From the narrow streets of Romaikos, Ypsipyli sneaks into the market of Myrina. It is getting late. She wanders through the leafy market and enters a chapel to rest. “Holy Church of Evaggelismos of Theotokos, 1988, built by the Panlemnian School Fund on the initiative of H. Pantelaroudis to remember the victims of the fire,” is inscribed on its lintel. Next to it, a cenotaph with a list of names on its memorial plaque.
9 September 1939. It is the night a sound film will be screened on Lemnos for the first time. Ave Maria (dir. Johannes Riemann, 1936) is the title of the film. There was a mosque on the site of the church that the locals converted into a cinema for the screening. The conversion construction work was sloppy, the security measures were inadequate, an emergency exit did not exist, the door of the building opened inwards… The wealthy Myrinians, mainly Lemnian Egyptiots, would culminate another glorious summer on the island with this event, just as the clouds of the Second World War were gathering. Costumes, gowns, jewelry, expectations and excitement sparkle as they enter the cinema and take their seats. The screening begins. A spark in the reel becomes a fire and it is not long before the fire reaches tragic proportions. Many spectators are trapped inside; more than 58 people lose their lives. Most of Myrina’s grand (especially Lemnian Egyptiot) homes mourn losses…
