What I can see

During the first year of refugee flows from Asia Minor (1923), approximately 20% of Greece’s refugee housing was built in Piraeus. The aim was to reduce shacks, empty public buildings from refugees and gradually give the refugees the opportunity for decent living conditions. In the area of Nikea, and more specifically on both sides of Petrou Ralli Street and the surrounding streets, we see examples of the first houses, which take us back a century ago. They are small one- or two-storey buildings with one or two bedrooms, a toilet and a garden, which in many cases has been covered by house extensions. Similar houses, equally interesting, can be found in the Keratsini district and along the old railway lines of Piraeus.

What I can't see

At first, refugees lived in shacks with shared toilets and many of them died of hunger and diseases. The construction of houses was urgent, but not only for sanitary and practical reasons, but also for symbolic ones. Residence was considered the main means of integration into the Greek society, in a very hostile environment, where the locals and the pro-Royal/ anti-Venizelian press called them “orientals”, “yogurt-baptized”, “autides”, “Turkish seeds” and other names. Therefore, their houses were built on empty lands, around the then cities, in order to avoid this toxic coexistence. The refugee settlements of Piraeus attracted industrial units, which sought cheap labour. At the same time, the fact that out of a total of 77 construction contractors for refugee settlements, 34 were refugees, as were 5,488 out of a total of 5,900 workers, is interesting.

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