Story:
When the Greek army entered and settled in Izmir in 1920, there was great enthusiasm among the Greeks. During this period, the middle daughter of the Kaliontzi-Chatzimichaloglou family met and fell in love with a soldier from the expeditionary force coming from Megara city. The soldier, named Doubaniaris, asked her hand from her father who agreed. A while later Doubaniaris, understanding the reversal of the military balance and the ominus political situation, went to her house at night and asked her to follow him to Greece. The father said: “With all these Greek ships in the port, with one cannon shot from each one of them, everything will be over…”. Her mother threw away the ring breaking the engagement. After the change of the situation and the collapse of the Asia Minor front, the father was sent to mele taburu (labor camps). The women of the family, the mother and three daugters, left for Greece. The only place where they had someone they knew was Megara city. They went there and the couple reunited. The mother, using this sewing machine managed to provide for the two other girls working as a seamstress.
Dina Kalliontzi