Introduction

Abstract Τhis research is a comparative—intergenerational and interregional—history of the 1922–24 memories and identities of forced displacement, which examines the multilayered relationship between contemporary attitudes and refugee past. It explores memories and identities of the Asia Minor forced displacement and the attitudes of people with these memories towards subsequent migration. The introduction presents this study, which is based on primary sources including oral testimonies and archival evidence from Asia Minor refugees and their descendants. It discusses the possibilities and the limitations of these sources, the oral history approach, the regional history approach, and the methodology, and it situates this work in relation to the existing literature, before setting out the structure of the book.