Over the last four months, the Hellenic Society has held a number of events, including book and film discussions, and a lecture, in recognition of the 100th Anniversary of the the Burning of the city of Smyrna in 1922. Our final Smyrna event is coming up shortly after New Year’s, with the first Biblia Mazi program of 2023 on ZOOM:  Tuesday at 7 PM, January 10, 2023.

 This session: “Smyrna, September 1922” by Lou Ureneck, published by Harper Collins, 2016 (originally published by Ecco under the title of “The Great Fire). The book chronicles the events surrounding the burning and looting of much of the Asia Minor port city of Smyrna by the Turkish army. The catastrophe resulted in tens of thousands of deaths of Greek and Armenian civilians in the city, on the waterfront, and after forced deportations into the interior of Anatolia. Several hundred thousand people became refugees as a result of these events.
         It is an excellent read!  A very interesting aspect of the book is the description of American foreign policy, diplomacy, and commercial interests in Turkey and the Near East in the early 1900’s.
In addition to a discussion of the book itself, we will also talk about the other events we held on the history of Smyrna, including the in-person lecture by the book’s author, which was held in November. If you were not able to attend the lecture, see the attached link to view a tape of the lecture.

Link (an unedited presentation – actual lecture starts 37 minutes into video; use slider to get there):

https://video.maine.edu/media/Irwin%20Novak's%20Zoom%20Meeting/1_etm6qb58

We look forward to your participation in this discussion.