Renaming Kule Kafe and the city’s new place names

The refugee issue was particularly prominent in the press of Thessaloniki from the moment the refugees arrived until about the mid-1930s. Although the frequency of coverage and the approach varied depending on their political stance, all local newspapers dedicated articles and news reports to a wide array of issues concerning the refugee population: missing relatives ads, announcements by the Refugee Settlement Commission (EAP) and refugee organisations, auction notices for exchangeable assets, tours of refugee neighbourhoods documenting the refugees’ living conditions, suggestions on how certain problems could be resolved, and opinion pieces which would either critique or praise the actions of the central government and the local authorities.

The newspaper Makedonia published a series of articles written by the columnist ‘Makedonikos’ entitled ‘An investigation into the city’s neighbourhoods. The identity of the new Thessaloniki. The city’s needs and demands’. The series featured various neighbourhoods inside and outside the city centre, with the article in the issue dated 1/2/1927 dedicated to Kule Kafe. This neighbourhood is located at the centre of Ano Poli. Its main reference point is the square at the intersection of the streets: Agias Sofias, Krispou and Chrysostomou, known today as Romfei (or Kule Kafe) Square. In the article, the columnist presented the public works that had taken place, as well as the neighbourhood’s shortcomings. He also praised the area’s elementary school, whose principal at the time was Georgios Manios.^[1] Then, he expounded on his overall positive impression of the general situation, employing racist language which emphasised the ‘greekness’ of what had now become a refugee neighbourhood: ‘Nowadays, Kule-Kafe is a lively neighbourhood with a completely Greek atmosphere’, ‘Kule-Kafe maintains the picturesque qualities and Muslim peacefulness of the old days, while also exuding the vitality of the new, sturdy race which has replaced the deported exchangeables’. The columnist begins his article with an exhortation: ‘If we are not mistaken, there is a toponym committee whose aim is to hellenise various barbarian rural place names. We would urge it to do the same for some urban places as well, since the municipal council appears to have forgotten all about them. The committee should start with Kule-Kafe, where my investigation took me yesterday’.

The columnist was referring to the renaming process undertaken by the state and to the committee responsible, which had been established since 1909. The process aimed to hellenise the country’s toponymic map for ‘national reasons’, but until 1926 the committee had barely made any progress.

That was when the committee, acknowledging the fact that 500,000 Christian refugees were now living in Macedonia and bolstered by institutional changes which facilitated the renaming process, proceeded to change the names of local towns and villages en masse. Over the three years between 1926 and 1928, 2,579 renamings were implemented throughout the Greek territories, 1,499 of which in Macedonia. As a result, the Turkish and Slavic names of many towns and villages were hellenised and the toponymic map was radically transformed.

Eighteen months after Makedonia’s article, the Committee had still not tackled the issue of Kule Kafe. Prompted by a reader’s suggestion who wrote the newspaper to ask, ‘Why won’t anyone replace the name “Kule-Kafe” with a Greek name so that it doesn’t constantly remind us of the Turkish rule?’, another local newspaper, I Efimeris ton Valkanion [The Balkans Gazette], announced a competition in its 25/1/1928 issue for the renaming of the neighbourhood, offering a yearly subscription as the first prize and urging its readers to send in their suggestions.

Indeed, in the next issues and always on page 4, the readers suggested various names and sent letters with their arguments. The suggestions were: Anogeia Quarter, Epano Skala, Tatavla, Panhellenic Union Quarter, Propyrgio, Panorama, Sevastoupoli Quarter, Akropolis, Anaktorion, Kifisia, Theiateira, Patriarchou Ioakeim, Dimitria, Parthenon Quarter, Ermoupoli Quarter, Vl. Tsirogianni, Ano Paradeisos, Pyrgia, Agios Dimitrios Quarter, August 19^th Quarter, Loutrakion, Vigla or Skopia, Pentapolis, Dervenaki, Niovi Quarter, Akrotiri, Lykavitos, Balkan Quarter, Democracy Quarter. Even though the following months’ issues were found and examined, there were no further suggestions or mention of the competition.

At that point in time, some place names were indeed changed in Thessaloniki. They were mainly names of villages in the wider region, but also the names of certain suburbs. In 1926, with Law GG 55/26/9.2.1926, the name Sedes became Thermi and Kapoutzides were renamed into Strepsa and, two years later, into Pylaia. With another law, GG 346/26/31.8.1926, Daout Bali became Oraiokastro. In 1927, with GG 179/27/20.8.1927, Harmankioi became Stathmos and, later, in 1952, Evosmos, and Karaisin was renamed into Polichni. In 1928, with GG 81/28/12.3.1928, Arsakli became Panorama.

Many other neighbourhoods had their name changed, or simply forgotten, by the new residents. Some examples are: Topalti, which became Armenochori and then, Rodochori, Lenbet became Stavroupoli because it was the site for a Welfare settlement which opened in 1934 on the day of the Holy Cross (in Greek ‘tou stavrou’), Mevlehane was initially changed into Kallithea and then into Panagia Faneromeni, Campbell became Votsi. The names for the Jewish quarters Rezi Vardar, Hirsch, Ramona, 6 and 151 were forgotten in the years after the Second World War.

Refugee settlement in the city also brought with it a string of new toponyms from the refugees’ homelands: Vosporos and Nea Mainemeni (in Mainemeni), Neos Koukloutzas (in Evosmos), Ortakianon, Eptalofos and Kaistrio Pedio (in Ampelokipoi), Tyroloi and Neapoli (a translation of the name ‘Nevşehir’ in Cappadocia), Nea Varna (in Sykies), Saranta Ekklisies, Malakopi (in Toumpa), Nea Moutalaski (on what was then Athinon Street, now Papanastasiou Street), Kaisareias (in Charilaou), Nea Touzla, Derkon, Nea Krini, Neo Rysio (Aretsou) and Katirli (in Kalamaria).

In Ano Poli, the place names Kule Kafe and Tsinari survived, while Islahane remained forgotten for years.

^[1] Today, the school building is still in the same place, at the intersection of Olympiados Street and Theotokopoulou Street. It houses two elementary schools, the 45^th and the 46^th, but the building is still known by the name of its old principal: ‘Manios’ school’.