A terrible journey to escape from the Nazi army

A terrible journey to escape from the Nazi army

Over the course of a few years, Stella Knobel, a young Jewish Polish refugee, and her beloved teddy bear “Mishu” journeyed from Poland to Siberia, Uzbekistan, Iran, and finally Palestine to escape the Nazis.
Stella Knobel, left, pictured with her cousin Elisabeta. Yad Vashem



“He’s [Mishu’s] part of my family,” Stella recalled. “The last remnant of my home in Poland.”

Stella, born in Kraków in 1931, received the teddy bear as a gift for her seventh birthday from her father, Marton.

When the German Army invaded Poland and occupied Kraków in September 1939, Stella and her parents fled east to Soviet-controlled territory, taking with them only the essentials, including Mishu. After a few months, Soviet authorities deported the family, along with other Polish refugees, to Siberia and held them in a labor camp.

Eventually, Stella and her parents made their way to Soviet Uzbekistan, where her father worked as a doctor in a military hospital for Anders' Army, a Polish army corps fighting with the Allied powers. When the army moved to Tehran, Stella and her mother, Anna, accompanied Marton there. The family spent over a year in Iran, where Anna worked as a nurse.

They were not the only Polish refugees in Iran. In 1942, over 100,000 Christian and Jewish Polish refugees arrived in Iran. One thousand of these refugees were Jewish children, mostly orphaned, who became known as the “Tehran Children.” The children lived in a refugee camp for months before most were able to travel to Palestine. They arrived there on this day in 1943.

In early 1943, Stella and her mother also began their two-month journey to Palestine. They arrived in March with only a basket, five dollars, and Mishu.


Stella’s teddy bear Mishu. Yad Vashem



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