Destruction
The fire destroyed 32% of the total of Thessaloniki, about 1 square kilometer. The burned region was located between the roads of Aghiou Dimitriou, Leontos Sofou, Nikis, Ethnikis Amynis, Alexandrou Svolou, and Egnatia (from Aghia Sofia). This region is reported in official documents as "burned zone" (Greek: πυρίκαυστος ζώνη, pirikafstos zoni) and in the popular narrations simply as "the burned" (Greek: τα καμμένα, ta kammena). The extent of material damage within Thessaloniki was calculated to be worth 8,000,000 golden pounds.
Included among buildings that were burned were the Post office, the telegraph office, the town hall, the water supply and gas company headquarters, the Ottoman Bank, the National Bank of Greece, the deposits of the Bank of Athens, parts of the Saint Demetrius church, two other Orthodox churches, the Saatli Mosque, 11 other mosques, the seat of the chief rabbi with all its archive, 16 of the 33 synagogues, and the printing-houses of most newspapers. Thessaloniki had the highest number of published newspapers in Greece, but after the fire most did not manage to rebuild their businesses and publish again. Approximately 4,096 of the 7,695 shops within the city were destroyed, many of which were Jewish, and 70% of the workforce was unemployed.
Read more about this topic: Great Thessaloniki Fire Of 1917
Famous quotes containing the word destruction:
“There is an eternal vital correspondence between our blood and the sun: there is an eternal vital correspondence between our nerves and the moon. If we get out of contact and harmony with the sun and moon, then both turn into great dragons of destruction against us.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“The true gardener then brushes over the ground with slow and gentle hand, to liberate a space for breath round some favourite; but he is not thinking about destruction except incidentally. It is only the amateur like myself who becomes obsessed and rejoices with a sadistic pleasure in weeds that are big and bad enough to pull, and at last, almost forgetting the flowers altogether, turns into a Reformer.”
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“There are risks which are not acceptable: the destruction of humanity is one of them.”
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