THE MIRACLE A True Story correctly. He did not realise their true meaning and now, hearing the shouts of the distant mob, he regretted it.    He hurriedly turned out all the lights and slipped out of the shop. At that very moment, he was approached by five people who had broken away from the main body of the rabble.    "Why haven't you hoisted the Turkish flag in your shop, eh, giavour?" one of them asked.    That was the signal. All five of them fell upon him and began to pummel him and kick him. Fortunately they were not armed with shovels and pick-axes. Reeling from the repeated blows, my father tried desperately to defend himself and as soon as he had a chance, to return some of the punches. He was in a sorry state. Any moment now the main mob would be on the scene and any hope of saving himself would have vanished.    At that moment the sound of an ambulance siren rang out. The scuffle on the street stopped to allow the vehicle to pass. My father realised this was his only chance to save his life. Bleeding profusely and dizzy from the heavy pounding he had received, he summoned all his strength and started to run. By the time the ambulance had passed, my father had disappeared; the target of the mob's wrath was now his shop, which they literally ransacked from top to bottom. Meanwhile it took my father two hours to walk the distance to our house, a journey he normally completed in twenty minutes. He was a total wreck.    We were all waiting for him in a state of great agitation. As soon as my mother heard about the rioting, she positioned herself anxiously by the window, waiting impatiently for my father to appear. When she saw him coming, we all ran to open the front door. With our shock and horror clearly etched on our faces, we helped him crawl into bed and attended to his injuries.    Meanwhile, the plan to destroy all Greek property in the city was now fully under way. A hundred gangs of rioters were busy carrying out their terrible task, covering a vast area that stretched from the Bosphorus to the Sea of Marmara. Each gang had a leader who was armed with a list of the houses and shops in his area owned by Greeks. It was an organised tornado of violence which swept away everything in its path. Dozens of Greek citizens and clergymen were beaten up. Altogether 73 Greek churches were plundered or burned. Icons, murals and holy chalices of inestimable historic and archaeological value were destroyed. All the city's 26 Greek schools were completely demolished. The Patriarchal School at Fanari, established in 1453, and the Theological School on Halki were subjected to the fury of the rabble in an act of extreme barbarism. The Zappeion High School was attacked and the statue of its benefactor, Constantinos Zappas, sent tumbling down the great marble staircase. The mob did not stop at ruining desks, a piano and the school hall but also did immense damage to the murals that decorated the interior walls of the school.    In all, 4,340 Greek shops and stores were looted and destroyed that night; 2,600 Greek homes were caught in the eye of the storm and submitted to the mob's unprecedented wrath. The offices and printing presses of the city's three big Greek newspapers were literally smashed to pieces. The offices of Olympic Airways, then known as T.A.E., on Cumhuriyet Street in Elmadag were visited twice by the rabble. The first time the offices were protected by a strong guard and the "demonstrators" were obliged to withdraw temporarily without completing their task. However, one of the guards told them they had arrived too early and advised them to come back later; and indeed, the second time they turned up the guards 45 and 46 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 (47th of 204) © For Internet 2001 HEC and Leonidas Koumakis. Updated on 19 June 2001.