Αγροτικές προσφυγικές εγκαταστάσεις στη Μακεδονία: 1923-1930 ; Rural refugee settlements in Macedonia: 1923-1930

Over a million refugees entered the Greek state, following the Asia MinorCatastrophe (1922) and the compulsory exchange of populations betweenGreece and Turkey, creating tremendous problems of settlement.The principal object of the governments and the Refugee Settlement Commission(RSC) — an organisation supervised by the League of Nations —during the 1920s was the establishment of the refugees in rural settlements in the Northern part of Greece and particularly in the region of Macedonia. Theaim of this paper is to examine the reasons that formulated this settling strategy.To this end I have drawn on material from archival and published sourcesin an attempt to provide, a systematic account of certain factors that affectedthe resettlement of refugees.The priority given to the resettlement of refugees in Macedonia in order tohelp them to become self-sufficient through agriculture depended on a complexinterplay of a number of practical, economic, and political considerations: thedemographic and topographic characteristics of the region in contrast withother parts of Greece; available Muslim properties and large estates, whichcould be expropriated; projects for the economic development of Macedoniawith emphasis on the improvement of the agrarian sector; particular considerationsof security and military requirements, especially in border areas covetedby neighbouring states; policies aimed at the national homogeneity of thepopulation of Macedonia and the assimilation of slavophone Greeks. Finally,with reference to internal politics, the resettlement of the great bulk of refugeesas smallholders in Macedonia was considered an effective way of eliminatingthe danger of social unrest and problems associated with a pauperised, landless,and therefore, radicalised peasantry as well as a means for the Venizelistcamp to remain in power, given the pro-venizelist electoral behaviour of therefugees during this period.