I was searching through the Greek/English newspaper and ran across this book review , "The Miracle: A True Story" by Leonida Koumakis.
The Miracle by Leonidas Koumakis 3rd English Edition - The National Herald
The reason it caught my eye is that it deals with the Greek minority situation in Turkey. I could never figure out how/why/when FD family went from Turkey (where he was born) to Greece. We asked the question earlier if he and his family were part of the Greek minority community in Turkey and fled to Athens. Its clear that FD identifies strongly with being Greek so I wondered what the family immigrations backstory is? Some interesting historical bits.
Quotes from article:
"The Miracle: A True Story by Leonidas Koumakis is a compelling memoir and history of what the Greek minority in Turkey that has endured from the end of the 19th century to the present day. As noted in the book’s description, “The purpose of this book is to communicate, through both historical evidence and personal experiences, the Turkish policy against Hellenism and beyond.”
"The first chapter opens with a poignant scene between the young Koumakis and his mother where she admonishes her son for speaking Greek in public in Constantinople in September 1964. The author then flashes back to four years earlier to tell the harrowing story of his uncle, a shopkeeper who was arrested and beaten for his store being open on a public holiday. Because his uncle had “plenty of gold,” he was able to post bail and then fled for his life to Smyrna and then to Chios".
"Koumakis himself and his immediate family also suffered intimidation and eventually left their home. Their property was confiscated except for a large trunk of clothes".
"The events of the Septemvriana, September 6, 1955, also highlight the effort to rid Turkey of its Greek minority population. The destruction of Greek-owned businesses and property was something very few of the Greek residents could recover from and many chose to leave rather than try to rebuild. Koumakis writes, “I still remember that appalling night as if it were yesterday; I remember being huddled in terror in a corner of the flat roof of our house, waiting for our turn to come. And indeed, at around 11 o’clock the night sky, already thick with smoke and fire wherever you looked, was suddenly filled with fearful cries of “death to the giaours [infidels]! Death to the giaours!”
"The family managed to survive that night, thanks to a neighbor’s intercession with the angry mob, but eventually, they were forced to leave their home. The miracle, which lends its name to the book’s title occurred a few years later as officials searched through the belongings, mostly clothes, they were allowed to take with them on their way to Greece."
