1. Background

Vasileios Diogenis was born in Smyrna in 1830. There is no information about his parents, except that they were from the Peloponnese and had the Greek nationality. He spent his childhood in Buca, a settlement near Smyrna.

2. Commercial Activities

Diogenis established the ‘Diogenis Store’. It was the largest clothing store of Smyrna, located in the European quarter of the city. The date of establishment remains unknown. It is only known that it was very famous and attracted people of various social strata, who flocked in order to buy or just admire anything new from Europe. In comparison with the rest of the stores of Smyrna, the ‘Diogenis Store’ was completely different: modelled upon the big ‘bon marché’ stores of Paris, it covered a vast area (two floors) and employed 200 people. It offered an amazing variety of clothing items (hats, fabrics, clothes for men and women, etc.) and had a design department and a department for ready-made clothes directed by two Frenchwomen from Paris.

3. The Relations of Diogenis with France

The store of Diogenis was under the protection of the French Consulate of Smyrna, a fact that underlines the preferential treatment he had been enjoying for years in his relations with France and with members of the French community in Smyrna. Already from 1843, Diogenis was under the protection of the French Consulate.¹ The fact that he often lived in Paris allowed him to apply for the French nationality, which he obtained on November 13, 1880.² His wife, Eleni Michalaki,³ also obtained the French nationality on November 2, 1885. However, Diogenis did not break off his relations with the Greek-Orthodox community of Smyrna with or Greece. He always selected his partners among the Orthodox. Along with other notable members of the Greek Orthodox community, he was a benefactor of the Evangelical School of Smyrna. He died in Smyrna in 1884.