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Survivors' Testimonies of the Pontian Genocide
Maria Katsidou-Symeonidou
I was born in Mourasoul village, Sevasteia/Sivas district, on August 15 1914. I remember the deportations well. In 1918, I was about four years old, when one day I saw my father in the village square. I ran to him and asked him for the pie he brought me every day from the family-owned mill. He replied: “O my child. The Turks are going to kill me and you will not see me again.” He told me to tell my mother to prepare his clothes and some food for him. That was the last time we saw him. They killed him along with another ten men.
I remember another time when a Turk warned our village, saying that all the young men should leave. This because the next day, Topal Osman would be coming. Indeed, those that left, were saved. They still killed fifteen men, including the teacher, the village president and the priest. Topal Osman had caught three hundred and fifty men from neighbouring villages. He had them bound, murdered and thrown into the river that ran through our village. I still remember the echo of the shots. They were hauling the bodies by ox-cart for nine days to bury them. Most of them were unrecognizable, as their heads had been cut off.
In 1920, around Easter, the Turkish Army came and told us to take with us everything we could. We loaded up the animals, but the saddle-bags tore open and most of us were left without food. On the deportation march, the Turkish guards would rape the women; one of whom fell pregnant. In the Teloukta area, about half our group was lost in a snow storm. From there, they took us to a place without water, Sous-Yiazousou; many died of thirst. Soon afterwards, as we passed a river, all of us threw ourselves at the water; people fell over each other in the rush; many drowned. We reached Phiratrima, which was a Kurdish area and they left us at a village near a bridge. It was here that the pregnant girl gave birth, to twins. The Turks cut the newborns in two and tossed them in the river. On the riverbank, they killed many more of the group.
The killings ended only with the agreement for the Exchange of Populations (1923). This is how we were saved. I came to Hellas in 1923. As I was an orphan, I arrived with the American Mission, at Volos (Thessaly). From there, we went to Aedipsos, to Larissa and finally to Aetorrahi village, Elassona district, where I settled. I migrated to Australia in 1968, to be with my sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.
{Mrs Katsidou-Symeonidou passed away in November 1997.}
Vasileios Anastasiades
I was born in Kaesareia/Kayseri district, Kappadokia, in 1912, but grew up in Ak Dagh Maden, Pontus. I remember Aristotle Onassis’ father, a friend of my father’s, warning him to leave Asia Minor before war broke out. My father, however, could not leave as he had a family to look after. In 1916, when I was three or four years old, they took my parents into exile. My elder brother took me by the hand to a field where hay was grown. We cut some and ate it to satisfy our hunger. We collected wild grasses, ground them into flour, baked them like flat bread and ate. I remember searching ant nests for kernels of wheat, which we would eat.
When the Turks hit Pelemet, attacking the French, the Hellenes and especially those who worked on the railways, that is when they took us into exile, the men separate from the women, separate from the children. The children were taken to Zougoultah. Next to us was a camp for Hellene POWs, all but one of whom died as slave labourers. The sole survivor was Dimitrios Pairahtaroglou. The soldiers gave us some of their meagre food rations, so that we would not starve to death.
When the Red Cross was notified about us (about our captivity) and came looking for us, the Turks would move us around by night. One Christian prisoner, serving as a guard, told the Red Cross where we were hidden, on condition that they free him also. That is how one hundred and fifty children were saved.
I came to Hellas in 1924, with the Exchange of Populations. We went firstly to Kythera, where we stayed for about two months, and then to Larissa. There they offered my grandfather the local disused Turkish mosque as a home, since he was a craftsman (and craftsmen were highly valued), but he refused to live there because he did not want the building to remind him of the Turks, from whom he had suffered so much.
{Mr Anastasiades passed away in 1994.}
Sophia Stambolidou
I was born in the village of Tsegeri, Thermi/Thermohonta district, Pontus, in 1910. The deportations, the privations, the hardships, began in 1915-16. From that time on, we lived in the forests. I remember my mother telling me, as we hid in the woods: “You are young and without sin. Say your prayers for God’s help.”
I remember in the district of Goulouts-Teresi, where the Turkish Army had encircled us, our guerilla fighters, after battling all day and seeing that the Turks were very numerous, saw that the women and children had to be moved to a safer location. Before we left, however, our leaders agreed to smother the very young, as they feared that the cries of the babes-in-arms would betray us all and none of us would survive. One of those smothered was the child of my brother, Chrysostomos Kyriakides. The father of one little girl, Konstantinos Toutsoglides, could not bring himself to smother her, so he left her behind. A few days later, we found her alive and she was eventually brought to Hellas with us, to Oinoe village, Kastoria.
The group was moved to a large forest, near the village of Ayios Ioannis, Keris district. The Turks froze in fear when they found our smothered children. They realised our guerilla fighters were determined to do whatever it took.
We came to Hellas with the Exchange of Populations in 1923, via Romania, to Thessaloniki. After a few days there, we were sent to the village of Neo Petritsi (Serres prefecture, eastern Macedonia), about Christmas 1923. We spent a few days in the village school, and were then taken, in the depths of winter, to the Bulgarian border, to the village of Mesaia. In 1957, we moved to Hrani village, Katerini district (Pieria prefecture, southern Macedonia).
source 1
source 2
Maria Katsidou-Symeonidou
I was born in Mourasoul village, Sevasteia/Sivas district, on August 15 1914. I remember the deportations well. In 1918, I was about four years old, when one day I saw my father in the village square. I ran to him and asked him for the pie he brought me every day from the family-owned mill. He replied: “O my child. The Turks are going to kill me and you will not see me again.” He told me to tell my mother to prepare his clothes and some food for him. That was the last time we saw him. They killed him along with another ten men.
I remember another time when a Turk warned our village, saying that all the young men should leave. This because the next day, Topal Osman would be coming. Indeed, those that left, were saved. They still killed fifteen men, including the teacher, the village president and the priest. Topal Osman had caught three hundred and fifty men from neighbouring villages. He had them bound, murdered and thrown into the river that ran through our village. I still remember the echo of the shots. They were hauling the bodies by ox-cart for nine days to bury them. Most of them were unrecognizable, as their heads had been cut off.
In 1920, around Easter, the Turkish Army came and told us to take with us everything we could. We loaded up the animals, but the saddle-bags tore open and most of us were left without food. On the deportation march, the Turkish guards would rape the women; one of whom fell pregnant. In the Teloukta area, about half our group was lost in a snow storm. From there, they took us to a place without water, Sous-Yiazousou; many died of thirst. Soon afterwards, as we passed a river, all of us threw ourselves at the water; people fell over each other in the rush; many drowned. We reached Phiratrima, which was a Kurdish area and they left us at a village near a bridge. It was here that the pregnant girl gave birth, to twins. The Turks cut the newborns in two and tossed them in the river. On the riverbank, they killed many more of the group.
The killings ended only with the agreement for the Exchange of Populations (1923). This is how we were saved. I came to Hellas in 1923. As I was an orphan, I arrived with the American Mission, at Volos (Thessaly). From there, we went to Aedipsos, to Larissa and finally to Aetorrahi village, Elassona district, where I settled. I migrated to Australia in 1968, to be with my sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren.
{Mrs Katsidou-Symeonidou passed away in November 1997.}
Vasileios Anastasiades
I was born in Kaesareia/Kayseri district, Kappadokia, in 1912, but grew up in Ak Dagh Maden, Pontus. I remember Aristotle Onassis’ father, a friend of my father’s, warning him to leave Asia Minor before war broke out. My father, however, could not leave as he had a family to look after. In 1916, when I was three or four years old, they took my parents into exile. My elder brother took me by the hand to a field where hay was grown. We cut some and ate it to satisfy our hunger. We collected wild grasses, ground them into flour, baked them like flat bread and ate. I remember searching ant nests for kernels of wheat, which we would eat.
When the Turks hit Pelemet, attacking the French, the Hellenes and especially those who worked on the railways, that is when they took us into exile, the men separate from the women, separate from the children. The children were taken to Zougoultah. Next to us was a camp for Hellene POWs, all but one of whom died as slave labourers. The sole survivor was Dimitrios Pairahtaroglou. The soldiers gave us some of their meagre food rations, so that we would not starve to death.
When the Red Cross was notified about us (about our captivity) and came looking for us, the Turks would move us around by night. One Christian prisoner, serving as a guard, told the Red Cross where we were hidden, on condition that they free him also. That is how one hundred and fifty children were saved.
I came to Hellas in 1924, with the Exchange of Populations. We went firstly to Kythera, where we stayed for about two months, and then to Larissa. There they offered my grandfather the local disused Turkish mosque as a home, since he was a craftsman (and craftsmen were highly valued), but he refused to live there because he did not want the building to remind him of the Turks, from whom he had suffered so much.
{Mr Anastasiades passed away in 1994.}
Sophia Stambolidou
I was born in the village of Tsegeri, Thermi/Thermohonta district, Pontus, in 1910. The deportations, the privations, the hardships, began in 1915-16. From that time on, we lived in the forests. I remember my mother telling me, as we hid in the woods: “You are young and without sin. Say your prayers for God’s help.”
I remember in the district of Goulouts-Teresi, where the Turkish Army had encircled us, our guerilla fighters, after battling all day and seeing that the Turks were very numerous, saw that the women and children had to be moved to a safer location. Before we left, however, our leaders agreed to smother the very young, as they feared that the cries of the babes-in-arms would betray us all and none of us would survive. One of those smothered was the child of my brother, Chrysostomos Kyriakides. The father of one little girl, Konstantinos Toutsoglides, could not bring himself to smother her, so he left her behind. A few days later, we found her alive and she was eventually brought to Hellas with us, to Oinoe village, Kastoria.
The group was moved to a large forest, near the village of Ayios Ioannis, Keris district. The Turks froze in fear when they found our smothered children. They realised our guerilla fighters were determined to do whatever it took.
We came to Hellas with the Exchange of Populations in 1923, via Romania, to Thessaloniki. After a few days there, we were sent to the village of Neo Petritsi (Serres prefecture, eastern Macedonia), about Christmas 1923. We spent a few days in the village school, and were then taken, in the depths of winter, to the Bulgarian border, to the village of Mesaia. In 1957, we moved to Hrani village, Katerini district (Pieria prefecture, southern Macedonia).
source 1
source 2
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