Primary school students in an urban area of Thessaloniki will be taught local history on forced displacement and resettlement. The municipality of Kalamaria, east of the city centre, announced it is establishing a scientific committee to document, write, and publish educational materials for pupils aged 9–12.
According to the municipality, the subject will be taught in simple, accessible language and will include visual content, maps, oral testimonies, archival sources and suggested experiential learning activities. In particular, teaching will be accompanied by themed educational routes, digital applications, signage at historical landmarks, organised visits to archival and cultural sites, and student activities such as competitions, exhibitions and theatrical performances. The municipality clarified that the material will be supplementary and will not replace official school textbooks.
Presenting the project, the mayor of Kalamaria, Chrysa Arapoglou, stated: "Local history is a key tool for cultivating historical awareness and active citizenship. Through its educational use, students strengthen their connection with the local community, develop research and critical thinking skills, become familiar with experiential forms of learning and cultivate values such as respect for memory, solidarity and cultural diversity." The initiative is also expected, according to the municipality, to highlight Kalamaria's historical identity and to strengthen links between schools, families and the local community.
A central component of the educational material will be the history of refugees from regions including the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace, whose settlement shaped Kalamaria's cultural identity. The systematic recording, preservation and transmission of this collective memory to younger generations is described by the municipality as an institutional responsibility and an investment in education and social cohesion.
Around 1.2 million Orthodox Christians from Asia Minor, Pontus and Eastern Thrace resettled in Greece after a series of conflicts in the early 20th century, culminating in the compulsory population exchange between Greece and Turkey under the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne. Earlier waves had also brought Greek populations from the Caucasus and the Black Sea region following upheavals in the late Ottoman and Russian imperial periods.
Many of these displaced communities, who arrived in difficult conditions, were settled in and around Thessaloniki, including in Kalamaria, and established new neighbourhoods that reshaped the demographic and social landscape of northern Greece. Their cultural practices, dialects and collective memories continue to form a visible part of local identity today.
The programme is being implemented in cooperation with the Directorate of Primary Education of Eastern Thessaloniki and with the support of the local primary teachers' association "Promitheas". According to the mayor, the initiative is planned to be extended to secondary schools.
The nine-member scientific committee will be chaired by Evangelos Kelesidis, Director of Primary Education of Eastern Thessaloniki. Members include local education officials, academics and historians, as well as representatives from the municipality and the Historical Archive of Refugee Hellenism of Kalamaria.
by Foteini Stefanopoulou - adapted from Greek by Vassia Barba
(Photo: Kalamaria Disinfection Facilities – Historical Archive of Refugee Hellenism)
