Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City
by Marjorie Housepian Dobkin
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On one level Smyrna 1922 is a modern Greek tragedy replete with the elements of irony and horror. The Greeks, one of the victorious Allied powers during World War 1, were betrayed by their allies and their army driven into the sea at Smyrna by the forces of Mustapha Kemal, an insurgent leader to whom his former enemies had given considerable covert help. There followed an enactment of the week of orgy after the fall of Constantinople in 1453; pillage, rape and massacre culminating, in this show more instance, in the spectacular destruction by fire of Smyrna (now Izmir), considered an infidel city by the Turks because of its predominantly Greek character and population. Dobkin's study is a definitive work concerning a debacle deliberately soft pedalled and almost expunged from the memory of modern day man in the words of Henry Miller in The Colossus of Maroussi. show lessTags
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An account of the sack of Smyrna by the Turks in 1922. Also an account of how political interests and money interests can easily trump mere humanitarian concerns; per orders, the Allied ships waited in the harbor while watching the citizens of Smyrna (Greeks and Armenians) be burned to death by Turkish soldiers. Although some individuals act heroically (American Consul Horton saved thousands; and many French naval personnel let refugees escape if they could speak French and claimed to be French nationals), overall informative but depressing.
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