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Welcome to the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago.
The Pontian Greek Society of Chicago's mission is to promote our culture and preserve our history, with an emphasis on the tragic events that claimed the lives of an estimated 353,000 Pontian Greeks between 1914-1923.
The Pontian Greek Society of Chicago aims to provide material that informs the Greek-American community and the wider American public about our unique history and culture. This site offers information on the lectures, the educational workshops, and the cultural events organized by our Society, along with oral stories and reference material that document the experience of our ancestors during the first genocide of the 20th century.
The Pontian Greeks are descendants of the Hellenic people who colonized the Pontus -- the northeast region of Asia Minor on the Black Sea (in modern day Turkey) -- in the 8th Century BC. They prospered in this area and established trade routes, developed mining industries, and produced scholars and leaders. The Greek Orthodox civilization of Pontus came to an end in 1923 when the Greeks of Asia Minor were forcibly removed from their homeland in the aftermath of the genocide.
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Society Goals
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Dr. K. Fotiadis - May 2005 |
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Featured Item of the Month
 The following lecture was delivered May 29, 2005 by Dr. K. Fotiadis, Professor of History at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, on the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks (1914-1923). Originally given in Greek, the lecture was translated by Professor Eleni Phufas of
Erie
Community College in
Buffalo,
New York and members of the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago, Illinois.
The Pontian Greek Society of Chicago held a memorial for the Genocide of the Pontian Greeks in the lecture hall of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Chicago. The memorial took place Sunday, May 29—the date of Constantinople’s subjugation to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.
Afterward, Dr. Fotiadis spoke about the dark day of the fall of Constantinople and the May 19 commemoration of the Pontian Greek Genocide. In attendance were representatives of several Greek-American organizations, and many from Chicago's Greek-American community.
Kyriakos Stergiou, President of the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago, thanked the Reverend Pastor Kaloudis of the Holy Trinity parish for their support in hosting the event and expressed his gratitude to Chancellor Demetri Kantzavelos, for attending as a representative of the Chicago Archdiocese. Upon welcoming and thanking all those in attendance, Stergiou introduced the speaker:
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The Pontian Greek Genocide Teaching Unit (Free Download) |
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Click here for English version
Click here for Greek version
Created by The Pontian Greek Society of Chicago with the help of Ron Levitsky, a teacher at Sunset Ridge School in Northfield, Illinois, The Pontian Greek Genocide Teaching Unit introduces middle school and high school students to the tragedy of the Pontian Greeks who were subjected to the first genocide of the 20th Century. Available to download in English and in Greek.
From 1914 to 1923, Christian minorities were forcibly expelled from their homes to comply with Turkish nationalist visions of an ethnically pure homeland inhabited only by Turks. Villages, cities, and farmlands across Pontus were emptied and the inhabitants subjected to atrocities under carefully concealed orders by government and party officials until the population exchange of 1923.
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The Pontian Greek Society of Chicago with the support of the Pan-Pontian Federation of USA and Canada has reissued The Great Betrayal , which was originally published in 1924. Contact us to receive a copy of the book with your US$30 donation to our organization.
First published in 1924, author Edward Hale Bierstadt exposes the rivalries and competing economic interests of the Allied Powers in the aftermath of World War I, how the Allied Powers failed to demand from Turkey the protection of her Christian minorities, and how they chose, instead, to negotiate economic treaties with her rather than hold her accountable for the premeditated destruction of her own citizens. Bierstadt's account of these events is drawn from his experience as the Executive Secretary of the US Emergency Committee that provided humanitarian aid to Christian refugees deported by the Turkish nationalist regime.
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Quotes from the Book
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