were sheltered, medically
healed, given homes, land. Greece accomplished a unique humanitarian
effort. "Yet the world at large has heard nothing about it," he said.
The author sheds new information on the Asia Minor refugees that
isn�t widely known in English, historical sources. "The Greeks of
Turkey were different from the Greeks of Greece," he explains. "These
Greeks were direct descendants of the Ionian Greeks, who settled the
Aegean coast of Asia Minor , more than a thousand years ago. They
were a strong, dynamic part of the population, largely controlling
the banking, shipping and general mercantile business……to become
penniless refugees, living in tents and driven to accept the most
menial work, was a huge emotional shock……so many overcame these
circumstances is a testament to the Greek spirit. Not only were people
horribly wronged, but an entire region was changed as well.
The "Ships of Mercy" reveals that the Smyrna Catastrophe, plight of
the refugees was forgotten with the onset of WWII, remembered only by
the disposed. Jennings role in the Lausanne conference is ignored by
all history books. He unofficially arranged for an exchange of forty
thousand prisoners between the Greeks and Turks. He was trusted by
both sides. He defended the U.S.A. and explained to the U.S. public
its humanitarian efforts. He died young at 56 years old in 1933, during
the Great Depression. Mr. Papoutsy concludes his book by saying the "
U.S. did not forget Greece . By June 1923, the U.S. spent more than
18 million dollars in relief work in the Near East, with more than
half going to Greece . America �s contribution was eight times that
of other nations."
Christos and Mary Papoutsy gave an extraordinary lecture in October
2008 on their research at the Kimisis Tis Theotokou of Southampton Asia
Minor lecture. "Over one hundred persons attended the lecture," said
Dimitri Hagistavrou, president of the parish Council and a descendant
of Smyrna refugees. I am personally impressed with the time and money
spent researching the facts with his wife, Mary. Mrs. Papoutsy recited
a beautiful poem on Smyrna that was in Horton�s Book (The Blight of
Asia). Bill Theodosakis showed his extensive photo collection of the
Asia Minor Catastrophe." Christos Papoutsy acknowledged the assistance
of Theodosakis, who is the Director of the Memorial Committee of Asia
Minor 1922, in the Acknowledgments of "Ships of Mercy"
The Statue of the Mikrasiatiki Mother with her three children at
lies at Mytilene�s Harbor is on the back cover of his book. It is a
deeply moving photograph, revealing Mytilene as a heroic island. Byron
Kanaris, of the Transfiguration of Christ Church in Mattituck, Long
Island said "my Father, Antonis, was mayor of Mytilene during the
Catastrophe. He did all in his power to help."
In 2009, an educated public wants to know the truth. Not only do
the Christian descendants of 1922 Catastrophe feel the sorrow. The
European Muslims, who now live on the coast of Asia Minor , feel
the pain of being uprooted from ancestral homes in the exchange of
population in 1922. During my three visits in six years to different
areas in the state of Smyrna , the middle class Turks in the business
community spoke about their grandparents who were Greek. They believe
their families were victims in the uprooting of communities based
on religion. It is a pain that remains. Asa K. Jennings did not
merely save the refugees of 1922 Smyrna , but allowed these persons
to root their families in Greece . Each time a child was born to a
Mikrasiatic family in the following generations Asa K. Jennings will
be responsible in thought and by word. Christos Papoutsy�s book
"Ships of Mercy" is a masterpiece that will reshape the history of
the 1922 Smyrna Catastrophe.