Remembering Nikolaos Manginas: a child of Beyoğlu and a bearer of memory

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. 

This story on this page was going to be different. It is not completed, and it won’t be. This is about Nikos Manginas, who was a journalist and a photographer at the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. We lost Nikos on 10th April 2021.  Nikos was a generous, helpful person with a great sense of humour. I […]

Dimitris and his family museum

A screenshot of Dimitris’s website
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 Ashen
Lace 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.’

Dimitris (Vafiadis) Daravanoğlu is a member of the Greek Community of Istanbul but also has Armenian and Italian roots in his family. He still lives in Istanbul. He is in his 30s and working as an electrical engineer. He has been interested in his family history and developing his own museum with his family history […]

Arriving in Athens in 1964

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.

Dimitris lives in Athens. His parents left Istanbul in 1964 when Turkish state exiled people with Greek citizenship. In the video, Dimitris talks about his journey from the harbour in Karaköy to Athens by himself as he had to follow his parents. It was the first time he left Istanbul. He tells the story of […]

AEK Athens Football club

Theodoros shows his bracelets and his necklace, with the AEK football team symbol 
Beyoğlu Spor (Pera) Club in 2020
There are many photographs from times past on the walls of the club
There are also photograph albums that show old players from the club
This is one of the trophy cabinets

Theodoros is in his 70s. He left Istanbul in 1964 and lives in Athens now. He likes football. His passion for football and his interest in other sports started in Beyoğlu Spor (Pera) Club in Istanbul in the 1950s. Theodoros started to play football at Beyoğlu Spor when he was a child. He was also in […]

Icon of Agios Eleftherios

The icon of Agios Eleftherios, hanging on the wall of Dimitris’s house in Athens
Agios Nicolas Church, Karaköy

This icon of Agios Eleftherios, the Patron Saint of childbirth, belongs to Dimitri’s family. This icon was hanging on the wall of their home in Istanbul until they left in 1964 due to the exile of the Greek citizens. Dimitris’s father, Nikos, had a shop in the Karaköy district of Istanbul. They both used to go to the Agios Nicolas […]

Church Collection Plates

These collection plates belong to the church of Agios Konstantinos and Eleni in Paşabahçe in Istanbul. They are from different time periods. As the population of Greeks declined dramatically in this neighborhood, the plates are not in use anymore and were placed in store in the church. The president of the Church’s foundation is Thannasis, aged 82. With his wife, […]

A window onto the past

This window is in the church of Agios Konstantinos and Eleni in Paşabahçe in Istanbul. It is a special window. The president of the Church’s foundation is Thanassis, aged 82. He brought the window piece by piece from Athens over multiple trips and many years. He and his wife are the only remaining Greeks in the neighbourhood. The church, he says, […]

A chandelier

A chandelier from Istanbul, and Athanasios' grandparents
Athanasios’s grandfather’s business card
Athanasios' grandparents' wedding invitation
Marriage certificate of Athanasios’ grandparents from the church
Athanasios’s ID card when he was a primary student at Zapyon Greek School 
Athanasios with his classmates at Zapyon Greek School 

This chandelier is in Athanasios’s home in Athens. He brought it in the 1980s from his family’s flat in Africa Han, a well-known inn in Beyoğlu, Istanbul. The chandelier was a wedding gift to his grandfather from one of his closest friends, a chef at the famous Tokatlıyan Hotel. Athanasios’s grandfather married in 1914 in Kadıköy in Istanbul. He worked […]

Holy Spring (Ayazma)

There used to be around seven holy springs (ayazma) in Paşabahçe district. Today Agia Kiriaki Holy Spring is the only remaining one. Tanasis, who is in his sixties, took me there and pointed out the oil lamp that is lit. He said ‘it’s something spiritually important for us to keep that oil lamp going…’

Yorgi’s view of the sea defence of Constantinople

Yorgi points out the way that the chain would have worked, referring to  photograph of the model that he built in his own office.

In the Conquest of Constantinople (now known as Istanbul) of 1453, one of the most famous stories is how the Ottomans breached the Byzantine sea defense. To stop a naval attack, the Byzantines installed an immense chain in the water, from one side of the Golden Horn to another. A section of the chain is […]