Just across the Aegean

Abstract This chapter is devoted to the borderland island of Lesvos that constitutes an entry port, a transit point, and a place of settlement for significant past and contemporary migratory waves. The chapter draws upon seventy oral testimonies, in addition to family, associational, and archival evidence, and is based on the selected towns and villages. The proximity to the Asia Minor coast and the extreme and unexpected dimension of this displacement composed the uniqueness of this traumatic memory and the shaping of the islanders’ identity. The traumatic dimension of the Asia Minor displacement, the non-linear transfer of this memory, and the dynamic interplay of the various frameworks of remembrance shape strong intergenerational refugee identities in the context of Lesvos. Asia Minor refugee memory leads to completely different outcomes depending on how the subjects perceive their sense of identity, with Lesvians becoming gate-openers and building bridges with other histories of displacement.