By Hassan Mahmoudi
"The Nazi hunters from Germany were
midway through a four-hour interview with Judith Meisel when they pulled out a
photo of a young S.S. guard the 88-year-old Holocaust survivor hadn't seen for
nearly 75 years."
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported on July 8, 2017:
In a desperate, final dash to bring the guard and others to
account for Nazi atrocities committed decades ago, investigators from Germany's
Federal Justice Office, aided by FBI agents, visited Meisel's St. Louis Park,
Minn., home last month after once thinking that there were no more living
survivors of Stutthof. Founded by German authorities after an internet search,
Meisel offers a rare chance for prosecutors to present one more survivor's
account of a brutal camp in Poland where 60,000 died.
"I think it's important to send the message that no matter
how long ago these crimes were committed that humanity will seek justice until
it can no longer do so," said Gregory Gordon, a former federal prosecutor
who worked on cases involving Nazi war criminals.
Although
history will never forget the lessons and memories of Holocaust, ironically,
history repeats itself with similar events. The dates and the names of
the players may change, but the general motifs remain the same.
Zohreh
Heydari was a 17-year-old Iranian woman from the city of Qom (125 kilometers by
road southwest of Tehran). She was part of the first group of people who
were taken away during the massacre in the summer of 1988, executing more than30,000 people in Iran. She was sentenced in court to 70 lashes, and the
night prior to her execution, she received those 70 floggings.
The
massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran was a crime against humanity.
Khomeini desired to get rid of his main opponents and guarantee the
survival of his regime. After three decades, there is a movement seeking
justice for that massacre and the other crimes conducted by the Iranian regime.
Zohreh
Heydari is certainly an inspiration to all those women now continuing the
struggle against Iran's corrupt, misogynist mullahs. Her courage and
bravery, her capacity to take risks, and her strong willpower contributed to
her mature appearance.
"She
was arrested while trying to escape the country," said her fellow inmate,
"on her way to joining the resistance. She underwent a tremendous
amount of torture and used to recount her memories from the period of
interrogation. She used to say, 'The torture room seemed so small to me
that upon my return to my cell it felt as if I have stepped in to a hotel. I would
take advantage of that space until it was time to return for more torture the
following day.'"
Zohreh
used to stand steadfast against the interrogators from the IranianRevolutionary Guard Corps. Whenever the Iranian Revolutionary Guards
(IRG) in Evin Prison would rush into our cells to attack us, they would
directly go to Zohreh and assault her, assuming she was guilty and responsible
for everything.
She
used to suffer from severe migraine headaches. "They used to rush
into our cells with their lashes, beating everyone. Due to Zohreh's
headache, she had not partaken in our protest this time around. However,
Halvaee, that evil executioner who had a particular hate for Zohreh, directly
approached Zohreh and started kicking her with his heavy boots. Zohreh started
yelling, 'You malicious, dirty guard, leave me alone! Don't you get close
to me!' It was exactly because of her continuous persistence that we had
nicknamed her 'Waterfall.' Her shouts were similar to the roar of the
waterfall as it continuously pounds upon falling."
Zohreh
and I were on a hunger strike together for a month in Gohardasht Prison.
When we were transferred to solitary confinements, our cells were near each
other, so we were able to know how the other was doing.
We
preoccupied ourselves by learning various languages and dialects such as Azeri,
Shomali, and Kurdish. Ever since those days, the Azeri word
"oushachlar," meaning "friends" or, more colloquially,
"guys," has become very popular and is still used to this day.
That's how we used to refer to each other. And that's how the word
"waterfall" (Aabshar in Farsi, phonetically similar to Oushachlar in
Azeri) came to signify Zohreh.
Whenever
we were moved or transferred to different cells, Waterfall was the one in
charge of announcing wake-up calls and blackouts. In fact, her voice was
so loud and clear, as if it were coming through a speaker, reaching from one
side of the hall to the other. She was also in charge of announcing daily
prayers while in solitary confinement. Each morning, she would yell out,
"Hey, oushachlar [guys], good morning!" At the time of prayers,
she would call, "Oushachlar, it's time for prayers. Let's pray
together." And at the end of prayers, she'd say, "May God accept
our prayers, oushachlar." When they turned off the lights at nights,
Zohreh's loud and clear voice would break the silence in our cells by wishing
everyone a good night. All the guards recognized Zohreh's voice and knew
that Waterfall was her nickname. She was not afraid of anyone and would
face them all singlehandedly.
The
female guards were not capable of punishing or silencing her, hence they always
sent brutal male torturers. One day, as dusk was falling, she called
everyone to prayers. "Oushachlar, it's time for prayers!"
We all stood up in our cells for prayers. Like the usual routine,
she called out, "May God accept your prayers" once we had
finished. She hadn't fully completed her sentence when we heard her
cell's door open, followed by the voices of three men. We realized they
had been waiting to attack her after our prayers. On the one hand, we
could hear the beatings of those three heinous torturers, and on the other
hand, Zohreh's voice, shouting, "Get out of my cell, you evil bastards!
Don't you touch me!"
An
hour of this unjust but proud battle continued. The rest of us who were
in the surrounding cells started banging on our doors and yelling to leave the
poor girl alone. We didn't know what had happened to Zohreh, as she had
gone silent. The beatings had continued for more than an hour. Only
the voices of those three who were taking out their revenge and hatred on her
could be heard. They left her cell after a while, and although we kept
calling Zohreh, she didn't respond to any of us.
We
were all very sad and worried about her health. A heavy silence fell upon
our ward. That night, we didn't hear Waterfall's voice calling out the
usual "Goodnight, oushachlar!" But somebody else repeated the
exact line on her behalf. We had no news of her state all night long.
Shortly
before dawn, at the time of prayer, our heroine once again, with her
waterfall-like roaring voice, stronger than ever, yelled out, "Time to
wake up, oushachlar! It's time to pray." And it was
Waterfall's voice that ended our prayers with the usual "May God accept
our prayers."
She
made our enemy understand that even with violence, torture, and brutality, they
cannot stop our roaring Waterfall from defending her rights against misogynist
mullahs.
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