Social Dimensions of Immigration in the past

     It is an undeniable fact that Asia Minor Catastrophe is considered one of the most devastating catastrophes of Hellenism throughout the ages.

     Under the treaty of Lausanne and the Compulsory exchange of population, the Hellenism of the East was wiped out. After about two thousands years 1,5 million refugees came to Greece after living in harsh conditions for long.However , although at last settled in Greece , they had to face a lot of criticism from the locals.

     The full measure of the Asia Minor Catastrophe , which took place in two periods the first from 1914 to 1918 and the second from 1920 to 1924 , is quite impossible.

      First and foremost , it is important to be noted that there were a lot of incidents of social pathogenesis from both sides , causing a hostile atmosphere in the relationship between locals and refugees.This hostile atmosphere led to Kidnappings , looting of properties , agricalture and stock-farming disasters , the demolisment of schools and temples as well as to bankruptucy of artisanships and industrial businesses. As if that were not enough the continuous trivialization of the human dignity led to rapes , tortures for captives and to a life of fear and under the constant threat of death.

        What is more , the coexistance of locals and refugees was troubled as well.The discrimination towards the refugees was so obvious that every type of socialization with them was highly prohibited.

Therefore mixed-race marriage was out of the question.They lived in a society which didn't hesitate to show to refugees that they were nothing but burden to locals without feeling any remorse for doing so.

          Last but not least , there were also problems to where career field was concerned.The locals didn't support the business being run by refugees and vice versa.Also , almost never did locals decided to hire a refugee since they believed that they were not reliable or trustworthy. 

      Another social problem worth mentioning is the inflow of expatriates from the former Soviet Union between 1965-1967 ,who were given zero government assistance.This policy played an important role on the economic marginalization of this certain portion of population .
      The immigrants of pontiac origin of the surge of 1985 face problems of economic integration till today.They had great difficulty in finding a job and especially at the beginning they used to constitude cheap workforce regardless of their educational backgrounds and work experience.A huge drawback was the fact that they didn't speak the native language which made the job opportunities extremely limited . Another problem for them was accomodation since natives were reluctant to rent their houses to immigrants.
      This portion of population experienced social marginalization as well. They were in a new country unable to recognize anything that they had achieved in their country . The tranfer of their insurance rights was impossible and they were refused permission to found and kind of associations.
         Finally with the rise of the 20th century [1990] things began to be normalized and the Pontiac population was given to chance to prove themselves and earn the position in the society they deserve.
           Taking all the above into consideration, it is obvious that the term '' refugee '' used to be a term of abuse in Greece back then.Refugees came to Greece with the hope of a bright future but they faced a lot of hardships in order to manage to adapt to their new reality and manage to become part of the locals' community.