My host's profile on couchsurfing was the one I had spent the longest time reading since I joined couchsurfing 4 years ago. I clicked on different links that he shared to intriguing ideas and the group he had started on couchsurfing, to gather TEDsters and couchsurfers to share ideas.
My host was a British living in Krakow. One of those amazing travel stories was that when he was driving me to his place, he told me that he was involved in a project to commemorate Wojtek, the Syrian Soldier bear that was found in 1942 in Iran by the Polish refugees from Stalin's gulags. Richard told me that the statue of Wojtek was unveiled the day before, i.e. the day I arrived in Krakow. I was astounded. What were the odds that I, an Iranian travel to Krakow and be hosted by the person who had a significant role in making this project happen, and Wojtek's statue be unveiled the day of my arrival in Krakow? Richard's goal was to use Wojtek, to draw attention to the history involving Poland, Germany, Russia and Iran. He created a facebook page for this project.
Can the statue of Wojtek be built in Iran?
Here's a part of an article on the untold story of Soviet deportations during WWII.
"...When Stalin switched sides after Hitler’s surprise attack on Russia in June 1941 and granted the Polish exiles a short window of so-called “amnesty”, only a small number, about 115,000, led by General Anders, managed to escape to freedom through Persia (Iran) in 1942. This is the untold story, Ms. Golubiec believes, that the film “A Trip to Nowhere” captures so eloquently in an animated collage of images, songs, sounds and voices of the survivors."
