100th Anniversary Commemoration: The Great Fire of Smyrna

The Department of Greek Education of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, in conjunction with The Hellenic Book Club of New York, cordially invites you to a lecture that will be held at the Archdiocesan Hellenic Cultural Center, located at 27-09 Crescent Street, Astoria, N.Y. The event will be held on November 13th at 3:00 pm. The lecture will commemorate the “100th Anniversary: The Great Fire of Smyrna.”

The keynote speaker for the event will be Dr. Constantine G. Hatzidimitriou, Ph.D.
Dr. Hatzidimitriou received his doctorate from Columbia University in Byzantine, Ottoman, and Modern Greek history. He is a Fellow-of the American Hellenic Institute Foundation in Washington D.C. area. In addition, hi is a former adjunct associate professor of the Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies Center at Queens College. Writer of several books such as: “American Accounts Documenting the Destruction of Smyrna” and “Founded on Freedom and Virtue Documents Illustrating the Impact-in the United States of the Greek War of Independence”.

Dr. Hatzidimitriou will be speaking on how the Greek - American communities noted the commemoration of two crucial historical events that had profound implications, and how the results of these events impacted modern Greece. The two key ideas that he will focus on will be:

• The desperate struggle of the Greek people for freedom and independence from Ottoman tyranny, which started in 1821.
• The last phase of the Turkish genocide of Anatolian Hellenism, that resulted in the Destruction of Smyrna in 1922.

The focus of this lecture is to demonstrate that on two occasions, during Hellenism’s most desperate hours, when all seemed lost - America took a bold stand by showing their support.  Dr. Hatzidimitriou has based his study on hundreds of official and unofficial American documents, which are all presented in his books.

This commemoration is free to the public. For further information contact the Hellenic Book club Of NY President Jeannie Kouros at [email protected]. 

It is a lecture not to be missed.