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My Fathers side: Anastasis Eleftheriadis and Soumela Eleftheriadou (Karapanagiotidou / Tsavdaridou) My Grandfather was born in 1911 and my Grandmother 1913. Both My Grandparents were born in a village in Asia Minor, near Nikomidia, called Hatjiozman. This village was built in the 1890's by families who had left the area of Orndu in Ponto, due to the shortage of jobs (most worked in mines which sources were depleted). The villages had asked for the land of a man called Hatji Ozman who intern said that they will name the village after him. In the 1920's there was a roomer going around saying that the Greeks of Asia Minor are being killed and told to leave, like in the story of Noah's Ark, no one believed it. Tsania, was a very well of man, was informed by the a local Turk who was a good friend of his, that Turkish forces were coming and destroying everything in their path. Tsanik packed everything that he could take with him and set off to Greece. Seeing this the remaining village people decided that if the wealthiest man is leaving all his land and property, maybe they should believe and go. Thus the hole village was saved. Rumour has
it that only one old man stayed behind because he couldn't walk,
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My father and Grandmother at Eddessa Waterfalls in the 1950's |
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My father and my Grandfathers Uncle Stephanos Eleftheriadis in the 1960's |
All the villages moved to Macedonia,
in Northern Greece to the state of Pella (Alexander
the Greats home) to the village called Apsalos
(Dragomanitsa). My Grandfathers family was
well off. He had two brothers. |
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My Mothers side: Christos Aslanidis and Emorfi Aslanidou (Kemenzesidou / )
Christo Aslanidis (Aslanoglou) Aslan is Turkish for "lion" and is used as a title for Ottoman/Seljukid and Persian Empire(Turkic) rulers. Interview from 1997 and 2000 I was born in Amasya in 1907, I lived there with my family. My brother opened a shop in Merzifon, he sold sugar and stuff. That’s were your Giagia (Grandmother) was from. It wasn’t that far from Amasya. When Topal Osman came we had to give in papers saying we were not from Merzifon but Amasya.
Amasya had a very long bridge. On it I remember the people being hung, hundreds. Day by day 20 to 30 people. This went on for a while.
Our house was next to large Mosque as I remember. The Hojia would come out yelling, “Alah Axbud” God is Great. At the age of 7-8 years old we were told to leave Amasya, My mother hid our gold “Lyres” in a large crack in our oven at home. Like many others who thought that they will return one day. We all traveled to the nearest sea port of Samsoun. Most of the men were hunted down, so they lived up in the Surrounding Mountains, only coming down from time to time for food. Due to the fact that all men were hunted down, my mother dressed me in a long white dress (gown) so I would look like a girl and not get taken. It is said that my brother Panteli was taken from us at the port, not long after a single shot was heard, we never heard from him again.
We finally boarded the ship which was to take us to Greece. It took over 1 month to get there. There was a lot of sickness, people died on board. There were crew men who would go around looking for dead people, tying chains onto them and dumping them into the sea. Many people would try and hide their dead, not bearing the notion of a loved one being thrown into the sea as a final resting place.
We traveled all the way to Kerkira (Corfu) first. As part of the “Garantina” (Quarantine) we were made to strip, lift our clothing and bath in a large tub. We finally reached the sea port of Thessalonica were they gave us a tent to live in the area of Karabournak (Karabournaki). It was chaotic, tents everywhere. Some having more then 1 family living in each tent. Separated only by sandbags. We didn’t stay there long, we followed some relatives to the region of Kilkis were we lived for 2 years. From there we had ….. say that there is a better region to live. Full of land, horses and many more, it was a new village called “Dragomanitsa” APSALOS. So we moved there. We were “embores” (merchants), with very little or No Idea about farming. We had to learn everything from scratch. Not to mention I only spoke some Pontiaka but more Turkish. I had to learn most of my Greek in Greece. Many years past I married Emorfi Kemenzetzidou, who’s family we knew b/c they were from Merzifounda. We had many children. During WWII the Italians, as allies of the Germans, attempted to take Greece. I fought in the mountains of Albania, I saw many dead, men who were killed, still holding their guns, with the eyes and mouths open. We fought through very heavy winter as well, there was one case were we slept on the snow overnight, in the morning the snow around us had melted from our body heat to reveal that we had slept on dead soldiers underneath us. We were cold and very hungry. My Grandfather also mentioned other things that they were forced to eat but it was found "not rite" to mention by some family members ....Living in Apsalos was good but in the mountains of Albania we suffered a lot. When the Germans came I was in Athens, they did a lot of damage to people. When I got to “Korits” “Konitsa” they stopped us and took all our weapons, only left us with our clothes. But then again, they let us go. The Vlaxi were bad. They would kill you just to get a blanket from you. I remember coming to a large rive from Athens were the bridge had been destroyed and we had to cross with barrels and we had to pay the “Kerhanatzides” (Pimps). We moved slowly and got to the other side, I think it was in Veria. We finally got home. Giagia was home with the kids. During Greece’s civil war, I was a M.A.I’s, that’s why I lost money. I got however a medal from Papandreou, I gave it to Christaki from Profiti Ilia because I’ll die some day. Also a large Paper saying that I fought in the war. I also had a gun and some grenades, I’ll only tell you were they are after I die. No wait, I gave them to Kostaki (Tsaloumi). I had a pistol but it rusted, I’m sure if I take it to a Mastora they can fix it!!!.
We then found ourselves in Athens were Greece had to surrender to the Germans. We are Turkofoni Pontians, But I was born in Turkey, Pontos. That’s what we fought for. Papou Christo joined Emorfi in eternal Sleep on December 12th 2002 in Apsalos at the age of 95. |
My Grandfather Christo in Apsalo during the late 1960's.
My Grandfather Christo in Apsalo during the late 1960's.
My Grandparents and all kids (2 added later on)
My Grandfathers Mother and His Siters family |
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My Grandmother Emorfy at Home in Apsalo during the late 1960's. That's my cousin Chris up front. |
My Grandmother was born and lived at Merzifounda. Not far from Amasia. During the katastrofy (population exchange) my Grandmother lost her parents and moved to Greece with her Aunty. With the help of the Red Cross she found her parents after 3 years. My grandmother was a small woman in build but she was larger than life. She passed away on August the 30th (same as diana!) 1997. She had 7 children (5 girls and 2 boys). She was trully unbelivable, I remember one story I was told about her, that during the Greek Civil war a bandit had entered the village to steel food and stuff, all the men were out fighting the war, so my grandmother and the other women of the village managed to club him to death .... it was either us or them she said.... GOD REST THEIR SOULS |
