The first preserved photograph of Lazaros
A refugee-era identification booklet with a small mounted portrait photograph affixed to page one — a bearded gentleman in formal three-piece suit and dark tie, with a full grey-flecked beard, salt-and-pepper hair, looking left of camera. Aged approximately 52 (consistent with Lazaros’s 1871 birth year). This is the earliest preserved photograph of Lazaros in the family archive — direct visual record of the great-grandfather in late-1923 Mytilene exile, three months before he sailed for New York.
Page 1 — Soma Refugees Association certification (December 26, 1923)
Handwritten Greek text above the photograph attests (translated):
“The Soma Association certifies that Lazaros Yannopoulos, son of [patronymic], Physician, is a refugee and citizen of the city of Soma of Asia Minor.”
In Mytilene, December 26, 1923
(Secretary signature — S. Adamides)
The page is marked with a circular stamp reading “ΣΩΜΑ / ΠΡΟΣΦΥΓΩΝ / ΜΥΤΙΛΗΝΗ” (Soma Refugees / Mytilene) — the official seal of the Soma Refugees Association of Mytilene. This is the same organizational network that produced the 1925 Soma Refugees Association of Thessaloniki coordinator certificate and the 1925 Greek Refugee Compensation Committee property itemization that quantified Lazaros’s abandoned 3,330-Turkish-gold-lira estate.
Page 2 — Mytilene → Piraeus transit endorsements (December 1923 – January 1924)
The reverse side carries the Greek Gendarmerie and Police passport-control endorsements for Lazaros’s first pre-emigration trip from Mytilene to Athens:
- Prefecture of Lesvos (Νομαρχία Λέσβου) — circular Red Cross stamp
- Mytilene Gendarmerie / Passport Control (Μοιραρχία Μυτιλήνης / Έλεγχος Διαβατηρίων)
- Mytilene Police (Αστυνομία Μυτιλήνης)
- Port Authority of Piraeus (Λιμεναρχείον Πειραιώς) — pink oval
Two handwritten transit dates:
- December 26, 1923, Mytilene — initial issuance (matches the photo-side date)
- January 3, 1924, Mytilene — Gendarmerie departure endorsement “αναχωρών εις Πειραιά” (departing for Piraeus)
What this proves
The transit endorsements confirm that Lazaros made two separate Mytilene → Athens trips during the credentials-assembly period:
| Trip | Departure | Purpose | Key documents obtained |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | January 3, 1924 (this booklet) | Athens-side ecclesiastical + consular credentials | ★ Ecumenical Patriarchate testimonial Jan 18, 1924; American Consul Athens visa Jan 15, 1924 |
| 2nd | ~March 11, 1924 | Final paperwork + boarding | Smyrna Metropolitanate March 13; Vryoula Refugees March 12; SS Themistocles departure March 18 |
Between the two trips, he returned to Mytilene to gather local credentials — the Mytilene Prosecutor’s criminal-record clearances for himself + his wife Eftyhia on March 3, 1924, the Soma Community Elders farewell testimonial on March 6, 1924, and the Medical Association of Lesbos farewell on the same date.
The face on the page
Beyond its documentary value, this is the earliest preserved photograph of Lazaros in the family archive — a visual record of the man who, three months later, would sail from Piraeus to New York with his sons aboard the SS Themistocles. The formal portrait style — the dark cravat, high collar, neatly groomed full beard — is consistent with the bourgeois physician aesthetic of his Belle-Époque Paris training (cf. his 1896 Faculté de Médecine de Paris MD diploma) and the gravity of his recently-shattered Asia Minor world.
