Refugees dropped daily at Piraeus Harbour,Greece. Demotix/ Dimitrios Karvounzis. All rights reserved.September 1922: Greeks flee burning Smyrna to escape death and destruction. Aegean islands receive crowds of exhausted, sick, humiliated people, deprived nearly of everything.
September 2015: People (mainly Syrians) flee from conflict to escape death and destruction. Aegean islands receive crowds of exhausted, sick, humiliated people, deprived nearly of everything.
Greeks know well the pain of refugeehood, due to the country’s geographical position and several historical tragedies. The word “prosfygas” (refugee) characterizes the identity of many individuals, families, neighborhoods, even cities. It bears the collective and historical memory of bitter stories narrated by grandmothers and grandfathers about how they faced danger, torment, travelling in inhuman conditions and also how some suffered racism, prejudice, hate speech, even violence in their new life in the Greek Motherland. Overcoming all, they managed to prosper and become among the most precious cultural elements of Greece.
