Author Topic: Polish Refugees in Iran During World War II  (Read 1092 times)

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Offline TomSea

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Polish Refugees in Iran During World War II
« on: February 18, 2019, 04:32:17 pm »
Excerpted:

Quote
POLISH REFUGEES IN IRAN DURING WORLD WAR II

On September 1, 1939, German forces invaded Poland and defeated the Polish Army within weeks. Most of the westernmost Polish territory was annexed directly to the Reich; the remainder of the areas conceded to Germany by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Germany became the so-called General Government (Generalgouvernement), administered by the German occupiers. In accordance with the pact’s secret protocols, the Soviet Union annexed most of eastern Poland after Poland’s defeat. As a result, millions of Poles fell under Soviet authority, either because they lived in areas the Soviets now occupied or because they had fled east to these areas as refugees from Nazi-occupied Poland.

During their almost two-year-long occupation, Soviet authorities deported approximately 1.25 million Poles to many parts of the Soviet Union.1 The exact number of Polish citizens deported does not exist, as a large number of those captured by the Red Army were murdered in the Katyn Forest and other locations throughout the Soviet Union. About half a million Polish civilians branded as “socially dangerous” and as “anti-Soviet elements” were forcibly removed from their homes and deported in cattle cars to labor camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan.2 These civilians included civil servants, local government o∏icials, judges, members of the police force, forest workers, settlers, small farmers, tradesmen, refugees from western Poland, children from summer camps and orphanages, family members of anyone previously arrested, and family members of anyone who escaped abroad or went missing.3

...

Because Iran could not permanently care for the large influx of refugees, other British-colonized countries began receiving Poles from Iran in the summer of 1942. The refugees who did not stay in Iran until the end of the war were transported to India, Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa, among other countries.19The Mexican government also agreed to take several thousand refugees.20

Read more at: https://www.ushmm.org/m/pdfs/Polish-Refugees-in-Iran-During-World-War-II.pdf

This twitter account was started up commemorating this event, videos and pictures at link.

https://twitter.com/anjelasmith5

I believe some of this has to deal with the fact, that Iran was British colonized. Fascinating topic.
« Last Edit: February 18, 2019, 04:33:26 pm by TomSea »