Oral testimonies “Remembering 1922“- 100 years since the Asia Minor catastrophe
In the framework of its educational program “Kids for the City”, the City of Athens participates actively in the Asia Minor refugee testimonies project, performed by secondary school students participating in the programme.
The educational program of the City of Athens, “Kids for the City”, participates in the commemoration of the 100 years of the Asia Minor Catastrophe with educational activities, speeches, documentary and film screenings, and an exhibition specially designed for students and teachers!
The exhibition “Remembering 1922” will open its doors to the public on May 18, 2022, and run until October 2022. It presents a wealth of audiovisual material, including audio archives of oral testimonies of refugees from Asia Minor and relevant photographic material. This exhibition, which will complement the permanent collection of the Industrial Gas Museum until October 2022, relates two journeys,
the 1922 refugee journey and the gas journey. Through 8 exhibition themes, visitors discover two different worldsand two different routes that follow a common path inside the premises of the old gasworks. A unique journey in time and space,presenting an integral part of the city’s modern aspect, through the history of the first energy plant in Greece, the refugee experience and the uprooting trauma“.
Secondary school students participating in the City of Athens’ program “Kids for the City” read refugee testimonies, newspaper articles and other evidence, conveying the experience of the refugees’ arrival and settlement in Greece in September ’22. Thus, the refugee experience of 1922 comes alive through the children’s voices! The catastrophe, the journey, the settlement, the people, the work, the relations with the local population, and the feelings and stereotypes are different stages of this shared journey. Following the gas production line, visitors discover each time an aspect of the life of the Asia Minor refugees until their permanent settlement in the city of Athens.
The rich audiovisual material resulting from the children’s recordings and the oral testimonies will be available on the Program’s website in the form of podcasts.
The schools participating in the exhibition are the following: Special Gymnasium Lyceum of Athens, 51st Gymnasium of Athens, 7th Gymnasium of Athens, Model Gymnasium of Anavryta, 21st Gymnasium of Athens, 19th General Lyceum of Athens, 1st Experimental Unified Lyceum of Athens, “Gennadio”, 40th General Lyceum of Athens and Leontio Lyceum of Athens. A total of 18 Secondary Education students participated, whose names are listed in detail in the exhibition.
A few words about the programme:
“Kids for the City” is an educational program of the City of Athens under the auspices of Her Excellency the President of the Hellenic Republic, Katerina Sakellaropoulou, implemented by Technopolis City of Athensin cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Religious Affairs (Directorates of Primary and Secondary Education of Athens) and the active participation of the Athens School of Fine Arts. The Program runs for six consecutive years. So far,217 schools,463 teachers and6.540students have participated in it. It has been awarded the gold and silver prizes in the annual Education Leaders Awards competition. From the 2021-2022 school year, it engages with educational material in the 21+ platform and skills workshops. The Program aims to inspire respect for public space, especially for monuments, i.e. the memory of the city of Athens. Under the motto “Because the city is memory and culture”, it strives to create active citizens who love and care for the town and its monuments, thus keeping its history alive. Participation in the Program is entirely free for schools and teachers in Athens. Training seminars, lectures, visits to schools by art restorers, manuals, guided tours, books and transport are also provided to participants. Its collaborations include Monumenta (Society for the Protection of Natural and Architectural Heritage), the National Gallery and Glyptotheque and the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation. The Program is managed by the Industrial Gas Museum of the Technopolis City of Athens.