Thessaloniki 1917: I fotia pou gennise mia poli

Summary "The Great Fire of Salonica: Birth of a City" is a 62 min. documentary recounting the experiences of people during the destruction of the city in 1917 in Northern Greece. On Saturday, 18 August 1917 Salonica faces the most destructive fire in its history. It destroys 3/4 of the city center, burns down more than 8 thousand buildings, leaves around 74 thousand people homeless, and accounts for 8 million GBP in damages. On top of the ashes, a new city is born. The multi-racial, multi-religious and multilingual Balkan metropolis (where Ottomans, Jews and Christians lived together with more than 300,000 soldiers of the Entente multinational Army at the time of the fire) is redesigned by the decision of the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and his government. Based on Ernest Hébrard's plan, it is rebuilt from scratch to assume the urban design it has today. The fire's impact on social, political and economic levels is a decisive turn in city's history. View more details

Thessaloniki 1917: I fotia pou gennise mia poli

Directed : Gregory Vardarinos

Written : Anastasia Bartzoulianou Gregory Vardarinos Filippos Mandilaras

Stars : Dimitris Tsilinikos

9.1

Details

Genres : History Documentary

Release date : Sep 8, 2017

Countries of origin : Greece

Official sites : Official Facebook

Language : Greek

Filming locations : Greece

Production companies : Cosmote TV Le Plus Petit Chef

Summary "The Great Fire of Salonica: Birth of a City" is a 62 min. documentary recounting the experiences of people during the destruction of the city in 1917 in Northern Greece. On Saturday, 18 August 1917 Salonica faces the most destructive fire in its history. It destroys 3/4 of the city center, burns down more than 8 thousand buildings, leaves around 74 thousand people homeless, and accounts for 8 million GBP in damages. On top of the ashes, a new city is born. The multi-racial, multi-religious and multilingual Balkan metropolis (where Ottomans, Jews and Christians lived together with more than 300,000 soldiers of the Entente multinational Army at the time of the fire) is redesigned by the decision of the Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos and his government. Based on Ernest Hébrard's plan, it is rebuilt from scratch to assume the urban design it has today. The fire's impact on social, political and economic levels is a decisive turn in city's history. View more details

Details

Genres : History Documentary

Release date : Sep 8, 2017

Countries of origin : Greece

Official sites : Official Facebook

Language : Greek

Filming locations : Greece

Production companies : Cosmote TV Le Plus Petit Chef

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Glass House

Glass House

Twenty-five to thirty thousand Jews were issued life-saving certificates of Salvadoran citizenship thanks to the El Salvador Action and its officials: Consul General Jose Arturo Castellanos and his first Secretary, George Mandel-Mantello. This is the story of how one of the world's smallest countries facilitated one of the most successful rescue operations of World War II. In 1938 Colonel Castellanos was assigned to Hamburg to open the consulate of El Salvador, then was sent to Switzerland. In 1942, as Europe was under siege by the Nazis, a wealthy Romanian Jew named George Mandel, who had befriended Castellanos, asked for his help. So Castellanos appointed him First Secretary of El Salvador's consulate in Geneva. When Mandel received his Salvadoran passport, he added "Mantello" to his name in order to sound more Latin. Soon afterward, inspired by the rescue efforts of his contemporaries and driven by the spreading horror of the genocide surrounding him, Mandel-Mantello suggested that they issue Salvadoran passports as rescue tools. Castellanos declined, citing the increased scrutiny of foreign passports, because spies commonly forged them. He instead suggested certificates of Salvadoran citizenship, and thus began one of the greatest humanitarian efforts in the history of the Holocaust. Glass House was filmed over a three year period on location in Central America, Switzerland, Hungary and Spain by the director and his wife Leonor, who is herself a native of El Salvador. The inspiring story of the El Salvador Action, and the Glass House (one of the protected buildings from which Salvadoran citizenship certificates were issued), is told by the sons and daughters of the heroes themselves, as well as survivors who owe their lives to the tiny country with a brave and humble heart.

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