Unique aspects of the Asia Minor Catastrophe, 100 years later
Sir Michael Llewellyn-Smith is a retired member of the British diplomatic service and a historian of Greece. He served as a British ambassador in Poland and in Greece in the 1990s.
He has written books on Crete, the 1896 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in Asia Minor and Eleftherios Venizelos
He is currently working on the 2nd volume of his biography of Venizelos.
Georgios Agelopoulos is an Associate Professor of Social and Political Anthropology at the School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
His research interests focus on political identities, the ethnography of the Balkan region, and the study of refugees and immigrants, as demonstrated also in his publications.
Vlassis Agtzidis is a historian.
He completed his doctorate thesis on History at the School of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. His first degree was on Mathematics and Computers.
His main research interests in History are:
- The Soviet Interwar Period.
- The history of Soviet Hellenicity.
- The transitional period from the Ottoman Empire to the era of the Nation State.
- The historic experience of Hellenism in Asia Minor.
His book The Black Sea Coast Diaspora Greek Settlements at the North-eastern Areas of the Black Sea was honoured by the Academy of Athens, while his study The Asia Minor Catastrophe from Rosa Luxemburg and Dimitris Glinos to Defeat and Trauma received the 1st prize by Estia Neas Smyrnis. His new book titled Pontus. A Story from the Asia Minor North was published recently.
Giorgos Andritsos completed his PhD at the Department of Political Science and History, Panteion University. He studied History at the Department of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, where he also obtained his postgraduate degree in Modern and Contemporary History.
His research interests focus on the 1940s and include:
- The post-war Greek history.
- The relationship between history and cinema.
- The history of the Greek cinema.
He has participated in various scientific conferences and his articles have been published in collective volumes. In 2004 Aigokeros Printing and Publishing Company published his study The Occupation and the Resistance in Greek Cinema, 1945-1966, and in 2020 KAPSIMI Publications published his study Cinema and History. The Occupation and the Resistance in Greek full-length fiction movies from 1945 until 1981.
He was born in Patra.
Nikos Andriotis holds a PhD from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and is a Professor at the Experimental School of the University of Athens. He also holds a postgraduate degree from the University of Paris I-Panthéon-Sorbonne and a BA from the School of Philosophy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
Between 2006 and 2010 he taught Modern History at the Department of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
He has published books including:
- The Short Journey”, The Arrival and Settlement of the Asia Minor Refugees at Oinousses, Oinoussian Maritime Museum, 1998.
- Population and Settlements of Eastern Crete (16th-19th Century), Vikelaia Municipal Library of Heraklion, 1st edition 2006, 2nd edition 2020.
- Leonidas Iasonidis. The Settlement of the Refugees (1924), Papers on Parliamentary Speeches III, Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy, 2015.
- Refugees in Greece 1821-1940: Arrival, Healthcare and Settlement, Hellenic Parliament Foundation for Parliamentarism and Democracy 2020.
He has also authored the chapter “The Refugee Issue in Greece (1821-1930)” in the book Topics of Modern Greek History, 3rd year of General Lyceum of the Humanitarian Studies Orientation Group.
He was born in Heraklion, Crete.
Dr Eftihia Voutira is Professor Emerita in Anthropology of Forced Migration at the Department of Balkan, Slavonic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, Greece.
She studied Philosophy at the University of Chicago and at Harvard University, where she received a doctorate. She continued with postgraduate studies in Social Anthropology at Cambridge University, where she received a second doctorate.
She has carried out fieldwork and published extensively on the Greek diaspora in the former Soviet Union, refugee issues, and the political economy of humanitarian assistance in Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans.
She is the author of:
- Conflict Resolution: A Cautionary Tale, with Shaun A. Whishaw Brown; Uppsala, Sweden:Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 1995.
- Anthropology in International Humanitarian Emergencies, with Jean Benoist; European Commission, Brussels, Network on Humanitarian Assistance (NOHA), July 1994.
- Anthropology, Network on Humanitarian Assistance (NOHA), 2nd edition, Brussels, 1998.
- Between Past and Present.Ethnographies of the post-Socialist World, Kritiki Publishing, Athens, 2007.
- The Right to Return and the Meaning of Home. A Post Soviet Diaspora Becoming European, Lit-Verlag, 2012.
Yannis Glavinas holds a PhD in Modern and Contemporary History from the School of History and Archaeology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He currently works as an archives officer at the Central Service of the General State Archives in Athens and has served as a scientific advisor to the Institute for Balkan Studies (IMXA).
He has published monographs and numerous articles in scientific journals and conferences in Greece and abroad, in relation to topics such as: the Muslim minority in Greece; the population movements in the period 1912-1923; the question of the war prisoners of the Asia Minor Campaign; the state censorship policies, etc. He has also curated exhibitions of archive materials related to the period of the German Occupation of Athens; the censorship during the Military Junta in Greece; and the refugees of the Asia Minor Catastrophe.
Dimitris Kamouzis is a historian and researcher at the Centre for Asia Minor Studies.
He completed his PhD in History at the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, King’s College London, where he also worked as a professor. He has been a scholar of the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and a Research Fellow of the John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation.
His latest monograph is titled Greeks in Turkey: Elite Nationalism and Minority Politics in Late Ottoman and Early Republican Istanbul, Oxon and New York: SOAS / Routledge Studies on the Middle East, 2021. He was also the scientific editor of the collective volume “Greek Soldiers and the Asia Minor Campaign: Aspects of a Painful Experience”, Hestia Publishers, June 2022.
Alexander Kitroeff is a Professor of History at Haverford College, Pennsylvania, USA, and also teaches at College Year in Athens.
His research and publications focus on the modern Greek diaspora.
His recent books include:
- The Greeks and the Making of Modern Egypt, American University of Cairo Press, 2019.
- The Greek Orthodox Church in America: a modern history, Northern Illinois University Press, 2020.
- The History of AHEPA 1922-2022: A Century of Service, AHEPA, 2022.
He has worked with film director Maria Iliou on a number of documentaries, such as Smyrna 1922: the Destruction of a Cosmopolitan City (2012) and From Both Sides of the Aegean: Expulsions & Population Exchange, Turkey-Greece 1922-1924 (2013).
Vassilis Kolonas is a Professor at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly since 2002. He has worked as a researcher and taught in American, Canadian and French universities.
He undertook postgraduate studies in Paris on the History of Art, Museology and Restoration of Ancient Monuments, and he holds a degree from the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
Among others, he is:
- A main contributor and head of Greek and European research programmes in relation to the study and research of the History of Architecture in 19th and 20th century Greece, the countries of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
- Member of the Scientific Committee of the European Association of Urban History.
- Author of 8 monographs
Elisabeth Kontogiorgi is Director of Research at the Modern Greek History Research Centre, Academy of Athens.
She obtained her doctorate degree (DPhil) from Saint Antony’s College, University of Oxford in 1997. She studied at the University of Glasgow (M.Phil) and the Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (BA).
As an associate lecturer, she taught Economic and Social History at Harokopeion University of Athens, Department of Geography (2000-2003).
Among others, she has published the monograph Population Exchange in Greek Macedonia: The Rural Settlement of Refugees 1922-1930, Oxford Historical Monographs, Clarendon Press – Oxford, 2006.
Her research interests include:
- Migration and population exchanges in the Balkans in the period 1912-1930.
- The Macedonian Issue.
- The Refugee Issue.
- Agricultural reform and refugee settlement in Greece.
- The social policy of the League of Nations in Greece.
- The Eastern Question and British Policy.
- The relationship between Church and Politics and inter-church relations in the 2nd half of the 19th century.
Lena Korma is a historian and researcher, working at the Foundation for Education and European Culture.
She was a scientific member of the French School at Athens, where together with Tasos Anastasiadis she was the head of the 5-year programme on the social history of the Allied Army of the Orient.
In 2009, on scholarship from the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation, she defended her doctorate thesis at Université de Paris I-Panthéon–Sorbonne. The subject of her thesis was the social and economic migration limits of the Asia Minor refugees in France (1916-1939).
She has also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Foundation for Education and European Culture, French School at Athens. Moreover, as part of the Aristeia (Excellence) Initiative, she participated in the Greek Historiography of the 20th century programme, launched by the University of the Peloponnese, as an external postdoctoral associate.
Kostas Kostis is Professor of Economics and Social History at the Department of Economics, University of Athens since 2004. He is also a management consultant at Alpha Bank since 1999.
He went on to study at the Department of Economics of the University of Athens and History at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris, where he defended his doctoral thesis in 1985.
In 1990 he received the Nikos Svoronos prize for young historians from the Foundation for Research and Technology, University of Crete. From 2006 to 2009 he occupied the Chair of Modern and Contemporary Greek Studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.
His publications include:
- The Wealth of Greece. The Greek Economy in the 20th and 21st Century, Athens 2019.
- State and Business in Greece. The History of Greek Aluminium, Athens 2013.
- History's Spoiled Children: The Formation of the Modern Greek State, 18th-21st century, Athens 2013 (English edition of the book, London-New York 2018).
- The History of the National Bank of Greece (1914-1940), Athens 2003.
- In the Time of the Plague. Images from the Societies of the Greek Peninsula, 14th-19th Century, Heraklion 1995.
Dimitris Livanios is an Assistant Professor of Modern Greek and European History at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
He has taught Greek and Balkan History at the University of Cambridge, the University of London (Birckbeck College) and Brown University in the USA.
He studied History and Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and obtained his PhD from the University of Oxford.
His book The Macedonian Question: Britain and the Southern Balkans, 1939-1949, Oxford, 2008, was translated and published in Greek in 2015. His more recent works include the collection of studies Forging Identities: Studies in Religion, Violence and Nationalism in the Balkans, 17th-20th centuries, Epikentro, 2022 and the editing (together with B. Gounaris) of the collective volume Unknown Aspects of ’21: Young Historians of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Study the Greek Struggle for Independence, University Studio Press, 2021.
Nikos Marantzidis is a Professor at the Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies, University of Macedonia, where he has been teaching Political Science since 1996.
He has served as a Visiting Professor at Charles University in Prague and the University of Kerala in India.
He has studied Political Sociology at the Paris Diderot University and the Paris Nanterre University.
His latest book is titled Under Stalin's Shadow. A Global History of Greek Communism Cornell University Press, February 2023.
He was born in 1966.
Iakovos Michailidis is a professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the School of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He is the head of the Research Centre at the Society for Macedonian Studies, and a member of many Greek and European scientific networks and organisations, such as the European thematic history network Clioh/Cliohnet.
He has served as:
- Visiting Professor at the University of Cyprus (2012-2013).
- Visiting Professor at the George Washington University as a Fulbright Scholar (2019-2020).
- Academic Visitor at the University of Oxford (2019-2020).
- Expert on the West Balkans for the European Economic and Social Committee.
- Historical advisor for the SKAI TV shows 1821 and On Freedom, the history documentary Twice a Stranger that aired on NET, and the history documentary 1912-1023 The 10-year Expedition of Greece that aired on Cosmote History. Moreover, he has edited the special history radio shows of SKAI 100.3 on the Balkan Wars, the Asia Minor Campaign, Eleftherios Venizelos, the German Occupation of Athens and the Greek Civil War.
He has authored dozens of studies and articles for Greek and international journals. In addition, he has edited a series of 8 studies on the key events and historic figures of the Greek Revolution of 1821, which was recently published by Metaichmio Publications.
Marilena Papadaki is a Historian at the International Hellenic University.
For a number of years she worked as a scientific associate of the Kalliopi Koufa Foundation to promote International Law and the Protection of Human Rights. In the past she has worked for the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki and the Teloglion Fine Arts Foundation, AUTH.
She studied at the School of History and Archaeology, Faculty of Philosophy, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She completed her postgraduate and doctoral studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, on scholarship from the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation.
She has participated in scientific conferences and seminars in Greece and abroad, and has published studies in reputable History and International Law journals. Her main research interests centre on Modern Greek History, Diplomatic History, History and Philosophy of International Law and History of International Relations.
Spyridon Ploumidis is an Associate Professor at the Department of History and Archaeology, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.
In 1996 he graduated from the History Department of the Ionian University and in 2004 he received his doctorate degree from the University of London. He has taught at the University of Western Macedonia, the University of Ioannina and the Ionian University.
He has authored several books, including:
- Ethnic Symbiosis in the Balkans:Greeks and Bulgarians in Plovdiv (1878-1906), Patakis Publishers, Athens 2006.
- The Ioannis Metaxas Regime (1936-1941), Hestia Publishers, Athens 2016.
- The Mysteries of the Aegeid: The Asia Minor Question in Greek Politics, 1891-1922, Hestia Publishers, Athens 2016.
- The Iron Decade:The National Wars of Greece (1912-1922), Minoas Printing & Publishing Company, Athens 2022.
He was born in Ioannina in 1974.
Sotiris Rizas is the Director of Research at the Research Centre for the Study of Modern Greek History, Academy of Athens.
His recent titles include:
- The Great Powers and the Revolution, Metaichmio Publications, 2021
- America and Europe Adrift. Transatlantic Relations After the Cold War, Praeger 2022.
Ioannis Stefanidis is a Professor and has been teaching Diplomatic History at the Faculty of Law, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 1994.
He was worked with the BBC Greek department (1988-1989) and the Institute for Balkan Studies (1990-1993). As a Visiting Professor he has taught at the University of Macedonia, the University of Cyprus and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He has been awarded scholarships by:
- The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom.
- Fulbright Programme, Hellenic Observatory (European Institute, LSE).
- Stanley J. Seeger fellowship (Program in Hellenic Studies, Princeton University).
- Senior Visiting Scholar (Onassis Foundation, USA).
He holds a Law Degree from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (1984), an MSc in European Studies (1986) and a PhD in International History (1989) from London School of Economics and Political Science of the University of London.
His notable works/monographs include:
- The Last European Century: Diplomacy and Politics of the Powers, 1871-1945, Athens, 1997.
- Isle of Discord: Nationalism, Imperialism and the Making of the Cyprus Question, London-New York, 1999.
- From the Greek Civil War to the Cold War: Greece and the Allied Factor, 1949-52, Athens, 1999
- Asymmetrical Partners:Greece and the United States in the Cold War, Athens, 2002
- Stirring the Greek Nation: Political Culture, Irredentism and anti-Americanism in Greece, 1945-1967, Aldershot, 2007.
- Substitute for Power: British Propaganda to the Balkans, 1939-1944, Aldershot, 2012.
- The Cold War, Athens, 2021
- Unwanted and Expendable: The Guerrillas of Colonel Psarros and the Civil War of the Occupation, 1943-44, Thessaloniki, 2022.
He was born in Thessaloniki in 1961.
Theodosis Tsironis is a historian, serving in local government since 1997.
He holds a postgraduate and a doctorate degree in Modern and Contemporary History. Moreover, he holds a BA in Theology and Islamic Studies from the School of Theology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
He has been an invited speaker at many Greek and international scientific conferences. He has co-edited collective volumes and has been a member of scientific associations, conference organising committees and research programmes.
He has published a monograph titled: The Church in Politics. The Political Speech and Role of the Church of Greece (1913-1941). He has one more monograph in the process of being published and many of his papers have been published in collective volumes.
His research interests focus on the study of topics related to church, political, social, institutional, public and local historiography.
