WASHINGTON, DC – A Centennial Symposium to Memorialize & Illuminate the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe panel discussion was held on September 17 at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. EMBCA President Lou Katsos introduced and moderated the event which included insights on what really happened at Smyrna a century ago and why it still matters. Prof. Ismini Lamb, the Director of Georgetown University’s Modern Greek Studies Program, and the Hellenic Association organized the event.

The distinguished panelists were Dr. Rouben P. AdaIlan- Armenian National Institute Director, Dr. Christopher Lamb- coauthor with Prof. Ismini Lamb of The Gentle American: George Horton’s Odyssey and His True Account of the Smyrna Catastrophe, and American Hellenic Institute (AHI) President Nick Larigakis.

Katsos noted that “it was nothing short of a truly amazing, significant event and commemoration with serious insights into the burning of Smyrna.”

Dr. Christopher Lamb presented the “10 Surprising and Popular Misconceptions about Smyrna and the Asia Minor Catastrophe”; Dr. Reuben P. Adalian discussed the “American Witnesses in Peacetime and Wartime,” and Nick Larigakis spoke about “Atrocities from History: Do We Learn?”

Following the well-attended discussion, a screening of the acclaimed film Smyrna, My Beloved, starring Mimi Denissi, Rupert Graves, and Burak Hakki, was also held, co-sponsored by AHI, the Armenian National Institute, and the Embassy of Greece.

Hellenic Republic Ambassador to the U.S. Alexandra Papadopoulou introduced the film which won five Hellenic Film Academy Awards in 2022 and was nominated for four more. Smyrna, My Beloved highlighted cinematically the events that were discussed in the panel, especially the deliberately set fire four days after Turkish forces entered and captured the port city of cosmopolitan Smyrna in Asia Minor.