** World War II -- Soviet occupation Poland displaced children Iran relocating Polish orphans








Soviet Occupation of Poland: Displaced Children: Relocating Polish Orphans from Iran (1942-45)

Soviet World War II occupation Polish children
Figure 1.--This press photo shows Polish orphan children aboard an American troop transport. U.S. Liberty ships that had delivered Lend Lease supplies for the Soviet Union to Iranian ports. There also were a few troop transports. The Coast Gard crewed ship is relocating the children that had escaped from the Soviet Union on its way back to America for another troop transport assignment. The press caption read, "New Hope for War Orphans: The air is filled with boxing gloves as two Polish orphan children stage a . a bristling bout for the entertainment of their little fellow travelers and Coast Guardmen aboard the troop transport taking them to safety across the Indian Ocean." The photograph was dated December 6, 1944.

Iran was the only available gateway out of the Soviet Union for the Poles deported by the NKVD (1939-41). Ideally they could have used the Trans-Siberian Railyway. Stalin did not permit this even though trains moving east usually had plenty of space availavle. These were people that he was not all that excited to allow out of the Soviet Union haaving deported them from Poland. They were a suspect group. The only way out was to walk and with the Germans to the west and the Arctic Ocean to the north, the only way out of the Soviet Uniomn was south through Iran. It was was only exit point and a rare outlet for the many different people deported by the NKVD. Iran was never to be a permanent haven. When thy began arriving in Iran (1942), shipping was at a premium for priority military transport. As war conditions gradually improved and American Liberty ships added to the allied merchant fleet, transport became available. Ships carrying Lend Lease supplies to the Soviet Union arrived in Irania ports full and generally left empty. As a result, the Polish refugees in Iran were gradully relocated. This included many children. D.P camps were opened in British colonies and Dominions: India, New Zealand, Tanganyika (modern Tanzania), and the United Kingsom itself. Mexico took in some of the children. As a result the U.S. Coast Guard got involved in moving the children to safety. The major exit port from Iran was Ahvaz near the port of Basra in Iraq. The port had been modernized and expanded by the United states. An area of the city is still called Campolu from Camp Polonia. The last children departed Ahvaz (June 10, 1944). The last transport of orphans overland left Isfahan for Lebanon (October 12, 1945).







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Created: 12:43 AM 10/10/2008
Spell checked: 9:19 PM 10/31/2013
Last updated: 9:19 PM 10/31/2013