The first stage of the persecutions began in 1911. The Young Turks abolished the privileges of the Patriarchate and the church, as well as those of certain communities. The harshest measure they took was the conscription of Christians who were sent to "labor battalions" (Amele Taburu). In reality, those who served in these units were used as slaves on public works, effectively working like convicts subjected to forced labor.

The second stage of the persecutions begins with the outbreak of World War I, in which the Ottoman Empire joined on October 28, 1914. The German General Liman von Sanders, who was then in charge of the military mission in the Ottoman Empire, advised the Young Turks in power in Constantinople that their empire could not be at peace as long as the Greeks dominated the coasts and the Armenians populated the interior. By all means, these two nations with their developed national consciousness had to be neutralized. For the Greeks, they ordered conscription and deportations. They led them deep into Asia Minor, through wild mountains and adverse weather conditions. The snow and rain crippled them. Old men, children, and women died on the terrible journey to the place of exile, which was officially designated, but when they arrived there, they were told that they must either continue to a further place or return back. And there was no rest. Many women committed suicide by jumping into the icy waters of rivers, like the Souliot women in 1805 at Zaloggo.

The third stage of the persecutions began under the guidance of Kemal (1919 - 1923), who landed in Samsun on May 19, 1919. The deportees who returned from exile did not dare to go back to their villages. There, the chetes, the bandit groups organized by Mustafa Kemal and Topal Osman, operated. They had now become the authority in the Greek villages. The Greeks who, during the deportations and conscription, had taken refuge in the armed mountains continued this life and served as a counterbalance to the chetes. This was particularly true for Pontus. The Greek communities of the Caucasus and Southern Russia would be severely tested during the period of the great collectivization of the Soviet Union (1925 - 1933) as well as during the time of the Great Purges from 1935 to 1940 and during World War II. During World War II, many were moved to Central Asia.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]