US Holocaust museum launches program on Jews who fled to Iran from Nazis

• Date: 06 December 2020
• Author: JERUSALEM POST STAFF
• Published date: 06 December 2020
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Taking the form of a two-part online live event and titled "The Tehran Children: Iran's Unexpected & Suppressed Connection to the Holocaust," the presentation is inspired by the 2019 memoir Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee written by Mikhal Dekel, who will participate in each segment of the program.

The memoir tells the story of over a million Polish Jews who fled the Nazis during the Holocaust into the Soviet Union – specifically focusing on the nearly 1,000 children who were sent to Iran. The author's father, Hannan Teitel, was one of these children.

But despite the incredible story behind the event, not much is known about it, as Iran's leaders actively work to suppress information about the Holocaust.

"Today we think of the Iranian regime's Holocaust denial and antisemitism, but there is also a rarely told story about the Iranian people welcoming Jewish refugees during WWII," United States Holocaust Memorial Museum director Sara J. Bloomfield said in a statement.

"Exploring lesser-known aspects of this history can challenge our assumptions, which is what good education does," she said.

The event is part of the The Sardari Project: Iran and the Holocaust, the result of collaboration...