TEHRAN – An organizer of two photo exhibitions that will showcase photos of the Polish people who took refuge in the central Iranian city of Isfahan during World War II has praised Iranian’s friendly behavior towards the Polish.

Anna Duda from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, an affiliate of Poland’s Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the co-organizer of the exhibitions, made the remarks in a press conference, which was held at the Larjevardi Foundation in Tehran on Tuesday to brief the media about the exhibitions.

White Gallery at the Sadabad Cultural-Historical Complex will host the exhibition titled “Born in the Independent Poland, Lahestaniha [Poles], the Children of Isfahan” from October 6 to 31. The exhibition will then open at the Isfahan Museum of Contemporary Art on October 10 and will run through November 23.

The collection comprises photos depicting the Polish refugees in groups and singles. 

This unique collection, which has never been presented or published before, has been prepared from the negatives discovered in the studio of Abolqasem Jala in Isfahan half a century after WWII by Parisa Damandan, a photographer and art historian who is also the curator of the exhibitions.

Part of the collection also includes the portraits of the Poles Jala had taken at his atelier.

Duda said that that the exhibit has been arranged to mark the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the Polish refugees in Iran. 

Sadabad complex director Mohammadreza Kargar who was also in attendance at the press conference said, “This has been a great honor that Iran has behaved in a way that has left behind good memories for the Polish immigrants in those years.”

“We are happy there has been such an event in our history and focusing on such a great historical event will provide a basis for other cultural events in the country,” he added.

Polish Chargé d’Affaires Patrycja Ozcan-Karolewska, Iranian historian Alireza Dowlatshahi and documentarian Khosro Sinai also gave brief remarks about the historical event.

Sinai’s documentary film “The Lost Requiem” about the Polish refugees was also screened at the end of the press conference. Sinai received the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of Poland for the documentary in 2008. 

PGNiG, a Polish state-controlled oil and gas company, and the Embassy of Poland in Tehran are also supporting the two exhibits.

Photo: A poster of the exhibit “Born in the Independent Poland, Lahestaniha, the Children of Isfahan”

RM/MMS/YAW