Testimony: Sophia Stambolidou

I was born in the village of Tsegeri, Thermi/Thermohonta district, Pontus, in 1910. The deportations, the privations, the hardships, began in 1915-16. From that time on, we lived in the forests. I remember my mother telling me, as we hid in the woods: "You are young and without sin. Say your prayers for God's help."

I remember in the district of Goulouts-Teresi, where the Turkish Army had encircled us, our guerilla fighters, after battling all day and seeing that the Turks were very numerous, saw that the women and children had to be moved to a safer location. Before we left, however, our leaders agreed to smother the very young, as they feared that the cries of the babes-in-arms would betray us all and none of us would survive. One of those smothered was the child of my brother, Chrysostomos Kyriakides. The father of one little girl, Konstantinos Toutsoglides, could not bring himself to smother her, so he left her behind. A few days later, we found her alive and she was eventually brought to Hellas with us, to Oinoe village, Kastoria.

The group was moved to a large forest, near the village of Ayios Ioannis, Keris district. The Turks froze in fear when they found our smothered children. They realised our guerilla fighters were determined to do whatever it took.

We came to Greece with the Exchange of Populations in 1923, via Romania, to Thessaloniki. After a few days there, we were sent to the village of Neo Petritsi, about Christmas 1923. We spent a few days in the village school, and were then taken, in the depths of winter, to the Bulgarian border, to the village of Mesaia. In 1957, we moved to Hrani village, Katerini district .

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Source: Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies