BS"D
Teheran Children Presentation
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Rachel
Drexler-Laor, a former Teheran Educator, points out to Dr. Yaffa Eliach
the details of her 1939-1943 trip from Poland to the Soviet Union and
then her escape to Iran, where she stayed in the camp in Teheran and
finally how she traveled to Eretz Israel.
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Teheran Children's Story:
In 1943 a group of more than 800 Jewish children from Poland arrived in Eretz Israel via Teheran. They are a model of child survival in the difficult times of World War ll whose victims were most often the children. These children, with their families, fled Poland for the Soviet Union in September of 1939 when the war began.
Once in Russia, many families were sent to Labor Camps in Siberia. In 1941 they were released and wandered to the Southern Soviet Union - Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, etc.
Many
children were orphaned, suffering from starvation, illness and cold. They
arrived in Iran in 1942 pretending to be non-Jewish Polish refugees. At that
time in Teheran, the Jewish Agency ran an orphanage for refugee children.
Finally, on January 1943 the children left Teheran by ship and sailed to Suez.
There they transferred to trains. On February 18 1943, more than 800 children
reached Atlit near Haifa. Most of them were orphans and were taken to Kibbuzim,
Moshavim, children's homes and schools. A second group of 120 children arrived
on August 1943
Thanks to a generous grant from The Conference On Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (www.claimscon.org), Shtetl Foundation was able to present the "Teheran Children" presentation for the 2004-2005 year. This traveling presentation was skillfully directed by Ruti Marshansky and Coordinated and presented by Uri Asaf. The production went to schools all around Israel, (see chart below) teaching Israeli school children about this very important period in Jewish history.
At Left is a game we developed to educate school children in Israel about the history of the Teheran Children who arrived in Israel in 1943.
The reaction to the Teheran Children activities is tremendous!
Some
of our activities:
-Documentation of the Teheran Children Story:Interviews of over 50 Teheran
Children and their families; 25 of these on video and the rest on audio. Collecting
photos and documents on their lives.
-Collecting and cataloging archives received from the Teheran Children Foundation which generously donated to us their photo and document
· Producing a documentary film on the Teheran Children story. (Ruti is presently seeking funding to pay for the expenses of the documentary)
· We actively seek out media attention from the radio, television and newspapers to advertise our project and the children's amazing stories.
· Uri Asaf our magnificent production manager for educational activities has produced a traveling interactive educational activity for children, which is presently going to every school in Israel. People come away saying that they have never seen such an exciting historical event, which is so very relevant to today's youth.
-We are planning a Teheran Children's reunion which will take place on September 2006 in Atlit (the British camp in which Teheran Children stayed when they first arrived to Eretz Israel in 1943). We are presently seeking funding for this program in which we expect over 2000 people to participate. To be a sponsor click here! or send Dr. Eliach an email:
(Upper
right photo) Dr. Yaffa Eliach
& Ruti Marshansky in Atlit, Israel in April 2005 for a discussion on the
Teheran Children.
(Lower left Photo) Children in a presentation for school children in Kfar Saba in January of 2005
Uri
Asaf presents a special Event on
Teheran children In Beit Sefer Yitzchak
Sa'adeh Kfar Saba January 2005
In Rishon LeZion, in our new museum: "The Shtetl - The Living History Museum Of The Jewish People" we are building a section called: "The Forest of Life". Here, we will build excellent buildings and exhibit areas that will represent all the events and the realities and elements of the Jewish children prior and during the Holocaust including the events of those million and a half children who were killed and the actions of the children and teenagers who were liberated and their excellent positive accomplishments until the present.
Since amongst these children are the most active Jewish people around the world, small children, schoolchildren, university children and adults will come to the Forest Of Life and participate.
We already are working on the material on the million and a half children who were murdered and the children who survived and already we are working on the Teheran Children.
Ground-breaking
Jan 2005 for the "Forest of Life" in Rishon Le Zion's "Shtetl-the
Living History Museum of the Jewish World"
In the Kutchers Hotel this past Shavuot, Dr. Eliach presented a lecture about our work on "Forest of Life" in Rishon LeZion- In Memory of 1-1/2 Million Jewish Children and In Honor of the Children Who Survived and Rebuilt Excellent Jewish Life.
It was extremely important for people. Out of the over 700 participants were a number of Holocaust survivors and their children who learned about their survival.
A few of them learned that they were in the death camp Buchenwald with Elie Wiesel and Rabbi Lau and they learned about their families from our research at Yeshiva University information that they never knew about.
March 6, 2003 Birthday party in honor
of David Azrieli's 80th Birthday.
In the middle is David Azrieli
and to his right side
is wife Stephanie. On David's right is Dr. Yaffa Eliach.Next to them are Dr.
Eliach's students who love David Azrieli very much
David
Azrieli as a boy in Poland
O
ur
work and activities are very expensive.
It is very necessary, and it is extremely important to work quickly as many survivors are dying.
For one year our expenses are two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which does not include building the buildings or planting the trees. This is only for the interviews, photos, cataloguing, videos, paying people for interviews, travel costs, preparing a documentary and other similar activities.
We
want to thank Claims Conference for generously donating last years contribution
of $50,000 for the Teheran Children Activities. This was only a section of
the huge expense involved of which Dr. Eliach was a major contributor. 
Right
to left: Mrs. Elisabeth Maxwell, Elie Wiesel, Dr. Yaffa Eliach and the former
Chief Rabbi of Israel HaRav Yisrael Meir Lau. July 15, 2000