Search
CLOSE100memories: Multifaceted research action for the physical and digital documentation and promotion of Asia Minor refugee memory
Eleni Kyramargiou
Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation (IHR/NHRF), Sociality cooperative and Commonspace collaborative – interdisciplinary planning and design group
The research project 100memories was implemented at the National Hellenic Research Foundation between October 2020 and October 2023. Starting from the refugee displacement of the 1922–1924 period, the project set out to examine a century of refugee mobility across four Greek cities—four key port cities shaped by refugee experience: Piraeus (specifically the refugee neighbourhood of Nea Kokkinia), Volos (Nea Ionia), Thessaloniki (Ano Poli), and Chania, Crete (Nea Chora).
In all four neighbourhoods, multiple waves of population movement—arrivals of new displaced populations and departures of others—have been recorded from 1922 to the present. These cities are by no means unique, but resemble many others that underwent similar transformations. The subjects of this history are people in constant motion, individuals who may never meet, but who often live in the same houses, walk the same streets, perform the same jobs, and share similar life stories, dreams, and concerns.
When examined separately, each migratory story belongs to a distinct historical context and reflects a specific moment in time. Yet, when viewed through the lens of urban space, these stories unfold as a continuum of multiple displacements and transformations—a continuum that often escapes recognition, even when we ourselves are part of it.
The research focused on four thematic axes within these four cities: housing, labour, transit hubs, and public space.
RTDI State Aid Action Research – Create – Innovate, co-funded by the European Union and the Hellenic Republic through the Operational Programme Competitiveness – Entrepreneurship – Innovation (EPAnEK)
| Project Code | Τ2ΕΔΚ_04827 |
| Duration | 10.2020-10.2023 |
| Principal Investigator | Eleni Kyramargiou, Senior Researcher IHR/NHRF |
Main page image: Interior view of the exhibition “A Century of Movement. A City Within the City”, part of the 100memories project, held at the former “Egyptiakon” kebab house in Nikaia (June–July 2023)