Marriage, Labour and the Making of Refugee Communities in Greater Athens after 1922

Abstract

Following the collapse of the Asia Minor front in 1922, approximately 155,000 urban refugee families, primarily from Turkey, arrived in the Greek state, with 48 percent (about 75,000 families) settling in the capital and surrounding districts. This study examines the refugee population in the Municipality of Athens and seven key settlements, primarily new municipalities created by and for refugees. Using 31,796 marriage records from Athens, Aigaleo, Kaisariani, Kallithea, Nea Ionia, Nea Smyrni, Nikaia and Vyronas registered between 1924 and 1950, it analyses refugees’ marital patterns and occupational status. In refugee settlements, most men married women from their own regions of origin, though a significant number of local men married refugee women, who accounted for most of the female population. Refugee men and women worked as industrial labourers, builders, private-sector employees and petty merchants, bolstering the capital’s working class. Integration was slow and difficult, and marriages between refugees provided a crucial sense of familiarity and stability in their new environments, which were often limited to a single room or shack.