For the past few years I have been working on 2 projects, the first involving the memoirs of a relative of mine, George Miniotis, a Greek patriot during WWII who worked closely with one of the Levantines of Smyrna, Noel Rees, and a summary of the resulting text is viewable here.
I believe both of these works will help shed light on two periods of significant history, that had ramifications for all the communities of the region. After his retirement in , my maternal grandfather Stamatis Hadjiyannis began writing down his reminiscences, mainly concerning three topics: His early years in his village Kato Panagia in Asia Minor, as well as a description of the place as it was at the turn of the twentieth century.
His adventures while serving his term at the Salonica front and during the Asia Minor campaign of the Greek army in the years — The manuscripts consist of several hand—written versions for each topic, different from each other, of which those of his military adventures are the most numerous, numbering at approximately thirty. Some of them cover the whole period —, while others deal with only parts of it.
One complete manuscript was handed to me by my grandfather, a few years before his death in I proceeded to convert it into digital form and to edit it, finishing in This version was printed out in 5 copies and given as a present to close relatives. Only in were they retrieved, and I began leafing through them. I soon discovered the wealth of detail, and even whole incidents that were missing from the original manuscript presented to me, back in the 80s. I am now half way through it, and I expect it will be completed in about a year.
I have added a summary of the chapters preceding and following it, to help readers understand the context. Enjoy… My grandfather Stamatis Hadjiyannis at our summer house, ca. Areas of control for the period between autumn to May and the routes taken by Stamatis Hadjiyannis. Levantine Heritage The story of a community.
