Minou S Michlin - I Kept Walking: The Unlikely Journey of a Persian Woman with Polio

My heartfelt gratitude to Gali Kronenberg, who transformed the stories I shared at my kitchen table into the luminous prose of this book. An incredibly talented writer, Gali is deeply compassionate, and I found myself confiding stories Ive never told anyone. Each week, his vivid fresh pages transported me back to my familys home on Neshat Street, my hospital room in Jerusalem, and to the moment I bid farewell for the last time to family and friends at Mehrabad Airport. This book would not exist without my friend Gali.

I also wish to thank early readersSteve Harper, Dr. Marty Cobern, Dr. Mahvash Rafii, Dr. Wilma Peeples-Wilkins and Guity Myerswho assiduously corrected wayward spelling and punctuation. Many thanks to Jacqueline Soomekh, Nona Farahnik, Tina Hay, Nina Molayem, Kit Loeb Harper, Elham Yaghoubian, Josh Finkel, Sherene Michlin, and Saba Soomekh for your encouragement and support.

To my helper, Catalina Florecin Perez, thank you for keeping Gali and me well fed while we worked and for taking such good care of David and me.

To my husband David, thank you for your unconditional
love and support. I extend my deepest love and gratitude
to Sherene and Aron.

I was born in an anxious era.

Three weeks before my birth the madness of World War II landed at our familys doorstep. My father, Agha Jahn, was away on the hot August night when the rumble of aircraft and the high-pitched whistle of falling bombs pierced the air. Maman cowered in a narrow corridor of our home with her five youngest children. A shrill siren resounded. A second bomb exploded and the earth shuddered. The thunderous explosion rattled our home.

My siblings, all under eleven, clung tightly to Maman. The youngest erupted in tears. Mamanher belly swollen with mestretched out her arms over my siblings heads.

She recited a Hebrew prayer.

Ye varech echa Adonai ve - yish merecha

British warplanes were bombing Iran. But for our family and other Jews across Persia, the attack was a blessing. The coup d tat that put military commander Reza Pahlavi in power, and later anointed him as Shah, marked a dramatic shift in the lives of Iranian Jews. The Shahs rebuke of the Shia Muslim clergy and his embrace of science and modernity benefited Jews, who were permitted to serve in the government and army.

At first, Reza Shah Pahlavis irreligiosity improved the lives of Jews, though his autocratic tendencies made him sympathetic to Hitler. The Shahs admiration for Germany spread to the public. In our small town of Hamadan, Muslim students painted swastikas on the chalkboard of the school my siblings attended and thrust their right arms into the air, crying out: Sieg Heil!

German broadcasts in Farsi referred to Hitler as the Shiite Messiah who had returned to destroy the Jews. German propaganda compared Hitlers efforts to annihilate Jews to the Prophet Mohammeds clashes with Jewish tribes in Arabia. Antisemitic slogans appeared on the walls of Jewish businesses. Muslim neighbors spoke openly of their fondness for Cousin Hitler.

A sense of desperation hung in the air.

Shortly before I was born, my mothers maid offered her an audacious bargain.

Give me what you have, she said, and Ill protect it for you.

Maman listened in silence.

Khanom, when the Germans come, they will take everything. Give me your house. I can hide you and your children in my village. You can go there to have your baby.

Maman made no such bargain. The family remained in Hamadan.

On August 25, 1941, despite the countrys neutrality, British planes began bombing Tehran, Qazvin, and Hamadan. The Soviet Red Army troops that rolled into Tehran and the British bombing raids kept the Germans out of Iran, preventing Reza Shah Pahlavi from aligning with Hitler. Within a matter of days, Irans military was overwhelmed. The Allied invasion forced the Shah to order his military to stand down.

In perfect British etiquette, the Anglo victors sent a message to Reza Shah: Would His Highness kindly abdicate in favour of his son, the heir to the throne?

On September 16, 1941, His Imperial Majesty Reza Shah Pahlavi was sent into exile, and his son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, viewed as more sympathetic to the British, ascended to the Peacock Throne at the tender age of twenty-two.

Two days later, Maman gave birth to me. She named me Minou, meaning Heaven. She also gave me the Hebrew name Esther.

May God bless you and watch over you.

My fingers trawled the cool water of our fishpond. Seated cross-legged in the shade of a sycamore tree, I watched mesmerized as orange-speckled goldfish swam lazy circles just below the surface. Almost four, I named each fishthe one with the yellow marks and a pair with orange blotches. They were my friends. Id sit quietly and keep them company until one of them would rise to the surface to greet me.

A bright yellow koi, the one I called Khoshgal, Pretty One, was tickling my finger, when a deafening Boo! erupted directly behind me. I emitted a scream of terror. My body froze. Once I was able to move, I turned to see three older girls giggling as they fled back to the yard next door.

My grandmother raced down the back stairs to the garden to see what had befallen me. She pulled me into her arms, and I began to sob uncontrollably.

Our family had moved from the small town of Hamadan to Tehran. Our garden offered a welcome respite from the bustling city and its scorching summers. The whole family slept in the garden in summer. Not long after my fright, I awoke one morning to the scent of jasmine. A honey light fell over my face through the gauzy canopy of mosquito netting that tented my bed. A butterfly fluttered overhead.

I rolled over to stand up, but my feet fell limp.

How can this be? I run, skip, and jump. How can my legs fail me?

Maman, I cant get up!

My mother, still in her bed a few feet from mine, walked over to my bedside. With a tender smile on her face, she said, Here, Minou Joon, Maman will help you.

Cradling my torso with her hands, she lifted me to my feet. The moment she released her hands, she had to quickly grab my frame as if catching a fragile object before it fell. In an anxious voice, she cried out, I think shes paralyzed!