Macedonia is among the areas that were incorporated in the Greek state with the so called “New Lands’, which mainly received refugees after the numerous military and political adventures of the Greek nation in the 20th century. An area with long history and tradition, Macedonia shapes its image and present-day identity, combining mainly the character of the “New Land” with the arrival of the “new people”, the refugees.

The different communities bring through time memories and traditions that belong both to the Macedonian area and the refugee’s homelands. Particularly the older generations, given the fact that they started from oral societies and now they have reached the digital age, maintain a wealth of experiences and ways of communication that should be preserved as the cultural assets of the future.

The project “Cultural and Genealogy Digital Collection of Central Macedonia” aims at the creation of a digitally composed cultural reserve with the digitization and documentation of active social memory. At the same time, it includes information and guidelines regarding the methodology and the techniques of the programme, it directs researchers and public to the sources, it constitutes a medium for communicating with people from all over the world and is potential community of people with common origin, local references and research interests.

Geographically the project covers the area of the region of Central Macedonia, but with references to the homelands of the refugees in Asia Minor and the Balkan Peninsula. First of all it refers to what has been preserved in our memory, in the testimonies and the relics we possess. It covers historically mainly the 20th century, but there are references to the far away past of the communities presented. Structurally, it has been developed around three thematic units: “family memory” (genealogy, history of populations), “communicative memory” (autobiography - testimony) and “cultural memory” (local history, relics, photographs, maps, traces in public space). These three thematic units correspond to the three sub-programmes of collection and presentation of material: Genealogy, Testimonies, My History.

In order to achieve this objective, conventional forms of collection and management of information were combined with digital techniques and methods for the creation of Internet and multimedia applications. The innovative element of our programme is the large scale written communication with the public, as well as the submission, the examination and the update of data on a family and local scale.

The project was developed by FHW’s researchers and technical staff, with a network of external collaborators and volunteers and with the active participation of local societies, refugees’ communities, local administration organizations, private and other institutions.

The project was funded in the framework of the Operational Programme of Information Society by 75% by the European Union (European Regional Development Fund) and by 25% by National Funds, and by FHW, which provided its permanent staff and its infrastructure during the implementation of the project.

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