[MGSA-L] Did a Japanese Ship Rescue Hundreds of Greek Refugees from Smyrna a Century Ago?

June Samaras june.samaras at gmail.com
Tue Oct 29 17:24:12 PDT 2019


We Are Tomodachi
Tomodachi Autumn 2018


CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE: Nanako Murata Sawayanagi

Did a Japanese Ship Rescue Hundreds of Greek Refugees from Smyrna a Century
Ago?

https://www.japan.go.jp/tomodachi/2018/Autumn2018/did_a_japanese_ship_rescue.html


Some Greeks have orally passed down the story of the rescue of many Greek
refugees by a Japanese ship during the Smyrna disaster of September 1922.
Nanako Murata Sawayanagi, professor at Toyo University has researched the
matter and has this to say

>From the July 2016 issue of the Greek newspaper Ethnos. With the
inscription of “Much Gratitude 94 Years On,” a plaque was given to the
Japanese Ambassador to Greece at the time by descendants of the refugees to
convey their appreciation for the rescue efforts by Japanese at Smyrna.

An article entitled “Massacre in Smyrna: Japanese Act Bravely” was printed
in the Greek newspaper Empros on September 4, 1922 (September 17 in the
Gregorian calendar), describing the efforts by a Japanese freighter to
rescue Greek refugees.

Some say that no good deed goes unrewarded, but what happens if no one
recognizes that good deed? Almost one hundred years have passed since a
Japanese ship is said to have rescued scores of Greek refugees in Asia
Minor. Normally, such a deed would be widely applauded, but the scantiness
of the records mean that the event has been lost in the mists of history.

The stage for what happened lies in post-WWI Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey), an
Aegean port city in western Asia Minor, with roots harking back to Ancient
Greece. After the war, the Ottoman Empire was partitioned, with Greece and
its allies rushing in to claim territory. Turkey eventually gained its
independence in October 1923, but at the high cost of forcing various long-
established non-Turkish ethnic groups to abandon their homeland. That
brings us back to the event.

On the night of September 13, 1922, five days after the Greek army had
retreated, the Turks allegedly set fire to the residential district, which
spread rapidly, forcing the inhabitants to swarm to the port to escape.
Bertram Thesiger, a British-national captain of the George V at the time,
recounts the scene as follows: “It was a terrifying thing to see even from
the distance. There was the most awful scream one could ever imagine. ...
Many did undoubtedly jump into the sea, from sheer panic. ... Mothers with
their babies, the fire going on over their heads, and many of the bundles
of clothes also on fire, and the people all screaming.”[1] Afterwards, the
fire turned into a carnage, with the Greek population of the city at the
time of 600,000[2] or more instantly transforming into refugees, many of
whom are said to have lost their lives. This tragic incident is referred to
as the “Asia Minor Disaster” in modern Greek history, as it drew the
curtain on the 2,500-year history of Greek history in Anatolia.

At the time of the fire, some Allied warships were in the harbor, along
with countless other merchant ships. But most of them refused to pick
refugees up. Amidst all the chaos, a Japanese freighter was reported to
have unloaded all its precious cargo to take on as many refugees as it
could, transporting them onward to the Greek mainland.

According to a New York Times article of September 18, 1922, “There were
six steamers at Smyrna to transport the refugees, one American, one
Japanese, two French and two Italian. The American and Japanese steamers
accepted all comers without examining their papers, while others took only
foreign subjects with a passport.”[3] The American consul general in Smyrna
verified that on the same day, telling the U.S. Secretary of State,
“Passengers on the ship speak in the highest terms of the kindness of the
Japanese officers and men.”[4] Later articles in The Atlanta
Constitution[5] and The Boston Globe[6] echoed those statements.

The Greek newspaper Empros reported the incident with the headline,
“Massacre in Smyrna: Japanese Act Bravely,” saying that “The brave actions
by the captain of the Tokei-maru are worthy of note. Despite being
threatened by the Turks, he succeeded in rescuing 825 of our Greek
comrades. After he unloaded all the small boats aboard, the Kemali soldiers
surrounded them, threatening to sink them. In response, the captain told
them, ‘If you dare touch a hair on the head of any of the refugees, I shall
regard it as an affront to the Japanese flag and a threat to the Japanese
government.’”[7]

The fact that reputable media and diplomatic sources mentioned it several
times leads to its plausibility. Perhaps because it happened amidst the
chaos of war, there are inconsistencies among the reports about the dates
and the number of ships, making it impossible to take any one particular
account of the rescue by the Japanese as a “historical fact.”

I believe that when it comes to saving human lives, nationality ought to
make no difference. However, when placed in certain historical situations,
it is hard to stick to one’s beliefs. It is precisely because of the
courageous reality of someone having done so, however, that I feel this
action is still being talked about today. During my continued research on
this topic, I have received many grassroots reports from people whose
relatives had been rescued. Soon a century will have passed since the
tragedy at Smyrna. Before that milestone is reached, I would like to see
this good deed inscribed in history.

------------------------------------------------
June Samaras
2020 Old Station Rd
Streetsville,Ontario
Canada L5M 2V1
Tel : 905-542-1877
E-mail : june.samaras at gmail.com
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