Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917

The Great Thessaloniki Fire of 1917 was one of the most important incidents that marked the history of the city. It was an accident that considerably changed the physiognomy of the city. The fire burned for 32 hours and destroyed 9,500 houses within an extent of 1 square kilometer. The fire left more than 70,000 individuals homeless. The section of Thessaloniki that was burned was reconstructed according to a new organized plan, creating a new, modern city.

The city before the fire

Thessaloniki was one of the bigger and most modern cities of the Balkans. Its harbour was one of the most important centres of trade. In 1912, the city was released from the Ottoman Empire, and with the bigger part of Macedonia and Epirus it was incorporated in Greece. The population of the city was maintained as before: the larger part of the population was constituted of Sephardi Jews, followed by Greeks, Turks, and Bulgarians.

World War I had begun in 1914 but Greece maintained neutrality. However, with authorization by the government, Entente Forces had landed troops in Thessaloniki in 1915, in order to support their Serb allies in the Macedonian Front. In 1916, the Movement of National Defence had begun in Thessaloniki, which shaped a provisional government, dividing Greece between pro-Allied Liberals represented by Eleftherios Venizelos and Monarchists supporting neutrality represented by King Constantine. After the abdication of King Constantine in July, 1917, Greece was unified again. Thessaloniki very shortly had been become a transit center for troops and supplies, filling the city with thousands of French and British soldiers. At the same time refugees were assembled in the city, raising its population to 48,096 families or 271,157 individuals from the 157,889 that existed at the 1913 census.

Spread of fire

The fire, according to the conclusion of interrogation that was carried out by the Court of Thessaloniki, began on Saturday 5 (OS) /18 August (NS) roughly at 15:00. It began at a small house of refugees in the address Olympiados 3, in the district Mevlane between the center and the Upper City. It was caused by a spark of fire from the kitchen, which fell in an adjacent deposit of straw. The lack of water and the indifference of neighbors, prevented a possible extinguishment of the initial fire. Eventually, an intense wind caused the fire to be transmitted to the neighboring houses, continuing on throughout Thessaloniki.

Initially the fire followed two directions, to the Diikitirio (Government House) via the road of Agiou Dimitriou and to the market via the Leontos Sofou road. The Diikitirio was saved by the efforts of its employees that hurried to help. The wind strengthened, causing the fire to continue to spread towards the center of the city. In the early morning of the next day, (6/19 August) the wind changed direction and the two foreheads of the fire destroyed all of the commercial center. At 12:00, the fire passed around the grounds of the temple of Aghia Sofia without touching it, and continued easternly up to the road of Ethnikis Amynis (former name: "Hamidie") where it stopped. At the evening of Sunday 6 19 August, the fire completely died out.

Efforts at firefighting

There were not enough quantities of water for firefighting, because most part of it was kept by the allied forces for the catering of camps in the suburbs of the city. In the city there was not any organized fire brigade, but only a few firefighting teams privately owned by insurance companies. These private firefighters were usually untrained and equipped with old or no equipment.

The only hope for Thessaloniki was the intervention of Allied forces. In the afternoon of the first day of the fire, a French detachment exploded three houses next to the Diikitirio with the intention to create an area of safety. However, the French detachment did not continue and ended up withdrawing, leaving the fire to continue on its destructive course. The next morning, two British fire engines stopped the fire near the White Tower. The customs building within the city was saved by French soldiers.

The Allied forces rejected the idea of interrupting the water supply of their camps and hospitals to use for firefighting. General Sarrail visited the region of Diikitiriou for a few hours during the afternoon of the first day but he did not return. There are reports, verified by multiple sources, that the behavior of French soldiers was not what could be expected. Instead of helping the firefighting and providing care for fire victims, many soldiers proceeded in pillaging shops and residences, preventing the householders from rescuing their fortune so that could loot them later themselves. The next day, General Sarrail ordered the execution of two French soldiers who were arrested for selling stolen jewels. On the contrary, the British soldiers assisted in the firefight as long as they could, particularly with the transportation of fortunes and fire victims with military lorries to settlements for refugees (for the same thing the drivers of French cars asked for "").

Care of fire victims

The people affected by the fire totaled approximately 72,500. The Pallis report counts separately the fire victims of the three communities of Thessalonica: 50,000 Jews, 12,500 Orthodox and 10,000 Muslims.

The care for the fire victims started immediately at the first days following the fire. The Greek authorities constructed 100 houses for the accommodation of 800 families. The British authorities established three settlements with 1,300 tents where they accommodated 7,000 homeless. The French authorities set up a settlement for 300 families, and built the "Union of French Ladies", a smaller camp for 100 families. Five thousand individuals were transported free of charge by train and relocated to Athens, Volos and Larissa. The Greek authorities set up distribution points providing free bread to 30,000 individuals. The American, French, and English Red Cross distributed food among the homeless. A lot of Jews, having lost everything, left for the western countries, mainly France, while a number following the Zionist movement relocated to Palestine.

Immediately after the first off-hand response, governmental representative Pericles A. Argyropoulos founded the Administration for Victims of Fire for the care of thousands of fire victims, and the government approved credit of 1,500,000 drachmas for the first needs. Simultaneously, the Central Committee for Donations was organized with a line of sub-committees for the collection of donations and the distribution of money and goods.

Destruction

The fire destroyed 32% of the total extent of Thessaloniki, about 1 square kilometer. The burned region was located between the roads of Aghiou Dimitriou, Leontos Sofou, Nikis, Ethnikis Amynis, Alexandrou Svolou, Egnatia (from Aghia Sofia), and Aghiou Dimitriou. This region is reported in official documents as "pirikaystos zoni", "πυρίκαυστος ζώνη" ("burned zone") and in the popular narrations simply as "kammena", "καμμένα" ("burned"). The extent of material damage within Thessaloniki was calculated to be worth 8,000,000 golden pounds.

Among the buildings that were burned included the Post office, the telegraph office, the town hall, the companies of water supply and gas, the Ottoman Bank, the National Bank, the deposits of the Bank of Athens, parts of the Saint Demetrios church, two other Orthodox temples, the Saatli Jami, 11 other mosques, the Seat of Chief rabbi with all its archive and 16 of the 33 synagogues. The printing-houses of most newspapers (Thessaloniki had the bigger number of published newspapers in Greece) which most did not manage to republish. Approximately 4,096 of the 7,695 shops within the city were destroyed, leaving 70% of the workforce unemployed.

Compensation

After the destruction of the city, insurance companies sent their agents to survey the extent of the damage within the city, trying to attribute the destruction in martial acts (also supported in various rumours for arson from the German or the French). The insurance companies, in order to avoid the payback of enormous sums to their insurants, attempted to appraise the fire damage as accurately as they could. The total amount of insurance contracts was about 3,000,000 golden pounds. The majority of insurance companies within the region were British. The insurance company, North & British Mercantile Co., had to compensate 3,000 insurance contracts. The Court deemed the fire was caused by accidental reasons. However, under the pressure of Greek and foreign authorities along with the Court, all of the insurance policies were completely paid.

Reconstruction

Only a few days after the destruction of the city, the Venizelos government announced that it would not allow reconstruction of the city. Instead a new urban plan would be considered, according to the Law 823/1917 that was prepared by Minister of Transports Alexandros Papanastasiou. Papanastasiou founded the "International Committee fot the New Plan of Thessaloniki" with chairman the French architect and archeologist Ernest Hébrard, which was to develop a new urban plan. It was delivered in the "General Administration of Macedonia" on 29 June 1918. The plan was not applied completely, and due to pressure by landowners of large plots of land, it suffered a lot of changes. Overall, the new plan was a big improvement in the previous setup of the city.

References

* Papastathi Haral., "A Memorandum on the Fire of Thessalonica in 1917 and the Care of Victims", Society of Macedonian Studies, Thessaloniki, 1978
* Karadimou Gerolympou Aleka, "Chronicle of the Great Fire", University Studio Press, Thessaloniki, 2002
* Papastathi Haral. - Hekimoglou E., "Thessalonica of Fire: 18-19 August 1917", Thessalonikeon Polis, vol.11, September 2003

ee also

*Great Fire of Smyrna of 1922