Port Said
recalled the memories of the close historical relationship it had with the Greek community after showing the documentary film “Roots” in the Cultural Salon of the Theater Club, and the dialogue with the author of the text, Dr. Mohamed Shajar, and the cameraman and director Ahmed Zain El Din.
The film recorded the visits of the children and grandchildren of the Greek community to their homes, churches, schools, and association in the city's Al-Franji neighborhood. He revealed the extent of their renewed love and nostalgia for Port Said, which they considered their first city, after they participated in hammering the first shovel to dig the canal in April 1859, and the establishment of the first building block of the new civilized city, which came to light with the opening of the canal in 1869.
More than 60 years before digging the canal, Greek sailors knew this vast sandy land that no human foot had ever set foot in. That land was, as described by the great Port Said historian Diaa al-Din al-Qadi, quoting the famous Greek historian George Sultanaki, as a point where the Mediterranean Sea met Manzala Lake. It bore no trace of life, except for migratory birds, some hunters' nests, and some nomadic people. The Greek sailors, the sons of "Kassos Island", called it "The Birds Station", which later became Port Said.
The judge adds that the governor Muhammad Saeed Pasha (1822-1863) turned against De Lesseps, the concessionaire of the canal digging project, before the approval was issued by the Sublime Porte in Istanbul, and Saeed ordered Jaafar Pasha and the governor of Damietta to go to the excavation area in Port Said and withdraw the Egyptian workers. He also ordered to prevent the supply of food and water to the excavation areas, and directed the foreign consuls not to co-operate their subjects with De Lesseps.
Here, De Lesseps turned to the Greek government in search of alternative employment, and indeed Greece ordered the people of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean, working as navy on ships, to go to the new canal drilling sites. This coincided with the arrival of some Greek merchants from Alexandria with their goods, which were carried on camels. Greek merchant Kala Fiannis opened the first butcher's shop in the area to provide meat to workers and engineers. The canal company decided to give him 20 francs for each head of cattle he slaughtered, to encourage him and to ensure his continuation in the vicinity of the excavation sites far from urbanization. This encouraged some Egyptian merchants to come from Damietta and Zagazig to open their shops in the new land.
The judge reveals the situation of the Greek community at the beginning of the excavation process, and confirms that it was one of the largest foreign communities in Port Said. De Lesseps employed a large number of its members in excavation work after Khedive Ismail (1830-1895) decreed the abolition of forced labor, and they were appreciated by De Lesseps, if he addressed them during work, and directed the conversation to them, using the word “Greek”. Their stature reached the point of requesting that the nascent city, Port Said, be called “New Kasos”, in reference to the Greek island of Kasos. However, De Lesseps did not retract its name in honor of the governor, Muhammad Saeed, and for fear of his successor, Khedive Ismail. But, as a reward for them, he gave them a piece of land as a gift on July 5, 1866, to establish a church and a school for boys.
Away from history, historian Mohamed Shajar, a specialist in foreign expatriate affairs, says that the very special relations between Port Said and Greece have maintained the strength required for their continuation. And this is despite the departure of the vast majority of Greeks in the second half of the twentieth century, with the succession of Egyptianization movements and military wars. He explains that the Greek presence in Port Said was organic and rooted for more than 170 years ago, when the Greeks, or “Jarij,” practiced their normal lives alongside the people of the city and other foreign communities.
For decades, they controlled the economic fields and most of the shops, and clung to their own identity through press releases, books, and cultural seminars, and practiced their language, which was associated with the Arabic and English languages within the borders of their properties, shops, schools, and association, which is one of the oldest associations of foreign communities in Egypt at all.
Shajar adds that the historical position of the Greek community in Port Said before and during the tripartite aggression in 1956 against Port Said will remain a model of loyalty to Egypt and Port Said. In response to the decision of leader Gamal Abdel Nasser in July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal, they continued to work so that the daily crossing would not stop. Rather, they undertook the training of some naval officers, who were pushed to replace the withdrawn guides of all other nationalities.
When the British and French occupied Port Said on October 29, 1956, the Greek community was at the forefront of the popular resistance groups and organizations, which confronted the occupiers.
Scriptwriter and director Ahmed Zain El-Din says that the documentary film “Roots”, which conveyed the testimonies and narrations of a Greek tourist group that visited Port Said recently, will be completed soon, in order to participate in some film festivals specialized in documentaries. He revealed that the camera accompanied the Greeks on their visits to the church and school belonging to their community in the past, which were opened after a 60-year closure, the Greek Society and the cemeteries of foreigners, where they visited the tombs of their ancestors who lived and died in Port Said decades ago. He adds that some of them wept with nostalgia for their memories in Port Said. And some of the returning grandchildren spoke with love and pride about restoring the memories of their ancestors, who told them a lot about the love of the first city of civilization, Port Said.