The research project 100memories attempts to combine the historical research on refugee settlement and population movement to and from Greek territory in the 20th century, with pioneering technological methods and tools, aiming at the documentation, dissemination and representation of historical memory, as it relates to refugee populations. But beyond that, it also endeavours to highlight the complex and multifaceted ways in which both the political and social history of Greece are interwoven with the refugee arrival and settlement, as well as with later population movements. The project focuses on four port cities (Piraeus, Volos, Thessaloniki, and Chania) which were pivotal to the refugee experience. Presenting the preliminary findings of the research we will narrate the story of the city of Thessaloniki and, mainly, on the neighbourhood of Ano Poli, the port, and the train terminal. Using 12 historical fragments, we will attempt to trace the thread of movement as it was woven into the history of the city, and particularly this neighbourhood and these two transport hubs, over a period of more than a hundred years, beginning in 1917, with the blaze that transformed the city, all the way to 2015 and the arrival of the refugees.Eleni Kyramargiou is associate researcher in the Institute of Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation. She has earned her Ph.D. in Contemporary History (University of the Aegean). She has worked in research programmes of the Institute of Mediterranean Studies / Foundation of Research and Technology, the Institute of Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation and the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation. Her research focuses on the subject of refugee settlement and industrial history in the wider area of Piraeus. She is currently active as Principal Investigator in the research project “100 Memories” (2020-2023) focusing on the memories and legacies of the population exchange and the refugee settlement in Greece. She has published a book and several articles in academic and non-academic journalsOlga Lafazani is a Post Doc Researcher at the Institute of Historical Research / National Hellenic Research Foundation. She holds a PhD in Social Geography. She has been working as a social and cultural geographer in several national and European research institutions and projects. Her main interests include the study of migration, borders, economies and urban space with an emphasis on ethnographies of everyday life. She is currently active in the research project “100 Memories” (2020-2023) focusing on the memories and legacies of the population exchange and the refugee settlement in Greece. She has published several articles in academic and non-academic journals.

 

The Modern and Contemporary Studies Seminar is a moment of exchange gathering guest speakers and researchers from the programs of the modern and contemporary section, to present their work in connection with the structuring themes of the EFA and the research agenda of the section, as well as with current research on the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. As a meeting point for researchers from different backgrounds, the seminar aims to promote the research carried out at the EFA in modern and contemporary history, anthropology, geography, sociology and art history (and others), but also to disseminate to the School’s community other research carried out by several institutions in the area.
For 2022, centenary of the Greek army’s retreat from Asia Minor, the seminar will be in part dedicated to issues pertaining to what has be called “the Asia Minor catastrophe”, the exchange of populations and the conflict’s memories.