Personally, I would say that there were three motivations, three reasons that prompted me to write this book. The first is my own relationship with the city of Katerini. Although I have lived in Thessaloniki for half a century, it is essentially as if I have never left it. The deep emotional connection I have with the city has always been a motivation for me to learn as much as possible about its history, its people, and everything related to factors and events that shaped its current image.

The second reason is that, along with my brother, we were fortunate to have two diverse sources of information about the city of Katerini. The first was from our father, who, arriving in Katerini in 1926 at the age of six from Port Said, Egypt, experienced many events and situations that took place in Katerini. He provided us with information covering all aspects of the city—urban development, social, economic, religious—allowing us to form a comprehensive picture of the city and motivating us to expand that understanding.

The second source of information was my mother’s first cousin, Taktsidis Nikos (Captain Petras), who was born on 1/5/1915 in Fatsa of Pontus. Coming initially to Drama and then to Katerini, he joined the communist movement at age sixteen and lived through the entire process of the formation of the KKE, the National Resistance, and the Civil War. He conveyed to us information that, beyond their particular characteristics, helped us better understand events and situations that took place in the city but were not particularly highlighted.

The third reason that motivated me to work on this book is that events, people, and conditions the city experienced since its formation—when their interpretation was not aligned with the official national narrative—are not mentioned at all.