Paradise Lost: Smyrna 1922 - The Destruction of Islam's City of Tolerance (53 page)

For NA references to Rahmi Bey, see references listed above. For information about conditions and daily life in Smyrna, see NA: FO369/1745/K11622; FO371/6552/E1299; FO371/ 6491/E1301. Monroe’s report is to be found at FO371/ 6491/E3931 and E2005. An account of consular drunkenness is to be found at FO369/1745/K11367.

For more on King Constantine’s visit, see Llewellyn Smith,
Ionian Vision
; and Nash and Grayson (eds.),
A King’s Private Letters
, London, 1925. The Winston Churchill quote is in his
World Crisis
; the account of the Greek military offensive is taken from Toynbee,
The Western Question
; Llewellyn Smith,
Ionian Vision
; Edib,
Turkish Ordeal
. An excellent account of the military campaign is to be found in HRH Prince Andrew of Greece,
Towards Disaster
, London, 1930. See also Palles,
Greece’s Anatolian Venture
.

There are many interesting records in the NA. See FO421/302/no. 47, a report by Colonel Hoare Nairne and, in the same file, his second report. He speaks of Hatzianestis’ insanity and compares him to ‘a well-dressed Don Quixote’.

PART THREE: PARADISE LOST

I have listed below the most frequently consulted general works – those used to provide a backdrop to almost all the day-by-day chapters. More specific references are included in the appropriate place.

A. Andreades,
La Destruction de Smyrne et les dernières atrocités turques en asie mineure
, Athens, 1923, is a detailed account of the unfolding catastrophe.

Edward Hale Bierstadt,
The Great Betrayal
, London, 1924. A damning indictment of the Turkish army’s role in the destruction, Bierstadt’s book met with a hostile response from the American establishment when first published. It contains many eyewitness accounts, published in full at the end.

Marjorie Housepain Dobkin’s
Smyrna 1922: The Destruction of a City
, New York, 1972, reissued with a new introduction in 1988, is an excellent and invaluable reference book. Dobkin interviewed many American servicemen serving in Smyrna, as well as Armenian survivors who later rebuilt their lives in America. It has three shortcomings: many new accounts have come to light in recent years; there is a strong focus on the Armenian community (the Levantines – and, indeed, Greeks – are little mentioned); and the atrocities committed by the retreating Greek army are underplayed. My account of Rose Berberian’s extraordinary escape is taken from this book, as are several of the observations made by American service personnel.

Constantine G. Hatzdimitrou,
American Accounts Documenting the Destruction of Smyrna
, New York, 2005. This excellent collection, published during the course of my research, includes newspaper reports, intelligence briefings and personal testimonies.

Dr Lysimachos Oeconomos,
The Martyrdom of Smyrna and Eastern Christendom
, London, 1922, is a collection of contemporary newspaper reports and personal testimonies.

La Mort de Smyrne
, Paris, 1922, and
Les derniers jours de Smyrne
, Paris, 1923, both by René Puaux. These accounts are drawn from the testimonies of eyewitnesses and contain important information not found elsewhere.

Wednesday, 6 September 1922

Hortense Wood’s account of the Greek army’s retreat is in ‘Last Diary’. For a day-by-day account of the growing concern about the Greek army’s defeat, see NA: FO371/7886, which contains numerous consular accounts and intelligence reports. Other sources include Horton,
The Blight of Asia
; Edib,
Turkish Ordeal
; Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
(this includes the anonymous Manchester businessman’s testimony). See also Williamson, ‘Diary’.

Dora Sakayan’s
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey: Garabed Hatcherian: My Smyrna Ordeal of 1922
contains the English translation of Garabed Hatcherian’s fascinating, if terrible, account. See also Turrell,
Scrap-book
, and MacLachlan, ‘Potpourri’. Dobson’s important ‘Report’ is in NA: FO371/7949/E12182. Charles Howes’ harrowing account is one of a number of manuscripts in the IWM: ‘Diary of C. J. Howes’, 84/14/1.

Thursday, 7 September 1922

See Wood, ‘Last Diary’. Charlton Whittall’s return and subsequent escape is recounted in an unpublished manuscript written by his son, Willem (‘Vim’) Whittall in November 1986. This will henceforth be referred to as Whittall, ‘Escape’. Vim decided to write his account when he realised that he was ‘the last surviving offspring of any of the children of my grandparents, James and Magdalen’. See also Mary Giraud,
Book of Thoughts
; Williamson, ‘Diary’. There is much about Admiral Mark Bristol in Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
, but see also her essay on George Horton, listed in the references for. See also Ward Price,
Extra-Special Correspondent
. On the departure of the Greek administration, see Horton,
The Blight of Asia
, and Hatcherian,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
.

Friday, 8 September 1922

See Wood, ‘Last Diary’. Many other details, both here and elsewhere, are to be found in a collection of unpublished letters written by Hortense Wood, Fernand de Cramer and other members of the extended Wood family. I am most grateful to Renée Steinbuchel for allowing me to photocopy these unique and fascinating accounts. Henceforth, they are referred to as Wood, ‘Family Letters’. See also Williamson, ‘Diary’; Ward Price,
Extra-Special Correspondent
; Horton,
The Blight of Asia
. The account written by Hovakim Uregian was published in 1982 – along with a second account by Krikor Baghdjian – under the title, ‘Two Unpublished Eyewitness Accounts of the Holocaust of Smyrna’,
Armenian Review
, September 1922, henceforth referred to as Uregian–Baghdjian, ‘Unpublished’. Lieutenant Merrill was one of the many servicemen interviewed by Dobkin, in
Smyrna 1922
.

Saturday, 9 September 1922

See Williamson, ‘Diary’; MacLachlan, ‘Potpourri’; Wood, ‘Family Letters’; Whittall, ‘Escape’; Horton,
The Blight of Asia
. Anna Birge’s account is published in Hatzidimitrou,
American Accounts
. See also Howes, ‘Diary’; Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
; van der Zee, ‘Memoirs’. Abraham Hartunian’s story is in Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
.

Sunday, 10 September 1922

See Uregian – Baghdjian ‘Unpublished’; Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
. Another most important source for the destruction of Armenian Smyrna is an almost unknown document entitled ‘A Brief Report Concering the Smyrna Disaster’, written by Smyrna’s Armenian bishop, Ghevont Tourian, henceforth referred to as Tourian, ‘Brief Report’. I am most grateful to George Hintlian in Jerusalem for informing me of the manuscript’s existence and to Ara Melkonian for translating it into English.

Kemal’s entry into Smyrna is to be found in Mango,
Ataturk
, and Edib,
Turkish Ordeal
. See also Ward Price,
Extra-Special Correspondent
; MacLachlan, ‘Potpourri’. For Chrysostom’s brutal murder, see Puaux’s two works and Tourian, ‘Brief Report’. Details about the murder of Mr and Mrs de Jongh are in Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
. For events in Bournabat, see Wood, ‘Last Diary’, and Whittall, ‘Escape’. Dr Murphy’s murder is in many accounts, especially Wood, ‘Last Diary’, and Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
.

Monday, 11 September 1922

See Whittall, ‘Escape’; Wood, ‘Last Diary’; Wood, ‘Family Letters’; MacLachlan, ‘Potpourri’; Williamson, ‘Diary’; Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
; Horton,
The Blight of Asia
; Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
. The best source for the attack on MacLachlan by the Turkish irregulars is to be found in the NA. See the ‘Statement by Dr Alexander MacLachlan’, FO371/7902/E10810. This file includes several other accounts of the incident. See also MacLachlan, ‘Potpourri’. The story about Kemal’s hotel visit is in Mango,
Ataturk
. For Charles Howes’ observations, see his unpublished ‘Diary’. Horton’s story about the two American journalists is in
The Blight of Asia
. See also Revd Charles Dobson’s ‘Report’.

Tuesday, 12 September 1922

See Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
, for the Berberian story and for quotes from the American marines. See also Mango,
Ataturk
; Ward Price’s despatches are in Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
. See also Wood, ‘Last Diary’; Whittall, ‘Escape’; Giraud,
Book
; Williamson, ‘Diary’; Dobson, ‘Report’. The manuscript account of Ian Duncan Wallace’s rescue mission has never been published. I was given a copy of these memoirs, entitled ‘Evacuation of Smyrna, 1922’, by Barbara Jackson. See also Uregian–Baghdjian, ‘Unpublished’; Tourian, ‘Brief Report’.

Wednesday, 13 September 1922

Sir Harry Lamb’s despatches are in the NA. Of particular interest are the following files: FO371/7890; FO371/7888; FO371/7898. See especially the document E10382, Percy Hadkinson’s report to the British High Commission. I also made much use of British vice-consul Edwyn Hole’s unpublished ‘Memorandum by Mr Hole on Events in Smyrna’, NA: FO371/7894/E9883. A second report can be found at FO371/7890/E9557. See also Dobson, ‘Report’. Alfred Simes was one of the few Levantines to go back to the new city of Izmir. He lives there to this day.

See also Wood, ‘Last Diary’. The testimonies of the firemen, cited in Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
, are from the trial held in December 1924 at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. See also the following: Uregian–Baghdjian, ‘Unpublished’; Minnie Mills’ testimony, along with others, is in Hatzdimitrou,
American Accounts
. See also Puaux’s two books for the accounts of the French witnesses. In addition I have drawn on Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
; Horton,
The Blight of Asia
; Edib,
Turkish Ordeal
; Mango,
Ataturk
.

James Webster’s quotes – and those of other Americans cited in this chapter – are found in Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
. See also Dobson, ‘Report’. For the Girauds’ escape, see Mary Giraud,
Book
. Other accounts are taken from Williamson, ‘Diary’; Wood, ‘Family Letters’. Oran Raber’s account is in Hatzdimitrou,
American Accounts
. Lieutenant Charles Hardinge Drage’s unpublished manuscript is in IWM under the title ‘The 1914–1933 Diaries of Commander C. H. Drage’.

I also made use of the anonymous and untitled manuscript MISC97 (1473), written by a mariner serving on HMS
Serapis
; and T. W. Bunter’s untitled account, 87/22/1. He was serving on the hospital ship,
Maine
, in the bay of Smyrna.

Ward Price’s despatches have been reprinted several times. I used the version in Oeconomos,
Martyrdom
.

Thursday, 14 September 1922

The account of the
Serapis
is in IWM: MISC97 (1473). See also Drage, ‘Diaries’; Wood, ‘Last Diary’; Wood, ‘Family Letters’. Georgios Tsoubariotis’s account is published in Demetrios Archigenes,
Martyries apo te Mikrasiatike katastrophe
, Athens, 1973. This is a fascinating collection of Greek eyewitness accounts of the unfolding disaster. Unfortunately, it has not been published in English.

The account of the experiences of the Alexiou family is published in the first volume of
I Exodos
, ed. F. D. Apostolopoulou, published in Athens in 1980 by the Centre for Asia Minor Studies.

See also Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
; Horton,
The Blight of Asia
; Uregian–Baghdjian, ‘Unpublished’. Maynard Barnes’ short account is in Dobkin,
Smyrna 1922
.

Friday, 15 September – Monday, 18 September 1922

For figures on the numbers of dead and deported, see Bierdstadt,
The Great Betrayal
. For more on Georgios Tsoubariotis, see
Martyries
. For Uregian’s story, see Uregian–Baghdjian, ‘Unpublished’. Panagiotis Marselos’s harrowing account is published in
I Exodos
. See also Tourian, ‘Brief Report’, for more about the deported Greeks. The story of Onassis’s time in Smyrna is taken from Nicholas Gage,
Greek Fire
, New York, 2000.

See also Wood, ‘Last Diary’; Mango,
Ataturk
; Edib,
Turkish Ordeal
; Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
. There are many references to Admiral Bristol, as well as copies of his telegrams, in Hatzdimitrou,
American Accounts
. Esther Pohl Lovejoy’s excellent account was published in New York under the title
Certain Samaritans
, 1927.

Tuesday, 19 September – Saturday, 30 September 1922

Asa Jennings’ extraordinary rescue attempt is drawn from two sources. One is R. W. Abernathy,
The Spirit of the Game
, London, 1926. Abernathy sailed to Smyrna with Jennings in 1924 and the latter recounted to him the entire rescue operation. The other is William T. Ellis, ‘Jennings of Smyrna’,
Scribner’s Magazine
, vol. 84, August 1928. Jennings’ own report – and other papers relating to the YMCA operations in Smyrna – are in the National Archives in the Library of Congress and the YMCA Historical Reference Library in New York. For Jennings’ subsequent career, see Robert Daniel,
American Philanthropy
in the Near East
, Ohio, 1970. See also Lovejoy,
Certain Samaritans
; Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
.

The story of Kemal’s celebrations are in Mango,
Ataturk
. For more on the coup in Greece, see Llewellyn Smith,
Ionian Vision
.

Aftermath

See Bierstadt,
The Great Betrayal
. Henry Morgenthau,
An International Drama
, London, 1930, has much information on the refugees in Greece; see also Sakayan,
An Armenian Doctor in Turkey
. The story of Onassis’s subsequent career is in Gage,
Greek Fire
. Grace Williamson’s attempted return to Smyrna is to be found in NA: FO371/7949/E12328; MacLachlan outlines his own return in ‘Potpourri’. See also an unpublished account about Smyrna in February 1923, written by Captain Casper Swinley of HMS
Curaçao
, in IWM: 83/44/11.