Attica is an area of particular interest for modern Greek history. It constituted part of the Greek state from the first stage of its creation and hosts its capital. On its soil some of the most important and most tragic events of Greek history took place. World renowned for the unique monuments of the Acropolis, which are surrounded by the traces of modern history, since the majority of the settlements in the Attica basin was created by the refugees from Asia Minor, Black Sea and Thrace and the arrival of internal refugees and immigrants after World War II. Essentially, the history and the memories of the people of Attica reflect modern Greek history and the historical memory of the Hellenic nation.

The project “Cultural and Genealogic Digital Collection of Attica” deals with the creation of digital assets, which will be promoted through the development of a unified web site. At the same time, it provides information and guidelines about the methodology and the techniques of the programme, it directs researchers and public to the sources and the bibliography, it constitutes a means of communication between the programme and world public and creates a potential community of people with common origin, local references and research interests.

The creation of digital assets is the product of combined effort by FHW’s research and communication with public and local institutions, which participate actively, for the first time, in the shaping of historical knowledge regarding their area.

In order to achieve this objective we have combined established forms of collection and management of information with respective digital techniques and methods for the creation of web and multimedia applications. The innovative factor of the programme is the large scale communication with the public, as well as the submission, the examination and update of data in family and local scale. It is essentially the creation of an interactive programme, which includes communications and information submission forms, as well as ability for search and on-line education on the rationale and the methods of the programme.

The cohesion of memory is achieved through its structure in successive circles of social incorporation and historical experience of the members of the community, who share these memories, and is organized in the form of archives that incorporates both conventional and digital formats [see “Aπό το ντοκουμέντο στην πληροφορία. Mια πρόταση για την υπέρβαση των διχοτομιών μεταξύ συμβατικών και ηλεκτρονικών αρχείων”, in Tεκμήρια βιομηχανικής ιστορίας. Proceedings of the 3rd Greek Scientific Meeting (Ermoupoli, 20-22 October 2000), Athens 2002, pp. 69-77].

Geographically, the portal covers the area of the region of Attica during the period in which the programme was elaborated, 2006-2007, including in this way areas that were not part of Attica in the Interwar Period. Through the documents, the texts, the interviews and the stories of the families references are made to the history of Asia Minor, Black Sea and Caucasus, Thrace and the wider area of the Ottoman Empire, areas which were the starting point of the large population of refugees and repatriate Greeks in the 20th century.

The connection with the Greeks living abroad in various countries, through their participation on the Internet, expands the geography of the programme in the Hellenic centres of the world. The scalable development of research and presentation starts from the administrative region, following the division into prefectures and municipalities, and “ends up” into the level of selected pilot settlements, where a complete reconstruction of population units is made, and on the level of families and persons, for the exceptional cases of  “informants” and those that submit data, documents or photographs.

Time wise, the portal refers first of all what has been preserved in our memory, the testimonies and relics we have. It covers mainly the 20th century, but with references to the far away past of the communities it presents.

Structurally, the portal is developed around three thematic units: “family memory” (genealogy, history of populations), “communicative memory” (autobiography - testimony) and “cultural memory” (local history, relics, photographs, maps, traces in public space). These three thematic units correspond to the three sub-programmes for the collection and presentation of the material: Genealogy, Testimonies, My History.

To achieve this objective we combine established forms of collection and management of information with corresponding digital techniques and methods for the creation of web and multimedia applications. The innovative element of our programme is the large scale written communication with the public, as well as the submission, examination and update of the data on family and local scale.

The project is developed by the researchers and the technical staff of FHW, with a network of external collaborators and volunteers, with the active participation of local societies, refugees’ communities, local administration organizations, private and other institutions.

More information