Fener, a road to the SchoolsIoakeimeion Girls' High School from the street
The walls of the Ioakeimeion are surrounded by barbed wire.
Top: the dome of the School Bottom: the School is on the leftStudents at the School A photo of Thanasis, who is 82, sitting where he used to sit.Thanasis shows me the chairs that he remembers from his childhood. He and his fellow students would play with these chairs, stacking them up like dominoes before making them fallIn the natural history classroom there is a photo of Greta Thunberg. The School is a living site of education but also a place of memory: many of the interiors are unchanged, with old teaching collections remaining in place alongside new stuffThe view from the SchoolThis is the poster in Greek for the event
Café Aman Istanbul concert in Megaron, Athens, 2019. Apart from traditional songs, they also perform traditional dance. Café Aman Istanbul also recreated the traditional carnival of Tatavla in which the Greeks of Istanbul wore comic masks and costumes to celebrate their neighbours, as you see in the photograph. The carnival would take place three weeks before the Great Lent and was also called Baklahorani(literally, ‘eating beans’) because according to the Orthodox tradition, they would not consume meat until Easter. Baklahorani would begin with a parade from Pera to the Saint Demetrius Church in Tatavla. It would end with festivity in the street there. The festival was stopped in 1941. For one year, in 2010, the carnival was revived by a group of Greeks and Turks. A picture of Baklahorani from 1930’s
Left: This is the newspaper article that Nikos gave me. Click HERE for the full article. Right: Nikos is showing me a picture of his mum when she was a teacher at the Orphanage in Büyükada, Istanbul. Nikos is taking a photograph of the Patriarch in Balıklı.Apart from his photographs, Nikos prepared booklets, edited books, and organised exhibitions. He showed (and gave) me a booklet that was written by him to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Patriarch Bartholomew’s ascension to the throne. The booklet shows the Patriarch’s official visits. When I met him, Nikos was organising some events and preparing a book to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Patriarch’s ascension to the throne in 2021. When Cem Hakverdi and I went to interview him for our film, Burying the Bones, we asked him what had been the most memorable visit that he had with the Patriarch. Nikos chose their visit to Cuba in 2004, when Fidel Castro gave the ownership of Saint Nikolaos Church in Havana to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Castro could have given this church to any other church, but chose the Patriarchate, which pleased Nikos greatly. Nikos gave a booklet in Spanish that he had prepared to Fidel Castro.
Two volumes of book of photographs of the 1955 Pogrom taken by Dimitrios Kalumenos, then the official photographer of the Patriarchate. Nikos edited them with Serdar Korucu. They were published by Istos. Nikos explained the book to me: “Due to the 50th anniversary of these events [the 1955 Pogrom against the Greeks], I did an interview with Dimitrios Kalumenos. He relived how the events took place. He explained their every second. And we gave this camera to him to hold after fifty years. He took those pictures 50 years ago. He told us that he was deeply afraid when he took those photographs. He went to many places: Beyoğlu, the Patriarchate, and to the Yedikule area where he saw the huge damage to the churches. He went to the Şişli graveyard where they desecrated the graves. They took the bones from the coffins. So, all those photographs exist because of him.”
He pointed out in particular the pictures in which the graves were desecrated. He said ‘what would you do with dead people? What sort of person does this?’
After we looked at this book, he gave it to me as gift. The last time I saw Nikos was during a visit to the Patriarchate in November 2020. I showed him this website that you are visiting now. I read some of stories and we looked at the images together. He said the website was ‘very different and creative,’ and that he appreciated my research, after which he gave me this gift.
On this cross is inscribed the name of the Patriarch Bartholomew I, which was very important to him; in turn, this object is very important to me as a memory of Nikos.
Books from the series of Politika HistorikaPhases of Matter (Maddenin Halleri) won several awards at national and international levels in prestigious festivals.
Left: ‘Greek Music Workshops are Starting’ Right: Istos choir and a group from Greece concert programme, the Zografyon Greek High School in Istanbul.
Left: Istos Café, where you can buy books as well. Right: Istos choir giving a concert in the Café before the pandemic.
Ashen (Mıgırdician) Vafiadis. Ashen was the great grandmother of Dimitris. She was born in Kınalıada, Istanbul in 1900. She was Armenian and married a Greek, Hurmuzios, who was the great grandfather of Dimitris. At the time, marriage between the Armenians and Greeks was not very easy, but Ashen and Hurmuzios rebelled against that.1940s Vases. The flowers were designed by AshenLace Pattern Book and some of the examples of lace that Ashen made over 75 years. She learned to make lace at the age of 7 and produced a massive amount of lace work. Dimitris notes that the book is in French, since at the time French was more common than English in Turkey.
In 1941, during World War II, the Turkish Government recruited non-Muslim men (mainly Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Jews) for a labour battalion, even though many of them had already completed their mandatory military service. They were not given weapons. Instead, they were put to work on construction projects such as road and tunnel building. They were released in 1942. Dimitris’s great grandfather, Hurmuzios Vafiadis, was one of the men called to service in 1941. He went to Yozgat.
Left: Photo of Hurmuzios in 1941. He sent this to his family. Right:Hurmuzios’s postcard to his family in 1941. The postcard says “I put on weight from 93 kilos to 98 kilos. I found a wrestler and we wrestle every day. Tell Aleko to train. If I come, I will throw him to the ground like Çim (Jim) Londos [a famous Greek wrestler of the time]. And if he is mischievous, I'll beat him. Special Greetings to Mrs. Ashen."
Although the postcard is jocular, in fact Hurmuzios was hiding his suffering and the harsh reality of forced labour. This is also why he chose a photograph in which he is smiling.Hurmuzios Vafiadis was a collector. He was known for going to auctions to collect antique souvenirs. However, he stopped collecting after the 1955 Pogrom targeting the Greek communities of Istanbul. This plate is called the ‘Survivor’ by Dimitris’s family, because when the attackers smashed their home, this plate manage to survive, although it haired to be put back together. Dimitris notes: ‘This plate is one of the important objects for our family, as a survivor. It reminds us of those days but also shows us to be survivors of bad days.’
Baylan in KadıköyBaylan interiorTraditional display in BaylanFreshly made macaronsMarrons glacés. Ligor explains that they are traditionally wrapped to limit contact with the air, so that they do not deteriorate. ‘It is air that spoils the product.’
Galata [Karaköy] Port from the sea. Today it is been redeveloped. Dimitris left Istanbul from this port in 1964.
On the left: Galata (Karaköy) Port in 1964 when Dimitris left. On the right: Akdeniz - the ship that took Dimitris to Athens. This is the radio that Dimitris mentions in the video. It belonged to his parents and was in Istanbul until 1964. Now it is in Dimitris’s home in Athens."Ο ναός του Ποσειδώνα στο Σούνιο - The temple of Poseidon, Sounion (2)" by st.delis is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 This is the Temple of Poseidon in Sounion. Dimitris saw it very early in the morning from his ship. He recognised it from the photographs. He was very excited to see it for real. Piraeus Customs House in 1964. This is the port at which Dimitris arrived in Greece after he was forced to leave Istanbul. Sounion coastal road in 1964.
Dimitris describes the district of Piraeus of 1964 where there was a quarry (on the left) and one-storey houses occupied by poor immigrants who came from Izmir in 1922 (on the right.Omonia Square, Athens in 1964. Dimitris was fascinated when he saw it for the first time. "Acropolis: Distant view of western approach"by Penn State Libraries Pictures Collection is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0 The Acropolis in Athens in 1960s. The first thing that Dimitris asked when he arrived in Piraeus was ‘where is the Acropolis?’This is a kiosk from 1964, similar to the one Dimitris talks about in the video in relation the sunglasses story.
A chandelier from Istanbul, and Athanasios' grandparentsAthanasios’s grandfather’s business cardAthanasios' grandparents' wedding invitationMarriage certificate of Athanasios’ grandparents from the churchAthanasios’s ID card when he was a primary student at Zapyon Greek School Athanasios with his classmates at Zapyon Greek School
