A comparison of elements establishing the relationship between social memory and place in the cinema of the Turkish-Greek population exchange

Abstract

In the age of mass migration, displacement, and the increasing number of refugees and migrants, more people are forced to leave their homelands every day. Refugees who are compelled to abandon their countries become disconnected from their homeland, history, and identity, losing their sense of belonging and often having no place to return to. One significant historical example of "displacement and place-making" is the population exchange between Anatolian Greeks and Turks in Greece, formalized by the "Convention and Protocol on the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations" signed on January 30, 1923. Those who were forced to leave their homelands struggled to establish a sense of belonging in their newly settled regions. The population exchange and the consequent forced displacement, as well as the efforts of individuals to construct a new sense of place and belonging, have been reflected in cinema. This study examines the Greek film Rembetiko, the Turkish film My Grandfather’s People (Dedemin İnsanları), and the Turkish-Greek co-production Roza of Smyrna (İsmail ve Roza), all of which address the population exchange. The analysis focuses on the spatial representation of displacement in cinema, spatial memory, and the sense of belonging, particularly in relation to the places abandoned by those who experienced the exchange and their initial impressions of the new settlements. The study also examines the spatial factors influencing place-making and the post-memory transmission of the exchange experience to subsequent generations. This study aims to reveal how forced displacement—a critical, contemporary, social, and political crisis—is echoed in cinema, shedding light on the places that were abandoned and reconstructed by displaced individuals.