Thessalonike: The Imperial City at the Age of Modernity

1. Thessalonike: The Imperial City at the Age of Modernity Dr. Stefanos Katsikas Director of Modern Greek Studies, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

2. Historic period beginning from Renaissance (ca. 14th century) Characterized by: Move from feudalism Industrialization Capitalism Secularization Rationalization Nationalism Definition of Modernity

3. Early 19th century the Ottoman Empire redraws its administrative map This was due to pragmatism and pressure by the European Great Powers of the time. 1826: The city which by that time was the capital of a small administrative unit (sanjak) became the capital of big administrative unit (Vilâyet-i Selânik) The Selânik villayet consisted of the sanjaks of: a) Selanik, b) Siroz (Serres), c) Drama and d) Taşoz (Thasos) Selânik in the Early 19th Century

4. Selânik was Janissary Stronghold Janissary elite military unit – of non-Muslim recruited children which were Islamized and trained accordingly Since 17th century Janissary ceased to function as an elite military unit Sultan Mahmud II attempted to modernize the Ottoman army He fought the Janissaries. Those who resisted were imprisoned and put to death by decapitation Most of them in “The Blood Tower” (renamed to “White Tower”) since 1912 The “Auspicious Incident” and the “Blood Tower”

5. Driven by economic growth the city’s population expanded 1831→30,000 1913→150,000 1839 → Period of Political Reforms (Tanzimat): equality of the Empire’s religious communities (Hatti Sheriff Gulhane) 1856→Hatt-ı Hümâyûnu (religious communities self-governing legal entities) Joint Greek and Ottoman naval operations to clean the Aegean from piracy Sea trade to Thessalonike increased 5 fold in the following decades As trade increases a new wealthy Greek and Jewish aristocracy emerges European Influences (I)

6. This new class close commercial and intellectual connections and under consular protection Perikles Hatzilazaros (Greek) Hugo Allatini, Joeseph Misrachi (Jews) Architects of shift of power from old elites to new commercial class Regenerators of their own communities and transformers of the city’s urban environment Introduce European values, tastes, habits 1836: the first small steamboat, the Levant sent by British company. Abdul Mecid established a Ministry of Trade and a Council of Public Work Abolition of monopolies and freeing up of grain trade enforce strong trading linkages with the dynamic industrializing economies of Western and Central Europe European Influences (II)

7. Between 1869 and 1889 the city walls were torn down works develop the city’s port. 1871: railway Thessalonike to Pristina 1879: The first tram service started 1888 the railway network is connected with that of Serbia and through Serbia with Central Europe 1888: 30,000 citizens cheered the arrival of the first train to the city from Paris A second railway connects Thessalonike with Monastir in 1893 and a third with Istanbul in 1896. In 1908 the city streets were illuminated with electric lamp posts Transport Infrastructure

8. 1768→100 European citizens End of 19th century more than 10,000, most of which live to the post New tastes in the city’s social life, e.g. Cercle de Salonique (cross-confessional upper class club (Jews, Greeks, Italians, Turks, Armenians, Europeans) Secular education – Primary School children from 1500 in 1874 to 2,000 in 1900 and 3,900 by 1912 Example of Ali Riza and his wife Zübeyde over how to educate Mustafa (their son) Changes in Social Life

9. 1869: second city after Istanbul to have municipal council Established following the French model and was equipped with powers to expropriate property for public good 1869: Sabri Pasha (modernizer) previous governor or Izmir May 1898: First street names appeared 1869: appearance of newspapers. The first was the weekly gazette Selânik in four languages Turkish weekly Rumeli; Jewish La Epocha, Greek Ermis Political Modernization

10. 1890s tramline eastwards out of the city, beyond the White Tower The municipality lined this avenue with acacias and provided a police station Gradually the city’s wealthiest families moved there. At the avenue’s end stood the imposing Villa Allatini behind its part of pines Kalamaria with its “marble palaces” was the preserve of the rich The railway lines on the other side of the city poor areas: refugees and peasants arrived from villages in the interior Class Division and Urban Environment

11. 1890: 118,000 people (55,000 Jews; 26,00 Muslims; 16,000 Greek Orthodox; 10,000 “Bulgarians”; 2,500 Roma and 8,500 others Bulgarian Self-consciousness: a) Pan-Slavism; b) mistreat by Church officials; c) German-inspired nationalism 1870: Establishment of Bulgarian Exarchate Battle between Patriarchists and Exarchists Initially “Bulgarian”= Exarchist, then Bulgarian national 1893: IMRO – terrorist acts, eg. 1903 blowing up of the French steamer Guadalquivir Macedonian Question

12. Start of the 20th century Salonica hive of plotting against Abdul Hamid 1896 Émigré Ottoman constitutionalist committee “Union and Progress” founded Invigorated with the discontent of the Third Army Corps (Salonica) – loss of Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia Restoration of 1876 Spring 1908 assassinations. Sultan sent senior intelligence officer from Istanbul to investigate rumours of plotting Major Ahmed Niyazi fearing discovery marched 200 followers to Istanbul demanding restoration of constitution July 24 1908 Abdul Hamid restored constitution Young Turk Revolution

13. June 1908 Jewish Féderation Socialiste Ouvrière Avraam Benaroya, Jew from Bulgaria Conceived Federation of separate sections each representing the four main ethnic groups (Jews, Turks, Greeks and Bulgarians) Published its literature in the languages of these groups Militant Sephardic Jews main associates and by 1910 comprised 14 syndicates and 1912 mobilized about 12,000 workers Its activities continued after Salonica became a Greek territory. In 1915 general elections two MPs in the Greek parliament Socialist Workers Federation

14. Formation of the Balkan League (spring 1912) October 1912 First Balkan War – ended in May 1912 8 November 1912 (26 October 1912) Greek Army entered the city The Bulgarian army arrived with 8 hour difference March 18 1913 assassination of King George suspicions to Jews and Muslims but the culprit a person with a history of mental disturbance. Second Balkan War (16 June 1913-July 1913) The Balkan Wars

15. Constantine Raktivan (new civilian governor general of Macedonia)-declared equality of all citizens No direct rail link between old Greece and Salonica Ottoman currency, law, weights and measures continued to be used until 1915 International Financial Control which supervised Greek money issue since bankruptcy of 1897 permitted the National Bank of Greece to issue drachmas Dressing habits change, abolition of fez Greek official language and Greek citizenship compulsory The Aftermath of the Balkan Wars (I)

16. Census after the Balkan Wars: 157,000 40,000 Greeks; 45,867 Ottomans (Muslims); 61,439 (Jews) The upper town predominately Muslim, much of the lower town nearest the sea between 60% and 90% Greeks traditional quarters on Eastern and Western sides No ghettos in Salonica, only few neibhorhoods belonged only to one or the other religion The Aftermath of the Balkan Wars (II)

17. King Constantine convinced of the superiority of German arms – wanted Greece to remain neutral Eleftherios Venizelos convinced that Entente would triumph argued in favour of the intervention alongside the British and French British and French naval attack to Istanbul failed and sent troops through to Gallipoli peninsula Sent troops to Thessalonike with the secret consent of Venizelos First World War I

18. The King asked the Entente allies to leave otherwise he would order Bulgarian to invade Constitutional dispute to issue of national sovereignty Bulgarian and German troops were allowed to take Greek border fortifications without fight in Northern Greece 30 August 1916: Pro Entente revolution – National Defence Greece two governments and two armies Provisional government 200,000 recruits to the front January 1916 Venizelos government international recognition National Schism

19. August 18 1917 Hot and sunny day Started in the north-western corner of the upper town More than ¾ of the old city was destroyed. Most of the Christian Orthodox churches escaped with the exception of St. Demetrius (only the church’s walls remained) Ninety-five hundred buildings were destroyed The Fire of the 1917 (I)

20. The Jewish community worst affected by fire – it consumed the city’s historic headquarters Most of its 37 synagogues, libraries, schools, club building and offices Homeless people in tents, huts and sheds around the city, others migrated inside or outside Greece. Soup kitchens fed 30,000 daily Fire created chance to build a new Salonica, showpiece of business and commerce Expropriation of the whole affected city centre and rebuilt the area on a new basis. The Fire of 1917 (II)

21. Fire: “a gift of divine providence”, Venizelos British architect Thomas Mawson chair of a committee of Greeks, French and Thomas Mawson was instructed to regard the city as a blank slate The city was “unworthy of the progressive and modern nation they wished Greece to become” Before: “unhygienic old town” – Now: “broader and straighter streets, larger squares” Industrialized zone established behind the port/ open slopes beyond the eastern walls became parklands and a campus for a new university was created. The Fire of 1917 (III)

22. The government compensated the owners with certificates for buying lands when available The wealthiest benefited the most Those who lacked the funds or sold the certificates early were pushed to the outskirts of the city. Many of the original plans abandoned (governmental instability, lack of funds, other priorities etc) Mawson’s original plan to unify the railway into one grand new station was abandoned. Plateia Aristotelous (Aristotle Square) finished only in the 1950s and 1960s The Fire Burns the “Poor” and Many of the Original Plans

23. 1923 compulsory Greco-Turkish population exchange 30,000 Muslims obliged to leave the city and Greeks majority of the population for the first time since the Byzantine era. 160,00 Greek Orthodox deported from the former Ottoman Empire settled in the city 1928 75% of the population Greeks (236,000) The 1923 Compulsory Greco-Turkish Population Exchange