The Children of Teheran
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The Children of Teheran
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Children of Teheran
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A Film by Yehuda Kaveh, David Tour, Dalia Guttman
(Israel, 2007, 63 Minutes, Color, Hebrew, English subtitles)
World War II. Autumn of 1939. The Nazis occupied Poland and thousands of
Jewish families escaped eastward, into the hands of the Russian army that
exiled the refugees to the freezing weather, hunger and dreadful poverty of
Siberia. After their liberation, many decide to go to south, to Samarqand
in Uzbekistan where they hoped food was available.
Despite the milder climate of these lands, life was difficult and many died
from hunger and epidemics. Some Jewish parents preferred to give their
children a better chance for survival, and left them in local Polish
orphanages, posing as Christians. The parents made their children swear
never to forget their Jewish faith, and promise to live as Jews as soon as
they reach safety.
In 1942, the Stalin-Sikorsky Agreement was signed between the Polish
government in exile and the USSR government, calling for the recruitment of
Polish refugees into the Polish army, to fight alongside the Allies. This
army, known as the Anders Army, set out to the battlefields of the Middle
East, through Teheran, which like Israel was then under British rule, and
was the only route possible at the time.
Most of the Jewish families were not permitted to join Anders' Army's
departure from Poland, but the Christian Polish orphanages were allowed to
join the journey. The children were transported by cars and on trains to the
port city of Krasnovodesk on the shores of the Caspian Sea, and from there,
to Pahlevi in Persia. After a short stay in Pahlevi under extremely harsh
conditions, the children were moved to Teheran and were crowded in tents, in
horrendous sanitary conditions.
When word of the children's arrival in Teheran reached Palestine, the Jewish
Agency sent three Israeli emissaries to care for them and to extract as many
Jewish children from the Christian orphanages as possible. Several months
later, in early January 1943, after intensive diplomatic efforts, the
British authorities granted certificates to the children to enter Israel.
700 children and their escorts left Persia through the Karachi Sea to India,
and from there, after several days of travel through the minefields of the
Indian Ocean they reached Suez. On February 18, 1943, the train bearing the
children from Teheran arrived in Gaza and continued from there to Rehovot
and Atlit, where their arduous journey ended.
The Children of Teheran was first large group of Holocaust survivors to
reach Palestine from occupied Europe. Youth Immigration activists, headed by
Henrietta Szold and Hans Bate, welcomed the children at the camp established
in Atlit.
The story of the Children of Teheran was branded in the history of early
statehood as a demonstration of the heroic spirit of survival of the Jewish
people during WWII. Many generations of Israeli natives were educated on
this ethos, exemplifying the perseverance and tenacity of heroic rescue
operations during the Holocaust.
AWARDS & FESTIVALS
Toronto Jewish Film Festival
Kansas Jewish Film Festival
Jewish Motifs Film Festival, Warsaw
Jewish Federation of Ottawa
Iranian Studies Conference
QUOTES
"The film is a most powerful film. You have been highly successful in
combining together the components of the horrific historical facts and the
individual first-hand authentic experiences into a richly woven tapestry.
It conveys this saga with sophistication and taste. It is therefore both
enlightening and heart-rending. The efforts you invested in this film are
thus splendidly evident. I was deeply affected by the impact of the film,
heart and mind." (Yael Medini, the daughter of Zippora and Moshe Sharett. In
the winter of 1940-41 Zipporah Sharett was the Yishuv's emissary to the camp
of the Children of Teheran - as shown in this film. Moshe Sharett was the
head of the Political Department of the Jewish Agency prior to the
establishment of the State of Israel.
