Monument to the Pontic Greek Genocide

You’re standing in front of a monument that might almost go unnoticed in this small park—but don’t be fooled. It carries a heavy history, a story of a little-known tragedy from the 20th century: the genocide of the Pontic Greeks.

These Greek communities had lived along the shores of the Black Sea, in a region called Pontus, in what’s now northeastern Turkey, since ancient times. Between 1914 and 1923, they were subjected to forced deportations, massacres, orchestrated famines, and forced conversions, all carried out by the Ottoman Empire. Around 350,000 men, women, and children lost their lives, and hundreds of thousands more were driven from their homes.

This heartbreaking fate was part of a wider campaign that also targeted Armenians and Assyrians, the Christian populations of Asia Minor. You might wonder why this memorial is here on Santorini, far from the Black Sea. It’s because the memory of those refugees is scattered across Greece today. Every year on May 19, official ceremonies take place here to remember the past and honor the resilience of a displaced people.

As you pause in front of this monument, you’re connecting with a painful chapter of history, one that helps explain modern Greece and the enduring presence of Pontic Greek communities across the country.