![The Great Fire, Salonica - The famous White Tower in the foreground. - William Thomas Wood (1877–1958) - Imperial War Museum London](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-Great-Fire-Salonica-The-Famous-White-Tower-in-the-Foreground-e1692279104190.jpg?resize=600%2C471&ssl=1)
The Nice Fireplace, Salonica – The well-known White Tower within the foreground – William Thomas Wooden (1877-1958) – Imperial Warfare Museum London
The 18thth in August 1917, Thessaloniki, the second largest metropolis in Greece, house to 1000’s of refugees and one of many largest and most trendy cities in Europe on the time, went up in flames, destroying two-thirds of town and leaving greater than 70,000 homeless. two-thirds of whom have been Jews.
![Thessaloniki - Greece - 1912](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Thessaloniki-Greece-1912.jpg?resize=640%2C297&ssl=1)
Thessaloniki – Greece – 1912
The 1913 census states that town’s inhabitants was 157,889, together with 61,439 Jews, 39,956 Orthodox Greeks, 45,867 Turks, 6,263 Bulgarians, and 4,364 “foreigners”.
Salonika, because it was then identified to the locals, not too long ago free of Ottoman rule in 1912, was a metropolis of many nationalities; The Greeks have been the minority, whereas the Jews have been the bulk.
![Ladadika – The old Jewish quarter of Thessaloniki](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Ladadika-–-The-Old-Jewish-Quarter-of-Thessaloniki-e1692278413359.jpg?resize=600%2C383&ssl=1)
Ladadika – The outdated Jewish quarter of Thessaloniki
The devastating fireplace was the start of the tip for the “Jerusalem of the Balkans”, which had developed throughout the Ottoman occupation, when a lot of the 52,000 Jews left destitute, fled town, heading primarily for France and america, whereas others made for Palestine.
Different ethnic teams in Thessaloniki included Turks, Armenians, Albanians and Roma, in addition to a bunch of different nationalities.
Added to this melting pot of humanity have been 1000’s of Italian, French and British troopers.
Though Greece formally maintained neutrality originally of World Warfare I. World Warfare II, after the abdication of King Constantine I, in June 1917, Greece entered the battle on the aspect of the Allies, and Thessaloniki shortly grew to become a transit heart for Allied troops and provides.
Salonika is burning
![Panoramic view of the center of Thessaloniki after the fire of 1917](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Panoramic-view-of-downtown-Thessaloniki-after-the-fire-e1692284765834.jpg?resize=600%2C375&ssl=1)
Panoramic view of the middle of Thessaloniki after the fireplace of 1917
The fireplace, which began on Saturday 18 August 1917 round 15.30, mentioned to have began in some refugees’ home on the nook of Ayiou Dimitriou Road in Mevlane; the Turkish district when sparks from a kitchen fireplace by chance set fireplace to a pile of straw.
The fireplace raged for 32 hours, fanned by Thessaloniki’s well-known “Vardaris” (a powerful northerly wind), which helped the fireplace unfold to town heart earlier than altering course solely to trigger one other fireplace entrance; ultimately, your complete commerce heart was only a pile of ash and rubble.
![Destruction after the Great Fire in Salonica, Greece, September 4, 1917. (Photo via Getty Images).](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Destruction-after-the-great-fire-in-Salonica-Greece-Sept.-4-1917.-Photo-via-Getty-Images-1-e1692284869579.jpg?resize=600%2C395&ssl=1)
Destruction after the Nice Fireplace in Salonica, Greece, September 4, 1917. (Photograph by way of Getty Photos).
Within the night of the 19th by August the fireplace had reached the waterfront, the place it then set fireplace to the kayaks and boats bobbing within the sea, lastly bringing the inferno to an finish; by night the fireplace was fully extinguished.
![The fire in Thessaloniki seen from the quay in 1917.](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-fire-as-seen-from-the-quay-in-1917-e1692285321317.png?resize=600%2C403&ssl=1)
The fireplace in Thessaloniki seen from the marina in 1917.
250 hectares of constructing land, 9,500 homes and a lot of the metropolis’s church buildings, banks, colleges, printers, resorts and outlets have been now solely reminiscences of the previous.
Thessaloniki, the northern capital of Greece, would by no means be the identical once more.
![The Fire, Salonica - The Last Phase - PhaseWilliam Thomas Wood (1877–1958) - Imperial War Museum London](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-Fire-Salonica-The-Last-Phase-e1692284999803.jpg?resize=555%2C600&ssl=1)
The Fireplace, Salonica – The Final Section – PhaseWilliam Thomas Wooden (1877–1958) – Imperial Warfare Museum London
Surprisingly, as a result of course of the wind, a lot of the Turkish space the place the fireplace had began; larger up by town wall, remained largely untouched and might nonetheless be seen in the present day.
How did the fireplace handle to succeed in such a dimension?
What went improper?
![A map showing the areas of Thessaloniki destroyed by the fire.](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/A-map-showing-the-areas-destroyed-by-the-fire-e1692285158269.jpg?resize=540%2C600&ssl=1)
A map exhibiting the areas of Thessaloniki destroyed by the fireplace.
On the time of the fireplace, city planning in Thessaloniki was fairly chaotic; the homes constructed kind of on prime of one another in slim streets barely sufficient three meters large, did not assist, add the robust northerly wind and you’ve got a recipe for catastrophe.
![Thessaloniki in the late 19th century.](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Thessaloniki-in-the-late-1800s-e1692278906885.jpg?resize=600%2C391&ssl=1)
Thessaloniki within the late nineteenth century.
To make issues worse, town had no official fireplace division, solely a fairly motley, disorganized crew of firemen, privately owned by insurance coverage corporations, armed with little or no tools, solely to serve their prospects.
In the event you suppose that is dangerous sufficient, there was a definite scarcity of water for firefighting, not solely as a consequence of a extreme drought that summer time, but in addition as a consequence of the truth that the 1000’s of Allied forces stationed within the metropolis, had whole management over the water reserves in to serve their camps and hospitals!
They weren’t too eager on giving up their treasured water provide for firefighting.
Add to all the above that the French allies attempting to create “fireplace secure zones” by chance blew up whole blocks which solely ended up including gas to the fireplace.
![Thessaloniki in ruins after "The big fire" of 1917](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/367538086_7036618266370075_7055966763883492487_n.jpg?resize=474%2C344&ssl=1)
Thessaloniki in ruins after the “Nice Fireplace” in 1917
A number of studies acknowledged that the French troopers additionally looted outlets and companies, forbidding victims to salvage their items except they paid the French drivers, whereas however, British troopers helped so long as they might by utilizing navy vehicles to move fireplace victims. and their belongings to refugee camps.
The day after
![Destruction after the Great Fire in Salonica, Greece, September 4, 1917. (Photo via Getty Images).](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Destruction-after-the-great-fire-in-Salonica-Greece-Sept.-4-1917.-Photo-via-Getty-Images-e1692278997152.jpg?resize=600%2C395&ssl=1)
Destruction after the Nice Fireplace in Salonica, Greece, September 4, 1917. (Photograph by way of Getty Photos).
Assist to the roughly 70,000 fireplace victims started instantly after the fireplace with Greek authorities constructing round 100 homes to shelter 800 households.
The British created three camps with 1,300 tents, which housed round 7,000 homeless folks.
The French authorities arrange a camp for 300 households and “The Union of French Girls” a smaller camp for 100 households.
Greater than 5,000 refugees, with out cost, have been transported by practice and moved to Athens, Volos and Larissa.
The Greek authorities arrange meals distribution factors all through Thessaloniki, offering free bread to greater than 30,000 folks.
The American, French and British Pink Cross additionally distributed meals among the many homeless.
Out of the ashes
![Plans for Thessaloniki by Ernest Hébrard (1875-1933) - 1919.](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/A-reconstruction-of-Ernest-Hebrards-1919-plan-for-rebuilding-Thessalonikis-historic-center-produced-by-Aristotle-University-students-e1692275961777.jpg?resize=600%2C375&ssl=1)
Plans for Thessaloniki by Ernest Hébrard (1875–1933) – 1919.
After the nice fireplace in Thessaloniki, the Greek authorities declared that town wouldn’t be restored to its unique state, however would have a totally new look.
![Thessaloniki - Greece - 2023](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Thessaloniki-Greece-2023-e1692286072654.jpg?resize=600%2C280&ssl=1)
Thessaloniki – Greece – 2023
The “Worldwide Committee for the New Plan of Thessaloniki” was fashioned and the French architect Ernest Hébrard, who throughout World Warfare I in 1916 was director of the Archaeological Service of the Military of the Orient based mostly in Thessaloniki and was current within the metropolis when the fireplace broke out, tasked with getting the job achieved.
![Ernest Hebrard - French Architect - 1915 by ColonialismWasGood.](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Ernest-Hebrard-French-Architect-1915-by-ColonialismWasGood-e1692276976368.jpg?resize=532%2C600&ssl=1)
Ernest Hebrard – French Architect – 1915 by ColonialismWasGood.
With the assistance of Greek architects Aristotelis Zachos and Konstantinos Kitsikis, British designer Thomas Hayton Mawson and Frenchman Joseph Pleyber, the previous medieval and Ottoman road format was changed with European-style boulevards and open squares, cleverly integrating the surviving outdated Byzantine church buildings and mosques.
![Aristotelous Square Thessaloniki](https://i0.wp.com/greekerthanthegreeks.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Aristotelous-Square-Thessaloniki.jpg?resize=540%2C360&ssl=1)
Aristotelous Sq. Thessaloniki
Ernest Hebrard’s designs are nonetheless recognizable in Thessaloniki, the very best instance being Aristotelous Sq. (above).
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