Monday, October 16, 1922. The Greek tragedy in Anatolia, Racism in Children's Books and Toys.

Former Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos proposed a mandatory population exchanged between Greece and Turkey to the League of Nations.  The proposal was for Orthodox Christians in side of what was to become or had become Turkish territory would come to Greece, and Muslim populations inside of Greece would go to Turkey.   The proposal would be adopted and carried out that following year, with 1,221,489 Greek and other Orthodox Christians going to Greece and about 400,000 Muslims going to Turkey.  The relocation was compulsory.

The net result would be the loss of a large Christian and Greek presence in Anatolia for the first time since the Apostolic Age, which of course Anatolia was principally Greek.  The Greek population of Istanbul was exempt from the exchange, but the Istanbul Pogrom of 1955 would cause many of them to leave.  The population today is growing, but still remains at only about 110,000.  Further repression of the Greek minority in the country would follow in 1964.

By Alexikoua - Own work, data taken from:*Kamouzis Dimitrios, The Constantinopolitan Greeks in an era of secular nationalism, mid-19th century to 1930, 2010, University of London. King's College. Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, p. 32.*Darja Reuschke,Monika Salzbrunn,Korinna Schönhärl, The Economies of Urban Diversity: Ruhr Area and Istanbul, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, ISBN 9781137338815, p. 117-122.*Σάββας Τσιλένης. Η μειονότητα των Ορθόδοξων Χριστιανών στις επίσημες στατιστικές της σύγχρονης Τουρκίας και στον αστικό χώρο.*Dundar Fuat, Turkiye Nufus Sayimlarinda Azinlikar. Doz, 1999, ISBN 9756876123. 9789756876121, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33989120

It's almost impossible to imagine a nation suggesting that members of co-ethnic communities in another country be forcibly expelled into itself now, but the Greek government feared, with good reason, that Greeks in Anatolia would be exterminated there.  The forced relocation removed a Greek presence in Anatolia that went back to antiquity, as well as operating to help complete the end of an Armenian one that was, if anything, even older.

It should be noted that Turkish oppression of the Armenians in modern times went back to the closing days of the Ottoman Empire, but it had really ramped up in regard to the Greeks due to the Greco Turkish War during which the Greeks had committed atrocities of their own, and had grossly overplayed their hand in trying to seize Turkish territory. The Ottoman parliament had been willing to accept that, but the Young Turks had not.  Had the Greeks not so overreached, the following tragedy may very well not have occured.

The U.S. Bureau of Prohibition seized the Canadian schooner Emerald 8 miles off the coast of New Jersey, resulting in a British protest.

Florence Kate Upton died on this day following surgery.  The British children's book author was 49.

She was also the inventor of the "Golliwog" dolls, which are truly beyond comprehension today.

The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls and a "Golliwogg", 1895.

The dolls were popular at the time, but are shocking today, and for good reason.  Indeed, we hesitated to post this at all, but given as this blog is supposed to be exploring an earlier time (which we're actually somewhat beyond in these 1922 posts), I've put them up.  An example of deeply ingrained racists views from the time.