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:
“When God desires to destroy a thing, he entrusts its destruction to the thing itself. Every bad institution of this world ends by suicide.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.... How is it possible that society should escape destruction if the moral tie is not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is relaxed? And what can be done with a people who are their own masters if they are not submissive to the Deity?”
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–1859)
“He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no harm shall touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth. For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Job 5:19-23.