VERSATILE SPACE OF PERSIAN COURT HOUSE IN ISFAHAN USED AS POLISH CHILDREN HABITAT DURING THE WW2

Najmeh Hassas; Teresa Bardzińska-Bonenberg

doi:10.21005

VERSATILE SPACE OF PERSIAN COURT HOUSE IN ISFAHAN USED AS POLISH CHILDREN HABITAT DURING THE WW2

Abstract

During WW2 thousands of Polish citizens were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan in the USSR
doomed to exterminating labour. The Polish army was also detained there. The Iranian Shah
allowed Polish soldiers and civilians to cross from Russia to Iran. In Isfahan Polish fugitives, mainly
children, were accommodated in Persian traditional court houses which were converted into their
temporary habitat, where new Polish social space emerged. The following problems are discussed
in this paper: location of Polish children in Isfahan, re-creation of Persian courtyard houses,
redefining the meaning of interior and exterior of the houses.