Greek refugees

Macedonia: 638,253 52.2% (with 270,000 in Thessaloniki alone^[10])

Central Greece and Attica: 306,193 25.1%

Thrace: 107,607 8.8%

North Aegean Islands

: 56,613 4.6%

Thessaly: 34,659 2.8%

Crete: 33,900 2.8%

Peloponnese: 28,362 2.3%

Epirus: 8,179 0.7%

Cyclades: 4,782 0.4%

Ionian Islands: 3,301 0.3%

Total: 1,221,849 100%

Numerous suburbs, towns and villages were established to house the additional population of Greece, which rose by about 1/3 in just a few months. These areas are often named Nea (New) followed by the name of the Greek-speaking town or city in Asia Minor that its residents came from. In addition, to this day every town in Greece has a quarter named Προσφυγικά, The Refugees' (quarter). These new settlements were usually named after the place of origin of their inhabitants:

List of settlements

This is a list of refugee settlements in Greece (the place of origin is in parentheses)

* denotes settlement that pre-existed, but acquired a large number or refugees

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

Positive effects

The arrival of the Asia Minor Greeks resulted in the rise of the agricultural production of the state by 400%. The arable land increased by 55%. The Nikolaos Plastiras Government decided on February 14, 1923 to further divide the arable land of Greece, in order for the refugees and their descendants to be the owners of their own land. The income tax revenues of the Greek state rose by about 400%, or five-fold, within four years, mainly thanks to the refugees (from 319 million drachmas in 1923, to 1.137 billion in 1927^[11]).

Greece managed to increase the homogeneity of the population, especially in Northern Greece (Macedonia and Thrace). The urban population increased greatly, resulting in the creation of the modern Greek metropolises of Athens and Thessaloniki. New liberal ideas arrived along with the refugees, especially those coming from the cosmopolitan city of Smyrna. The influence of the refugees was particularly important in the cultural field.

The Greek trade and the exchange rates pushed the Greek economy into a new era of industrialization and development, partly due to the arrival of thousands of cheap hands, manpower of low cost. New industries were established in short time by the skilled refugee population (e.g. carpet industries). In addition, many of them became later successful ship-owners (e.g. Aristotle Onassis).

The Asia Minor Greeks became an inspiration for the native Greek population during the

Negative effects

The Greek Orthodox population of Anatolia constituted one of the wealthiest groups of the former Ottoman Empire. They controlled a lot of the economic life and the trade of Anatolia. Their expulsion led to the abandonment of many factories and shops in the hands of the newly established

The demographic changes of the Anatolian Christian population were severe, as well as the changes in the demography of Greece herself, where thousands of people died of diseases. The diseases had also an impact on the native population of the country. Apart from malaria, which caused the death of tens of thousands, diseases that had not appeared in Greece for years (cholera, plague) increased the already high mortality rates.

The problem of the housing of the refugees was the most pressing. Within the first ten days of October 1922, 50,000 Greeks mainly from

The descendants of the refugees have found hundreds of organizations and institutes in Greece and in the diaspora to promote their civilization and to keep in touch with their roots. Various museums in Greece (such as the Benaki Museum) display artifacts from Asia Minor, Pontus, Cappadocia and Eastern Thrace to denote the Greek presence and emphasize the origins of about 40% of the population of modern Greece.

Nobel Peace Prize nominations

For its efforts concerning the relief of the refugees The

• The Greek refugees and their tragedy was depicted in the
  Closing ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens
  .
• Various successful Greek singers have sung songs about the refugees and the Asia Minor Catastrophe (mainly Alkistis Protopsalti, Haris Alexiou, George Dalaras, Eleftheria Arvanitaki, Nikos Xilouris, Glykeria).
• The refugees have been the main theme of many Greek movies, since the 1920s, and especially during the Golden Age of the
  Greek cinema
  in the 1960s and 1970s.
• The film
  America, America by the renowned Cappadocian Greek-American director Elia Kazan
  presents the harsh situation and the uprooting of Asia Minor Greeks in the years preceding World War I.