The settlement of refugees in the Drama region in 1922, as well as the changes that occurred at the local level, is the subject of this book. Its purpose is to recount the epic of rehabilitation and the fruitful integration of the thousands uprooted from their ancestral homes. It thus refers to the difficult years of poverty, the struggle for rooting, as well as hope.

The return to that past is charged with the memory of the people who lived the harsh experience of refuge but managed to positively influence the local community, indelibly marking its subsequent course.

In the historical context formed after the Asia Minor Catastrophe and the massive influx of refugees, the area became the focus of national priorities as a northern Greek, agricultural, and border province. It gathered a series of advantages that favored the absorption of the highest percentage of refugees.

The colonization of Drama is a special case study concerning the organization of refugee rehabilitation, the incorporation of new populations into the local community, and the interventions for the development of agricultural production and economy.

The exchange of populations in the area meant the deconstruction of one world and the emergence of a new one. The Ottoman legacy, both material (mosques, schools, poorhouses, baths, caravanserais, fountains, watermills, etc.) and immaterial (customs, social and customary practices) is erased within the framework of the implementation of Hellenization policies and the consolidation of national identity.

The upheavals that occurred, demographic, spatial, social, economic, and cultural, created new realities. The changes were profound and tectonic. Changes that have left indelible marks on the space and memory.