Dein Square

Dein Square honours the English officer Dein and his heroic deeds at Rysion near Aretsou (modern Darıca) in Bithynia in September 1922. Rysion was a wealthy town of about 8,000 inhabitants, mostly fishermen and farmers. After the landing of the Greek army in Smyrna in the spring of 1919, a unit of the Greek Red Cross settled in the city. During the Greek operations on the Asia Minor front, the civilians of Rysion suffered from Turkish guerrilla campaigns, despite the efforts of the Greek army to protect them. A unit of English secret police had been set up in neighbouring Paleokastro, with Dein, who spoke English, Greek and Turkish, as a translator. Due to his position, he had frequent contact with the residents of Aretsou and fell in love with a girl from the village. After the collapse of the Greek front in the summer of 1922, the irregular Çetes decided to slaughter the inhabitants of Aretsou. Dein, though not obliged, ran with his horse to warn them, and was killed in an ambush by the Turks as he was returning to his unit. Dein’s sacrifice, however, was not in vain because it gave Christians the opportunity to escape with their lives. Before leaving forever all the inhabitants of Rysion attended the funeral of the heroic English officer. The unveiling of the memorial plaque in Dein Square took place on September 20, 1998.