These images depict the massacre, looting, and burning of Phocaea in June 1914, committed

These images depict the massacre, looting, and burning of Phocaea in June 1914, committed by Ottoman irregular troops in one of the earliest stages of the Greek genocide. French eyewitness, Félix Sartiaux (1876-1934), gave refuge to hundreds of fleeing Greeks and published his testimony in Le Sac de Phocée: et L'expulsion des Grecs Ottomans d'Asie-Mineure en Juin 1914:

“Just as our homes are being emptied of refugees from the previous night, they begin filling again with new arrivals who feel secure from the violence, only under our roof. Their lives have been saved due to the sole fact that they abandoned everything and fled. The majority are wearing torn clothing, many of them are covered in blood. Due to the ferocity of the assault, they were not even able to take some bread with them for the road.  Wealthy notables from the region fled bare-footed, the bandits even taking their shoes. The children cry as they search for their parents. We don’t reveal to a mother that her two children have been murdered. We find a newborn child on the street but we are unable to find its mother so we give it to another woman who is breastfeeding her own child. Women approach us in desperation and beg us to find their husbands or their fathers, or their daughters who were raped or abducted. The saddest moment is when we have to farewell our good old friends. Some embrace me in tears and offer me their eternal gratitude. Others are able to control their emotions and offer me both their hands, while their sweet eyes and timid gaze lock into my own gaze, and pierce the depth of my soul in a silent and final goodbye.“ –Via GreekGenocide.net