The Great Fire of Smyrna is the name commonly given to the fire that ravaged Izmir/Smyrna from 13 to 17 September 1922. Turkish armed forces systematically burned the city and killed Greek and Armenian inhabitants. This is based on extensive eyewitness evidence from Western troops sent to Smyrna during the evacuation, foreign diplomats/relief workers based at Smyrna and Turkish sources." - Wikipedia.org
Robert Davidian's grandfather, George Magarian, born in 1895, educated at the American College at Konya, Turkey and, later, director of the Konya YMCA, filmed Smyrna, Turkey, immediately after it's genocidal destruction.
The resulting 35mm edited nitrate film was hidden in my grandmother's apartment in NYC for 60 years. I was lucky to transfer it to digital before it completely disintegrates. -Robert Davidian 5 March 2008
