THE MIRACLE A True Story trial. Finally, more money was needed for his escape to Smyrna on the day he was released so that he could cross to the island of Chios and free Greece.    When he arrived in Smyrna, Uncle Sideris was a mental and physical wreck. He went to Çesme - Krene in Greek - which lies just across the water from Chios, so close that at night the lights of the town are visible from the mainland. There he found a small ship that plied between Chios and Çesme and posing as a tourist, he boarded the boat ready for the journey to freedom and a new life. However, as they were approaching their destination the captain received a wireless message instructing him to return to Çesme, whereupon he turned the ship around and headed back to the Turkish port. My uncle was scared out of his wits, convinced that he was the reason for the ship's return to Turkey; but he was powerless to do anything except wait calmly and patiently for the reason for the about-turn to be announced.    The ship returned to Çesme, remained there for three hours and fifty minutes - to my uncle it seemed like three centuries - and then weighed anchor again for Chios. Uncle Sideris never learned the reason for the sudden return to Turkey, nor did he want to, even when he finally set foot, alive and safe, on Chios to start his life afresh.    All this went through my mind as we walked in silence down the street. We were on our way to Sirkeci, my mother, my sister and I. Ten weeks earlier, my father had literally been dragged through the door of an aeroplane taking him to Athens, an emigré against his will at the age of 50.    Constantinople's Central Railway Station was at Sirkeci. We had already handed over, packed up in a large trunk, our life's belongings which the Turks had "magnanimously" allowed us to take with us - that is, essential items of clothing only. Everything else had been confiscated by the Turkish authorities.    This "confiscation" was of a particular nature. The Turks made a list of all the movable assets, which the victim had no right to sell. The same was true, of course, for fixed assets. So all those who were forced to flee had to leave behind their life's possessions for the Turks to plunder.    The only things the authorities allowed their victims to take with them were a few items of clothing. These few belongings, squeezed into a trunk, had to undergo a customs check and we had to be present. My mother was then nearly forty years old, my sister was seventeen and I was fifteen.    Feeling as if our hearts were gripped in an invisible vice, we walked in silence along the road to Sirkeci. There we would have to face the fanatic officers of the Turkish state performing their "duty" with obvious pleasure and satisfaction. Their "duty" was to do whatever was humanly possible to make sure their victims left their homes completely crushed, financially ruined and with not one penny of the fortune they might have amassed. 17 and 18 Leonidas Koumakis THE MIRACLE A True Story If you prefer a hard copy of the book, please send an email to HEC-Books@hec.greece.org Previous Page | Initial Page | Site Map | Next Page (19th of 204) © For Internet 2001 HEC and Leonidas Koumakis. Updated on 19 June 2001.