Group portrait of members of the Teheran children's transport during a stopover in Karachi while en route to Palestine.

Photograph | Digitized | Photograph Number: 44763

Overview

Caption: Group portrait of members of the Teheran children's transport during a stopover in Karachi while en route to Palestine.
Date: 1942 - 1943
Locale: Karachi, India
Variant Locale: Pakistan
Photo Credit: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Aaron Rubinstein
Event History: The Tehran Children were a group of about one thousand Jewish children who had fled eastward from Poland with their families at the outbreak of World War II. Many of them had lost their parents during their flight. These orphans were allowed to emigrate from the USSR along with 23,000 Polish soldiers and refugees, under an agreement signed by the Polish Government-in-exile and the Soviet government allowing for the enlistment of Polish refugees in the Soviet Union in the (Polish) Anders Army. In the spring and summer of 1942, the children were taken to Tehran along with the other refugees and soldiers. After immigration permits were obtained from the British, the children were brought to Palestine via Karachi and Suez on February 18, 1943.

https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10007498.

Photo Source: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Copyright: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Provenance: Aaron Rubinstein

Keyword: CHILDREN/YOUTH EMIGRES/EMIGRATION/AID (PREWAR/WARTIME) GROUP PORTRAITS IMMIGRATION IMMIGRATION (TO PALESTINE/ISRAEL) JEWS (POLISH) ORPHANS TEHERAN CHILDREN YOUTH (13-20 YEARS)
Photo Designation: JEWISH LIFE IN PALESTINE/ISRAEL -- Arrival -- Pre-war/Wartime -- Teheran Children -- In Iran/En Route

Biography: Aaron Rubinstein is the son of Benjamin and Chaja Rubinstein. He was born in Sokolow Podlaski, Poland on February 28, 1928. Aaron had four siblings: Rivka, Lea, Shlomo and Joseph. In 1935 his family moved to Ostrow Mazowiecka, where they lived until the outbreak of World War II. About one month later, the Rubinstein family fled to the Soviet-occupied sector of Poland. In 1941 they were all deported to Siberia. A year later the Rubinsteins succeeded in placing Aaron with a group of one thousand Jewish children, who were being taken from the Soviet Union to Teheran in the company of a unit of Polish soldiers and other refugees. After they reached Iran, the British government granted the children immigration permits for Palestine. The "Teheran Children," as they came to be known, traveled via Karachi and Suez, finally arriving in Palestine on February 18, 1943. Aaron's parents survived the war in the Soviet interior and returned to Poland. After living for a time in Lodz and Ostrow Mazowiecka, they immigrated to Israel in 1949.