"My grandparents (motherīs side) George and Helen Manousakis were both born in Crete. After their marriage they went to Djibuti (former Abessinia) where George had found work with the French Railway Company. Their two children (my mother Calliope and her brother Constantine) were born there. George died in Djibuti very young, when his children were just 6 and 4 years old so my grandmother returned to Crete as a widow with two small kids. She had great difficulties to earn a living for her family so she decided to give her children off to an Orphanage. It was the time right after the 1922 events (1923 or 1924), when the Greek authorities did everything in their power to accommodate the huge number of refugees from Turkey. Only refugee kids were accepted at the Orphanage. So my grandmother went to the authorities and declared herself and her two children as refugees from Smyrna. Of course she could not present any papers to verify her assertion but it was quite natural that people in that situation had lost everything. Anyway they believed her so she managed to get her children accepted at the Orphanage. Some years ago my brother had been searching Community records in Crete for information about our motherīs family. And he found somewhere an entry saying 'Helen Manousakis and her two children Calliope and Constantine: Refugees. Place of origin: Smyrna, Turkey'." (George Agelastos)
1917 - 1997 (79 years)
