Originally broadcast at 7 p.m. EDT Tuesday, December 8, 2020.

During World War II, Iran gave shelter to thousands of Polish Jews fleeing the Nazis. Within this group who traversed vast parts of the Soviet Union to Iran, there were 1,000 young people who became known as the Tehran Children. This history is less familiar in Iran, where the regime has become known for anti-Zionism, antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and the suppression of access to Holocaust history.

During this two-part digital program, join experts to learn about Iran's lesser-known connection to the Holocaust, hear about a daughter’s decade-long journey in the footsteps of her “Tehran Child” father, and examine why retracing this history is relevant today, not only to Iranians, but all of humanity.

Part One: Why was Iran’s wartime rescue of Jewish orphans obscured?

Speakers:
Mikhal Dekel, Author, Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey, and Director, Rifkind Center, City College of New York

Arash Azizi, Author, The Shadow Commander: Soleimani, US, and Iran's Global Ambitions (forthcoming November 2020)

Moderator
Edna Friedberg, Historian, US Holocaust Memorial Museum

Part Two: How did this history impact one descendent of Jewish refugees?

Speaker:
Mikhal Dekel, Author, Tehran Children: A Holocaust Refugee Odyssey, and Director, Rifkind Center, City College of New York

Moderator
Sony Ton-Aime, Director, Literary Arts, Chautauqua Institution

About Chautauqua Institution: Chautauqua Institution is a community on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state that comes alive each summer with a unique mix of fine and performing arts, lectures, interfaith worship and programs, and recreational activities. As a community, we celebrate, encourage and study the arts and treat them as integral to all of learning, and we convene the critical conversations of the day to advance understanding through civil dialogue. CHQ Assembly is the online expression of Chautauqua Institution's mission.