MARIA TSOLAKAS also known as KALOMANA
Kalomana’s Life in Asia Minor-
Maria Vlahakis was born in 1873. She was the eldest of six children born to Yiannis and Despina Vlahakis. She married Kostas Tsolakas and gave birth to 11 children. Only three of these children survived past infancy: two sons-Nikolis born in 1892, Yiannis born in 1897 and one daughter Kiriakouli born in 1899. Her mother live with Maria, Kostas and their children.
Maria’s family lived in Alatsata in the region of Erithrea which is located on the east coast of Asia Minor (now Turkey). The Panayia Church was in the centre of Alatsata and divided the city into two parts: Pano Horio (upper village) and Kato Horio (lower village). Kalomana’s family’s house was located close to the Ayia Triada Church in Pano Horio.
In 1913, Maria’s sons Nikolis aged 21 and Yiannis aged 16 left Asia Minor and travelled to Australia to avoid conscription into the Janissary Corps of the Turkish Army (which were comprised of Christians living under the Ottoman Empire rule). The Christian troops were treated badly and were forced into labour battalions.
At this time, Turks were being persecuted in Europe and Muslim refugees were arriving in Constantinople. The Turks retaliated by persecuting Christians living in Asia Minor. During the ‘Proto Diog-mo’ (first exile) of 1914, Maria’s family was forced to leave Alatsa-ta. They went to Thessaloniki in Greece were they had relatives living nearby.
In October 1918, after four years in exile, the Treaty of Moudros was signed and the exiled Greeks were able to safely return to their homeland in Asia Minor. Maria’s family, along with many other families arrived in Alatsata and found that their homes, shops and ‘horafia’ (fields) had been destroyed by the Turks. They began the long and arduous task of rebuilding their lives whilst living amongst the ruins.
Despite the worsening political situation in the region, the Greek and Turkish residents of Alatsata had lived alongside each other without any conflict since their return after the Proto Diogmo of 1918. A few months prior to the Catastrophe of 1922, word had reached Alatsata that the Turks had once again begun persecuting Greeks in nearby towns.
Knowing what had happened to many young women during the previous persecutions, Maria sent her daughter Kirakouli and future daughter-in-law, Malama, to the nearby island of Chios, where they were to be met by a nun and taken to a Monastery for refuge. Kiriakouli and Malama later travelled to Thessaloniki where they stayed with relatives. The rest of the family stayed behind and waited to find out whether the persecutions were isolated incidents or whether they were becoming more widespread as they had before the first exile of 1914.
The authorities did not officially notify the Greek population living in the region to leave the country as they had eight years earlier before the first exile. The Greeks believed that the region was under the protection of General Plastiras and his army, which had been based in nearby Tsesme. Not long after, travellers arriving in town brought news that the persecutions were worsening. They realized that they needed to load their possessions onto a boat and leave Asia Minor for a second time.
The next day, Maria’s family heard cannon firing from Tsesme. They realized that the Turkish Army was close by. Soon after, bands of Turks began going from house to house looting and pillaging.
Bodies began to appear by the side of the roads as the Turks continued their rampage. For the next few weeks, they hid by day and scavenged for food by night, trying desperately to escape the clutches of the Turks.
Maria’s family finally found a secure hiding place inside the caves along the waters edge at Agrilia, that could only be reached by water where they hoped to wait until a boat could be found to take them to Chios.
However, some fellow Greeks trying to win favour with the Turks gave them up and they were rounded up along with all of the other Greeks families and led to the Ayia Triada Church. Each person was searched and their valuables were taken before they were locked inside the Church.
Maria lived through the 1922 Catastrophe of Smyrna and witnessed firsthand the total devastation of here homeland. She lived through the horror that the Greeks had endured at the hands of the Turks:
• She too had endured months of starvation and exposure to the elements living amongst the ruins of what had once been their town,
• She too, along with all of her fellow refugees had been imprisoned in the Ayia Triada Church,
• She too along withal the other women and children had watched helplessly as their husbands, fathers, brothers, uncles and male cousins were taken out of the Ayia Triada Church and led into the distance never to be seen again,
• She too had been imprisoned for a second time in the Panayia Church along with fellow refugee women and children without any food, water or sanitation,
• She too had sat silently inside the Church along with other terrified women and children desperately trying to hide the pretty young girls under their skirts and hessian sacks from the Turkish soldiers who would prowl around each night in search of prey,
• She too had watched helplessly as daughters were forcefully removed from the clutches of their mothers and taken inside the Altar of the Church. Those who became hysterical were taken outside the Church where their screams suddenly stopped. Their bodies were added to the massive piles that were stacked up on the tiled courtyard at the front of the Church,
• She too had waited frozen with fear as the overpowering smell of burning hair and smoke wafted overhead, knowing that the Turks were burning Christians in nearby Churches,
• She too knew the fate that awaited them when she smelt the kerosene being poured over the outside of the Church,
• She too knew they were about to be burned alive inside the Panayia Church along with all the other women and children as the Turks taunted them by shouting “Where is your God now to save you, Infidels?”
Yet Maria remained calm as she together with her mother, Despina, and sister, Malama, prayed fervently for their salvation. Just as the Turks were about to set fire to the Church, a miracle occurred. At that very instant, a soldier on horseback arrived and instructed the Turkish officers to release the women and children they were holding captive and send them to Tsesme.
Their lives had been saved by the Grace of God! A few more minutes and they would have perished in the fire. Maria, together with her elderly mother, sister and her sister’s four young children-Georgia, Yiannis, Stamatis and Kalliope-were weak from hunger and thirst as they set out on the long walk along with thou-sands of other refugees in a long trail that stretched as far as the eye could see. The ten kilometre journey from Alatsata to Tsesme took all day.
When the refugees arrived in Tsesme, they were herded into the Ayios Haralambos Church which was overflowing with people. Maria’s family had to sleep on the road outside the Church. The next morning they were taken down to the harbour where they waited to be loaded onto boats that had arrived from all over Greece to evacuate them. The League of Nations had finally organised a compulsory exchange of populations, after witnessing the full scale massacre of the Christian population and the total destruction of the cities and towns in the Smyrna region. By this time, only women, children and elderly men remained. All of the able bodied men had been killed.
Maria’s family boarded a boat that stopped at every port, depositing a certain number of refugees at each. Maria and her mother disembarked from the boat of refugees at Pireaus, exhausted from their ordeal. Her sister Malama and her three youngest children did not stay in Athens. Malama waited at the wharves for a boat to Crete to search for her eldest daughter Georgia, aged 14, who had been forced to disembark at Iraklion by the authorities without the rest of the her family.
Sadly, not long after they had arrived in Athens, Maria’s mother died. After the funeral, Maria went to Thessaloniki to join her daughter, Kiriakouli and future daughter-in-law, Malama. The three women embarked on their journey to Australia and a new life. Maria’s two sons, Nikolis and Yiannis, who had been living in Brisbane for 10 years had paid for their fares on a ship to Australia.
Throughout their horrific ordeal in Asia Minor, Kolomana had remained stoic. She was able to withstand hardship without complaint. She remained calm when all seemed lost. Her faith gave her hope. Her quiet strength and dignity was what kept the others going. Her generosity of spirit and compassion enabled her to calm and comfort those who could not bear the overwhelming terror that they faced during the Turkish occupation.
The Asia Minor Refugees in Brisbane-
When the refugees began arriving in Brisbane in the mid 1920’s, Maria was active in helping them to settle in their new country. She provided them with the spiritual and emotional sustenance that they needed to embark on a new life. The refugees soon began calling her “Kalomana” as a sign of respect and to show their appreciation for the support that she was providing to them.
The refugees who had lived through the Catastrophe were destitute when they arrived in Australia. At the time, welfare was nonexistent. The only way that the refugees would survive was to work for Greeks who had departed from Asia Minor before the Catastrophe and were able to bring their possessions with them and enough money to set up a small business (mostly cafés).
Kalomana’s Role in Helping the Refugees-
Kalomana was not afraid of hard work. She liaised with the families in her community that were enduring hardship and helped out those who needed help in every way she could. Some of her more notable achievements include:
• Raising a foster daughter, Despina, whose mother had died in childbirth in Asia Minor and arranging a marriage for her to an American from Asia Minor of good standing in the community,
• Bringing her nephew, Yiannis, to Australia from a refugee camp in Greece and raising him as her own son,
• Moving in with her son, Yiannis and raising his 5 young children when their mother, Caroline, died suddenly,
• Arranging a marriage for her widowed son and bringing a bride, Katina, from Greece who was willing to be a step-mother to his children.
But all of this did not deter Kalomana from her philanthropic role in helping the other refugee families in the community who were struggling to cope with life in their new country. Kalomana provided practical assistance to those who need help by caring for children when their parents were ill or working long hours, cooking meals, washing and ironing, sewing clothes, crocheting tablecloths, providing blankets and baking Greek sweets.
Kalomana’s Character-
Kalomana was the one person that the refugees turned to for guidance, for they knew that she would listen to their problems and help them to find a solution without being harsh or judgemental. Kalomana had a cheerful and charismatic nature and never lost her temper or said anything in an angry tone. She also had a keen sense of humour and would broach matters that other found amusing but she was never uncouth.
Kalomana was kind and compassionate and never uttered a bad word about anyone. If anyone pointed out other people’s faults in her presence, she would always gently remind them to speak only when they had something good to say. She approached issues honestly and rationally and didn’t let other get away with being dishonest or unreasonable. When others acted in ways that were not altruistic, she was able to guide them without moralizing or being self righteous.
Kalomana had a litany of sayings for every situation and each one contained words of wisdom that she herself lived by. The fact that she lived her life according to her principles was what set her above the rest of the community as a role model to which they would aspire. Kalomana never faltered from her high ethical standards. Yet, she did not see herself as being superior to anyone else and treated everyone, no matter how poor or wretched, with the same respect that she herself was afforded.
Kalomana was admired not only for her good deeds, but was al-so cherished for the way she was able to inspire others to strive to become better people. She set a shining example of grace, humility and integrity in her quest to help those in need.
Her reputation as a wise community elder extended to the broader Greek community who also held her in high regard. Each year at the annual Greek School concert, the leaders of the Greek Community in Brisbane, presented her with an award to
acknowledge the contribution she made not only to individual fam-ilies, but also towards building a strong sense of community amongst her compatriots.
Kalomana’s Legacy-
Kalomana lived in Australia for 35 years from 1923 until her death in 1958 at the age of 85. Everyone who had the privilege of being a part of her life would attest to the positive influence that she had on them. Spending time with Kalomana always left people with a sense of awe and a feeling of gratitude for the chance to get to know her and have their lives touched by hers. Her memory lives on in the hearts of those who loved and respected her.
By sharing Kalomana’s inspirational story, we hope that her indomitable spirit and compassion towards her fellow humans will be revered by not only those who were fortunate to have witnessed or benefitted from her charitable deeds, but also by future generations.
Written by Despina Drakos (great niece) from the booklet produced for THE ASIA MINOR GREEK HISTORICAL SOCIETY INCORPORATED and submitted with her permission.