Meshed is a locality at the foot of mountains in northeast Iran. It is famous for pilgrimage of pious Islam confessors. In 1942-1943, it became a peaceful haven and safe harbor for Polish homeless children. In 1942, Meshed became a point on another less known route of Poles from Soviet Union. It was a land road leading from Ashhabad through Kopet Dag Mountains to Meshed and further to Tehran or to India.

1704 children altogether arrived there overland, weak from starvation and diseases, exhausted by extreme trials. 675 of them were sent farther through Zahedan to India. At a later date, the remaining children were sent to three camps, organized near Tehran.

In Meshed, the children were placed in the rooms of Persian orphanage, becoming Polish center for that time. It was administered by Mrs. W. Jasiewiczowa, a perfect manager, and Reverend Zygmunt Sep-Jagielnicki was nominated chaplain. Apart from school activities, Mrs. Janina Ptakowa took care of scouting. She was a teacher. Having lost her own child in Soviet Union, she bestowed all her maternal affection upon the orphans arriving to Meshed.

In 1943, the orphanage was evacuated progressively. On March 6th, a large transport of children started on a journey from Meshed to India, and in September, the last group of children left Meshed, going mostly to Tehran to the Institution No. 7 and 7A among other centers. The children, who didn’t find their parents or were unable to join their brothers and sisters, were sent back to Isfahan.

The works on arrangement of Polish cemetery, being a plot in the cemetery of Armenian community in Meshed, were started still in 1942. Mr. Tadeusz Liciecki, Vice-Council of the Republic of Poland in Bombay, who was on a temporary stay in Meshed (he organized there the transports of Polish children to India), acquired free of charge the place for Polish graves from the management of Armenian Church in August 1942. The first graves were those of Polish children. The costs of arrangement of the cemetery and construction of graves for children were covered from the means of the Consulate of the Republic of Poland in Bombay, while the Military Base of Evacuation in Tehran took care of the costs of Polish soldiers’ tombs.

All the works were executed in compliance with the plans under personal supervision of Mr. T. Lisiecki. The graves were localized at the border of Armenian cemetery on a separated fence plot. The masonry of individual graves were set on a cement mortar and next lined with stone. Every grave had its own cross, first wooden and next stone, with personal data on the defunct. In the center of Polish plot, a group grave was constructed for these young girl scouts, who died in a road accident near Quchan on September 13th, 1942. Ignacy Korman and second lieutenant Tadeusz Izycki from the transport of delegates from Russia lost their lives in the same accident. Mr. Izycki was fatally wounded and died the following day in Meshed.

On the group grave of the girls, a plate was placed with inscription reading: “Polish scout girls dead tragically in a road accident near Quchan on September 13th, 1942” and showing the names of the girls: Dunata Stidnicka 1927-1942, Aldona Trypuc 1922-1942, Waclawa Kaczmarska 1926-1942. According to local Armenian people however, seven girls were buried there instead of three.

In 22 Polish individual graves and one group grave 29 persons were buried altogether: homeless children, civilians and soldiers.

In 1943 in Meshed, a conference was held, attended by the representative of the legation of the Republic of Poland in Tehran and the Agency of the Representative Office of the Ministry of Labor and Social Care, Mr. Franciszek Bala, Reverend Z. Sep-Jagielnicki and Colonel M. Sc. Eng. Edward Perkowicz, Commander of the Garrison and Base of Evacuation and Maintenance in Meshed. During the conference, a corporate discussion took place on the “issue how to set the Polish cemetery in Meshed in order as soon as possible”. In March 1943, the issues relating to the cemetery as well as other issues pertinent to the Polish refugees in Meshed were taken over by the Agency.

After the war, the graves were not repaired for a long time. Not until 1958 did the management of the Armenian Cemetery take care of maintenance. In the spring of 1963, the cemetery was rebuilt thoroughly under the supervision of Polish engineers, employed in the sugar plant in Shirvan.