ΤΡΑΓΩΔΙΑ

{Denise gracefully hosts Six Sentence Stories, where writers unleash their magic under one simple rule: in no more or no less than 6 sentences.
This week’s prompt word is : STRUCTURE }

WARNING : this text and following video/song contains historic accounts of a massacre – if you are offended by their graphic nature , please exit via the door to the left.

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“…δι ελέου και φόβου περαίνουσα την των τοιούτων παθημάτων κάθαρσιν.”*
Αριστοτέλης

100 years later, I find myself unable to imagine any catharsis for the massacre on August/September 1922 at Smyrna, known as the Smyrna Catastrophe.

Even more disheartening is the observation of the repeated historical cycle of events that leads to similar tragedies; the (in)forming structure by the global chess board powers, creating the bones of such skeletons.

Aristotle gave his definition of the dramatic act of Tragedy (Tραγωδία) *“…through pity and fear effecting the proper catharsis of these emotions”; 2,200 years later another Aristotle survived the massacre at Smyrna to become later in his life the wealthiest man in the world: Aristotle Onassis.

An American singer & artist, Diamanda Galas, born & raised at San Diego, with ancestors from Smyrna, Pontus & Chios (Quiz: what do these three places have in common? Answer at the end of the post)** creates in 2003 “The orders from the dead” based on testimonies from the Smyrna catastrophe.

100 years later, I find myself lighting a candle in the memory of a 5 years old girl hiding under the dress of her mother, escaping the Smyrna massacre, fleeing towards the harbor, only to find the crews of foreign ships beating them or chopping their hands off to prevent them from boarding their vessels; they finally made it aboard a Japanese(!) merchant ship that emptied into the sea its precious cargo of silk to make room for refugees and carried them to the Hellenic port of Piraeus.

That girl’s mother was named Eftichia (Ευτυχία: happiness)…

…the little girl was Anna...she was my grandmother…

…and her daughter Eftichia is my mother.

 

** Quiz answer: Smyrna, Pontus and Chios were massacred by Turks
Pontus Genocide : 353,000 dead

Chios massacre, May 1822 : close to 50,000 dead, 45,000 as slaves.
(The orders from the Sultan were: kill every infant from 0-3 years old, every boy over 12 years old, every woman over 40 years old. Capture every female between the age of 3-40 and male from 3-12).
According to the Courier Francais of July 7th 1822, thousands of enslaved kids from Chios were paraded at Smyrna, where fanatic Muslims were buying each for 30 grossia and butchered them, thus gaining a place at their heaven…

Smyrna massacre, September 1922 : close to 100,000 dead.

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This is a video based on Diamanda Galas song,”Orders from the dead” with archive footage.

Here are the lyrics:

“The world is going up in flames
The world is going up in flames
The world is going up in flames
But these flames are not new to our dead
Our dead did cry their final prayer in those flames
Our dead did sing their last lullaby in those flames
Our dead prayed to our infidelity God in those flames
Our dead whispered a last goodbye to their mother in those flames
Της είπα μάνα, μην σκιάζεσαι [I told her Mother, fear not]
Θα γυρίσουμε [We will return]
Έχε γεια, μάνα! [Farewell, mother]
The world is going up in flames
Our world clawed their children close in
The world is going up in flames
Τα παιδιά μου καλέ! [My children!]
Μην είδατε τα παιδιά μου; Για όνομα του Θεού! [Have you seen my children? For God’s sake!]
Ωχ, μου τα πήρανε, και τι να θέλω τη ζωή; Τα παιδιά μου! [ Ahh, they have taken them, why would I want to live now? My children!]
Τα παιδιά μου! [ My children!]
Βαζει μια τρεχάλα για την θάλασσα, πέφτει και πνίγεται [Runs to the sea, dives and drowns]
Our dead watched their daughters butchered
Raped and beaten in the still-burning of those flames
Our dead watched an ax remove their mother’s skull
And crown a wooden spit
In the continuous burning of those flames
Our dead watched while Chrysotomos eyes and tongue were pulled out
Teeth and fingers broken, one by one
In the laughing and the cheering of those flames
(Flames, flames, flames, flames, flames)
Αρπάξανε από την τετράδα μας [They grabbed one of us four]
του σκίσανε την κοιλιά με μια μαχαιριά [they ripped his gut with a knife]
τον βάλανε και βάδισε, κρατώντας τ’άντερά του στα χέρια [ they made him walk holding his intestines with his hands]
Our dead watched their sisters drenched with gasoline
And scream with melting skin
“The world is going up in flames”
The world which is going up in flames
Για όνομα του Χριστού! [For Christ’s name!]
Μην μας αφήσετε! [Don’t leave us!]
Έχουμε μωρά μαζί μας, έχουμε γερόντους, κορίτσια [We have babies, old parents, girls]
Είστε υπεύθυνοι! [You are responsible!]
Νάυαρχε, νάυαρχε, Φωτιά! [Admiral, admiral! Fire!!]
Φωτιά! [Fire!]
Our dead were dragged in marches
Through the desert sun
For weeks until the sun burned out their lungs
And when the flames turned inside-out their mouths and ripped apart their lips
We heard their final prayer
“Lord God, have mercy, please, upon our souls!”
Μας προδώσανε! [ They betrayed us!]
Μας ξεπουλήσανε! [They sold us out!]
Π’ανάθεμά τους! [God damn them!]
Νάυαρχε, τι κάνεις; Νάυαρχε, σώστε μας! [Admiral, do something, save us!]
Φωτιά! [Fire!]
Φωτιά!
They saw the world is going up in flames
Buried, not yet dead inside the pits
Engraved: “Giaoure, Infideli:
Our God has chosen you to die”
Γονάτισε κάτω! [“Kneel down!”]
Και γονατίζει [and she kneels]
Ξεγυμνώσου! [“Undress!”]
Και ξεγυμνώνεται [ and she undresses]
Ανοιχτά τα σκέλια σου! [“Open your legs!”]
Και τα ανοίγει [and she opens them]
Χόρεψε! [“Dance!”]
Και χορεύει [ and she dances]
Φτύσε την τιμή σου και την πατρίδα σου! [“Spit on your honor and country!”]
Και φτύνει [and she does]
Απαρνήσου την πίστη σου! [“Give up your faith!”]
Και την απαρνιέται [and she does]
Και την απαρνιέται
And now the unblessed dead have ordered us to say:
This is my grave, my holy bed
You cannot take it
You cannot erase my name
You cannot erase our dead
You cannot erase the dead
Because we have been ordered now
To list their names, their numbers
To give their date of birth, their earthly city
Their father’s name, the sweetness of their mother’s eyes
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
Goodbye
But I have orders from the Dead that warn me:
“Do not forget me
My blood will fill the air you breathe forever”
“My deathbird is not dead
He carries all my teeth
My smile of unforgetfulness
My laugh
Βρυκόλακα! [ Vampire!]
I am the man unburied
Who cannot sleep in forty pieces!
I am the girl dismembered and unblessed
I am the open mouth that drags your flesh and that can never rest”.

BY THE COMPANY OF WARRIORS I KEEP

Spira / Nick © October 2022

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