BODIES IN CITY OF DEATH LIE AS TURKS LEFT THEM
No Tombstones Mark Spots Where Hundreds of Greeks and Armenians Fell in Aidin in Appalling Massacre of 1919.
The New York Herald,
29 August 1921, p.3.
For the Associated Press.
AIDIN, Asia Minor, Aug. 10 (Delayed).
One of the saddest and most tragic of
all war memorials in the Near East is
the ruined city of Aidin, sixty miles
southeast of Smyrna. It is literally a
vast sepulchre of the dead. Here hun-
dreds of innocent Greek and Armenian
women, children and priests lie in name-
less graves, victims of massacres by the
Turks in the summer of 1919.
The broken columns of a thousand
shattered homes are the mute witnessed
of the martyrdom of the population. Al-
though two years have passed since they
were sacrificed, no tombstone, no cross,
no wreath marks the place where they
fell. Their whitening bones form a part
of the crumbling masonry and earth.
The silence of the place is oppressive.
The town presents an appalling spec-
tacle of desolation and destruction,
which has its counterpart only in the
ruined cities of France. However, the
people of Aidin were vouchsafed no
chance of escape. They were brutally
slain by the Turks when the Greek army
had withdrawn. Many of the victims
were burned to death.
Through the dark and debris-strewn
alleys sombre women and girls in mourn-
ing move like spectres. All have lost
relatives in the fearful massacre. Their
faces tell a story of poignant suffering
and anguish. Some of them have lost
their reason.
The New York herald. [volume], August 29, 1921, Page 3, Image 3
Further Reading:
The Aydin Massacre, June 1919
20 Mar 1919: Defeated Turk Orders Killing
22 Aug 1919: Turks Massacre Greek Boy Scouts, Milwaukee Journal
