From all parts of Turkey, the Greeks who survived the massacres are forced to leave their homes without taking anything with them. They head for the sea, the Black Sea or Syria, to board the ships.
Thousands of terrified Greeks, both men and women, gather on the beaches waiting for the ships, which are delayed. Hungry and naked in the harsh winter cold, they wait for the ships. Many died there without being able to see the ships or saw them without being able to reach them.
The Greeks of Pontus will first end up in Constantinople. There they will stay for several days piled up in the courtyards of St. Stephen and in the Selimiye barracks in Skoutari. And when the time finally comes to leave, many will have died from diseases and exhaustion. But even when they reach Greece, camps await them again, in Kalamaria, Thessaloniki, in St. George and in Macronisi. And here many will take their last breath before experiencing freedom. In the camp of Kalamaria, there were 50,000-60,000 refugees. Many of them died from malaria, which their exhausted bodies could not withstand.