Reza Shah the Great

Reza Shah the Great (1878 - 1945)

Devider had spotted and pointed to look towards some Iranians when we visited him at the university compass in Tuebingen.

I saw that they were in a group consisting of male and female students, joyfully mingling and enjoying themselves.

There was no other person to be seen except them at that time.

I was curious and asked Devinder, "Why Iranians were so popular with German girls?"

He paused for a while and said, "As you know, Nazi ideology had adopted the concept of Aryans as the master race for Germany. And the word Iran in Persian means land of the Aryans. "

Devinder believed this was a factor enough to trigger affinity among Iranians and Germans.

The term Aryan originates from the Sanskrit word Arya, meaning "honourable, respectable, noble".

Persia and Iran were the names used interchangeably prior to 1935. After that Reza Shah, considered as one of the greatest kings historically, decided to select Iran as the official name of the country.

Recognizing the need for higher education, he established the University of Tehran and started sending Iranian students to Europe in pursuit of modern technology.

Born as Reza Khan in a small isolated village he had started his military career at a young age in 1893, and was promoted to the rank equivalent of First Lieutenant in 1911.

Bravery and brilliant performance in successive campaigns led to his rapid rise in ranks. Captain in 1912, Colonel in 1915, and Brigadier General in 1918.

In 1921, Reza Khan occupied Tehran and became war minister after heading a British orchestrated coup .

He negotiated the evacuation of the Russian troops the same year.

Reza became prime minister in 1923, and negotiated the evacuation of the British forces stationed in Iran since World War I.

In 1925, he succeeded in deposing Ahmad Mirza, the last shah of Qajar Dynasty and was proclaimed shah of Iran. He changed his name to Reza Shah Pahlevi, the founder of Pahlevi dynasty.

However, his dictatorial style of rule caused dissatisfaction in his kingdom by the mid 1930's.

When Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, it had a major impact on Iran which had declared neutrality in the conflict.

Allies protested Reza Shah's rapprochement with the Germans, and British and Russian forces invaded to occupy Iran during the same year.

And to make it a major corridor for British and American aid to USSR, Reza Shah was forced to abdicate in favour of his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlevi.

He was exiled to South Africa, where he died in Johannesburg in 1945.

During my stay in Iran I became awe of the many social reforms and singular achievements pioneered by him.

Teja Singh
Canada

Tuebingen

Tuebingen, the university town, is beautifully located between the famous Black Forest
and the Swabian Alps.

Travelling by express train through the mountain valleys in 1959, combined with the
serving of an exotic breakfast, was an exciting experience for me and the first of
its kind among the panoramic surroundings changing rapidly in succession as the train
moved at great speed.

The university had been founded in the fifteenth century after obtaining the required permission from the Pope.

My desire to go there was to renew contact with Devinder, a close friend, and to seek
any advice he could offer me, a newcomer, after having lived in the West for over
past two years.

An acquaintance, an older gentleman from Jalandhar district, had voluntarily accompanied me me to act as a guide having past travel experience in Europe.

I had met him when boarding the Italian ship at Cochin. We were pleased with our
fellowship during the long sea journey to Genoa, which had many interesting episodes.

At one occasion, when we were revelling together at our recitations of Urdu verses and Punjabi 'bolian', we encountered a little misunderstanding from an Englishman who had
been drinking alone for so,e time in a corner of the empty bar of our ship.

Obviously drunk, he presumed that we were laughing at him.

As we were still enjoying our verses, he shouted at us loudly.

"... we ruled over you in India in the past. We are soon coming back to rule again...!"

I was about to react to this uncalled outrageous remrak. My companion noticed it
coming and put his hand quickly on my shoulder and quietly nodded to me.

"Never mind. You will come across such behaviour sometime...just ignore and stay calm."


We rode the bus to reach Tuebingen and enjoyed the travel through forested terrain.

Devinder was delighted to see us.

After enquiring about our well-being and those of our near kith an kin, a courtesy for
those arriving from India, he suggested we take a walk though the campus as we go for
dinner.

While walking around the campus, he pointed to some Iranian male students in the company
of German females.

"Lot of Iranians are studying here. Certainly the result of positive association that
Reza Shah Pehalvi had cultivated for Germany during the pre-war years."

Reza Shah's tilt towards Germany under the Nazis was a known fact.

As the World War started, the Allies forced him to resign, in an attempt to keep Iran neutral because of its importance as a country with abundant oil resources.

As if somewhat jealous, Devinder confided to us that the Iranian students were very
popular with German girls, a fact that became obvious when I reached Iran and
noticed that some of the top officials in Iranian Government were married to German
ladies.

It was already getting late. We stopped going any further and were led to dinner at a
nearby restaurant in the town.

My first request on arriving there," May I have some water to quench my thirst."

The server brought a bottle of beer instead, to which I said "no", because I was
longing for the refreshing drink of cold fresh water only.

"Drinking water is not a common practice here", my friend told me.

He went on to explain why it was so.

"Much of the natural water supply had been polluted in the past by German industries.
It is safer to drink bear instead."

As a good host, he proceeded to plead a special request on my behalf, to get me served
with bottled water.

I had heard him saying to the receptionist, " My friend has just arrived from India and
is still new to the country".

We enjoyed the dinner and coversation, and were soon on our return journey to Stuttgat.

I cherish the memories of my visit to the university and Stuttgart of 1959. The city has grown extensively with passage of time.

It was in prime glory when I revisited it in 1977.