ized a large number of Lesvians as Saints (around 50) most of them victims
of these bandits.
Modern History
On November 8, 1912, the island was liberated by the Admiral P. Koundou-
riotis who arrived with a squadron of the Greek fleet led by the battle cruiser
Averof. In 1922 a large number of refugees from Asia Minor came to Lesbos.
In 1923, after the signing of the Treaty of Lausanne, the island was officially
ceded to Greece. During World War II German forces arrived to Lesbos on May
4 1941 and withdrew from the island on September 10, 1944. Only very re-
cently (2015-) Lesbos became a major hub of the immigrants’ and refugees’
crisis flow with thousands of people trying to enter European Union passing
through the island (500,000 in 2015), as many as all the other islands of the
East Aegean Islands combined.