Χαρά Νάτσινα

Τμήμα Επεξεργασίας Αρχείων – Κεντρική Υπηρεσία Γ.Α.Κ.

In the Archives of the Directorate of Finance of the High Commission of Smyrna, which is to be found at the Central Office of the General Archives of the State, we can look through the work of οne of the ten Directorates of the Greek Administration of Smyrna from August 1920 until the Catastrophe of Asia Minor Hellenism.
Meanwhile, lesser-known aspects of the economic history of Western Asia Minor are being illuminated and the priorities of the Greek Administration are highlighted.
Among them, particularly important was the establishment of the University of Smyrna, an organic element of Eleftherios Venizelos’ planning for the region, the foundation of which was “essential and urgent for the expansion of the Kingdom”, as one of the “main factors of the cultural development and wealth of the country”

– according to the internationally renowned mathematician and organizer of the University, Konstantinos Karatheodoris (“Report on the organization of University of Smyrna”, January 1921).

The financing and housing of the Ionian University of Smyrna was entrusted to High Commission, which proceeded to set up the Organizational Office of the University to handle all the necessary work.
Karatheodoris himself was in Smyrna as head of the Office from September 1920 until the Catastrophe. He supervised and coordinated, with the firm support of the High Commission, the complex project (completion-reconstruction of older buildings and construction of new buildings, purchases of books, instruments and special equipment) and aimed at the shortest possible completion of the project, originally planned for autumn of the same year.

Handwritten letter of Constantinos Karatheodoris to Aristides Stergiadis (GAK, Central Office, Archives of the Directorate of Finance of the High Commission in Izmir)

Accordingly, it was decided to house the University in a building on Bahri Baba hill, west of Pagos hill, on the outskirts of Smyrna, which was already intended by the Ottoman government for the housing of a senior educational institution and was received unfinished by the Greek authorities in May 1919.

In the Archives of the Directorate of Finance of the Commission there can be found architectural  plans with the internal layout of this building, as well as of the newly built houses which were in the quadrangle of the building and were intended for teachers.

Plan of the central building of the University of Smyrna, upper floor. Blue print. (GAK, Central Office, Archives of the Directorate of Finance of the High Commission in Izmir)

The first two floor plans are blueprints and depict the central University building after its reconstruction works. They were sent by the Directorate of Public Works of the Greek Administration of Smyrna to the contractual Technical Company “Alexandros Zachariou and Co” and were complemented by the latter with the design of the central heating of the university building, which was designed to work by “low pressure steam”. After all, in the memorandum filed by Karatheodoris for the establishment of the University, he had proposed the facilities to be completely modern (and not luxurious). The ground floor can be seen in the floor plans of the building with 23 rooms, as well as the Atrium with a large amphitheater and 35 rooms (to be used as laboratories, library, reading rooms, etc.) while there was also a provision for radiators and a piping network.

According to the testimony of the Asia Minor professor George Ioakeimoglou, in September 1920, at the meeting between himself and Konstantinou Karatheodoris , with Eleftherios Venizelos, the latter, addressing  the two professors, said: “You will go to Smyrna, they will provide you with all the ease, your work is great, Greece must civilize Asia Minor. Alexandros Zachariou will come with you, to help prepare things for the buildings of the University as quickly as possible”. Indeed, at the beginning of October, Karatheodoris, Ioakeimoglou and Zachariou went to Smyrna.

Floor plan of a three-story building of faculty residences of the University of Smyrna, 1st and 2nd floor. (GAK, Central Office, Archives of the Directorate of Finance of the High Commission in Izmir)

In the next three floor plans prepared by the contractor “Hellenic General Construction Company S.A.”, we can see the professors’ residences that extended to a three-story building with three floors: ground floor, second and third floors (14 rooms per floor). The building was built in the precinct of the main University building. One can notice the “water” heaters mentioned on these floor plans as well.

The plans were attached to official correspondence of the Organizational Office of the University of Smyrna between the contractor companies and the Directorate of Finance. The letter line, within the time span from January 1921 to August 1922, concerned matters of facilities (electrical lighting, central heating system), financing (issuance of money orders and advance payments to the Organization Office
of the University), as well as personnel matters (issuance of special secondment orders and suspension of military service of specialized scientists and craftsmen, payroll reports).

In them it is clear that the management of the finances of the whole project
aligned with the Big Idea’s vision of consolidation, projection and longevity of the Greek presence in Anatolia; it was honorable, grandiose and costly.

Typewritten reply letter of Aristides Stergiadis to Konstantinos Karatheodoris
(GAK, Central Office, Archives of the Directorate of Finance of the High Commission in Izmir)

However, there were also several manipulations identified which significantly increased the difficulty of the project:

the high construction standards that were set in time of war and the expected predicaments along the way, the underestimation of strict restrictions that were imposed, after the end of the First World War, the international commercial movements of Germany, despite the fact that the latter constituted – either through Greek companies, or through direct transactions – the main supplier (of systems and technical equipment, books, laboratory material, even furniture), the consequent increases in export taxes and the frequent delays in payments which led to a cost adjustment even by an additional 120%, a repeated downgrade of military priorities, the (timeless in Greek reality) delays and malfunctions in the coordination of public services and private contractor companies.

In any case, the inauguration of the University of Smyrna was planned for October 1922; and thus it was added to the ensemble of the national visions that the destruction of Smyrna left forever pending and unfinished…