Abdol-Hossein Sardari. Photo: Algemeiner.

An Iranian diplomat will be posthumously honored by a New York Holocaust museum for his role in saving thousands of Iranian Jews during World War II.

Abdol-Hossein Sardari was the Iranian envoy to France in 1940 when Nazi Germany became the occupying power there, and it was at this time that his efforts led to saving the lives of thousands of his countrymen.

“This is a story about a diplomat who has a very similar story to Oskar Schindler in Poland but for some reason most people don’t know what he did when he was posted in Paris,” Jennifer Low of the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County told The Algemeiner.  “We will actually have with us one of the children, now an adult, who he rescued, as well as the leading scholar on Mr. Sardari.”

Dr. Fariborz Mokhtari, of the National Defense University in Washington DC, who authored In the Lion’s Shadow: The Iranian Schindler and His Homeland in the Second World War, will speak at the event this coming Sunday in Glen Cove, NY.

“Abdol-Hossein Sardari’s life and career tell a remarkable story to save Iranian Jews and non-Iranian Jews,” says Beth Lilach, Senior Director of Education and Community Affairs at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County. “We must not only remember the tragedy of the Holocaust, but also remember the good that occurred during it.”

The event coincides with an exhibit featuring Iranian artifacts from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  The Cyrus Cylinder, which was referred to as “the world’s first charter of human rights” by the last Shah of Iran, will also be featured in the exhibit.