199-232

• AlpanAytek Soner

The relevance of the Greco-Turkish population exchange in 1923 to memory can be conceptualized on two imbricated levels. The collective memory of “the nation”, which entails a highly selective reading of the past, can be used for manipulating or redefining collective and/or individual experiences. How the population exchange is incorporated into the carefully crafted biographies of Greece and Turkey is a question directly relevant to the mnemonic nature of history on a national level, which is called “memory from above” in this study. On the other hand, how the memory of the exchange is formed and reproduced by individuals today is becoming an increasingly important question, not only to scholars wishing to revise the history of the exchange, but also to various segments of society, particularly to those who have a direct, familial link to the population exchange. Descendants of the exchanged/expelled population have the means to process the trauma of their progenitors and to share their thoughts with the public through different means, which have the potential to challenge the established patterns of thought regarding the exchange and to constitute a popular memory, that is, “memory from below”. This study aims to analyze how the population exchange and the process that led to it is “remembered” on these levels in order to comprehend the multiple meanings of an epochal event and to observe the interconnectedness of these levels, as well as the relation between memory and history.

• History and Archaeology

• Ιστορία

856:https://ejournals.epublishing.ekt.gr/index.php/historicalReview/article/view/4076, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12681/hr.295

• http://historicalreview.org/index.php/historicalReview/article/view/295