[custom_adv] From the time of their arrival in Capital in 1862, the Lazarists, being the only Catholic priests in town, took charge of the cemetery. In those days there were 87 Catholics living in Tehran, all of whom were foreigners or Chaldeans. [custom_adv] The story of the Poles lying in Iranian soil is one of the less well-known tragedies of World War II. As part of the Hitler-Stalin Pact what was then Eastern Poland (and is today part of Belarus and Ukraine) was annexed by the Soviets in 1939. Around 1.5 million Poles were deported from the area to camps in Siberia. [custom_adv] In 1942 an estimated 120,000 Polish soldiers and civilians arrived on the Iranian shore in Bandar Anzali. They had been released from Soviet captivity and were to set up the Polish Army of the East under famous General Anders. [custom_adv] Many were so destitute and starved that they didn’t survive the hardships of the journey and died upon their arrival in Iran or shortly thereafter. [custom_adv] In 1943 the Armenian Catholic community built their own cemetery right next to the “Latin” one, the Chaldeans did the same in 1963, and today the complex consists of five parts totalling about 76,000 m². [custom_adv] Throughout the second half of the 20th century the cemetery continued to serve the Catholic community. In average five burials were held each year. However, in 1996 the city administration revoked the permission to use the ground as a burial site.
