On Saturday, the Pontians who were once persecuted and expelled from the Black Sea coast will be remembered in the city center.

Stuttgart is increasingly becoming the center of Greeks living in Germany. This is due to the currently about 15,000 people in the city who have the appropriate passport. The trend is upward. The percentage of residents with Greek citizenship in the total population is the highest in Stuttgart nationwide. However, the many Greek associations in the region, which regularly organize major events, also ensure a special position. Last October, for example, the 200th anniversary of Greek independence was celebrated with a large parade at the main train station. Greek state television was there live.

“When the media in Athens need a Greek assessment from Germany, they contact Stuttgart,” says Konstantinos Kachrimanidis. The computer scientist from Weilimdorf is a sought-after interlocutor himself right now, which has not only to do with his commitment to the Greek traditional costume and folk dance association Estia. Over the course of time, Kachrimanidis has taken on the job of a doer for the Greek cause, along with several other compatriots. Together they have set a lot in motion.

This Saturday (May 21) an event will take place in Stuttgart that is particularly close to Konstantinos Kachrimanidis’ heart. The memory goes back to the year 1919 and leads to the ordeal of the so-called Pontos Greeks. They had been living on the Black Sea coast of the Ottoman Empire since ancient times. This area, with the Turkish city of Trabzon as its center, once bore the name Pontos. From there, the Greeks were driven out. And they were persecuted.

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1.5 million of the Pontians subsequently settled in northern Greece. “So did my grandparents,” says Konstantinos Kachrimanidis, who himself can still speak Pontic, which is very similar to ancient Greek. But those who stayed in Turkey had to renounce not only their language, but also their Christian religion and their Greek name. That’s why some Turks don’t even know that they have Greek roots, says Kachrimanidis.

Many of the Pontians did not survive expulsion and persecution. The death toll in Greece is estimated at 350,000. Which is why participants at the Stuttgart meeting, which begins at 3 p.m. on Wilhelmsplatz in the city center, also have a demand. “It is the desire that Germany officially recognizes the genocide of the Pontos Greeks, as do the parliaments in Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands,” says Kachrimanidis, who expects about 1,000 participants on Saturday afternoon. They will form a funeral procession at Wilhelmsplatz and walk to Stauffenbergplatz behind the Old Palace. Speakers there will include CDU state parliament member Sabine Hartmann-Müller, Takis Mehmet Ali from the SPD parliamentary group and former Left Party leader Bernd Riexinger. The fate of the Armenians in the Ottoman Empire, which was declared genocide by the German Bundestag in 2016, is also likely to be mentioned in the speeches.

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