Anna Borkowska (died 2008, in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

) was a Polish war refugee who settled in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. She was an actress and vocal teacher. As a child, after the

Soviet invasion of Poland The Soviet invasion of Poland was a military operation by the Soviet Union without a formal declaration of war. On 17 September 1939, the Soviet Union invaded Poland from the east, 16 days after Nazi Germany invaded Poland from the west. Subs ...

she was forced to leave home with some of her family members and transported to a forced labor camp in Siberia in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. She was one of the 120,000 Polish refugees who fled the Soviet Union with

Anders' Army Anders' Army was the informal yet common name of the Polish Armed Forces in the East in the 1941–42 period, in recognition of its commander Władysław Anders. The army was created in the Soviet Union but, in March 1942, based on an understand ...

after the Axis invasion in 1941. She settled in

. Borkowska is best known to international audiences for her role as the kindly elderly woman who aids a determined little girl in the quest for the perfect

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the wild have bec ...

Jafar Panahi Jafar Panâhi ( fa, جعفر پناهی, ; born 11 July 1960) is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, and film editor, commonly associated with the Iranian New Wave film movement. After several years of making short films and working as an ass ...

's 1995 film ''

The White Balloon '' The White Balloon'' ( fa, بادکنک سفيد , ) is a 1995 Iranian film directed by Jafar Panahi, with a screenplay by Abbas Kiarostami. It was Panahi's feature-film debut as director. The film received many strong critical reviews and won ...

''. Borkowska is also the main character of

Khosrow Sinai Khosrow Sinai ( fa, خسرو سینایی , 19 January 1941 – 1 August, 2020) was an Iranian film director, screenwriter, composer, poet and scholar. Sinai's work was influenced by documentaries and focused on social and artistic subjects. ...

's ''The Lost Requiem'' (original title: , مرثیه گمشده, released in 1983), which is a documentary about the Poles who found refuge in Iran during World War II, after being forcibly taken to Soviet labor camps in Siberia. Borkowska is buried in the Polish cemetery at Doulab in Tehran.

Legacy

A lecture on Borkowska, on her youth in Poland, the hardships in Soviet slavery, and her life and film career in Iran was delivered by Polish specialist in Iranian studies Ivonna Nowicka in June 2019 in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and in September 2019 in

Vinnytsia Vinnytsia ( ; uk, Вінниця, ; yi, װיניצע) is a city in west-central Ukraine, located on the banks of the Southern Bug. It is the administrative center of Vinnytsia Oblast and the largest city in the historic region of Podillia. ...

, Ukraine. Written and photographic and unique film material from the archives of Nowicka and of researcher Alireza Doulatshahi was used. The lecture in Warsaw is available on Youtube. ( pol.)

References

External links

* 20th-century Iranian actresses Polish emigrants to Iran Polish actresses Polish refugees Burials in Iran 2008 deaths Burials at Doulab Cemetery 1916 births {{film-actor-stub