Near East Relief feeding station, Teheran

Near East Relief ran orphanages and refugee feeding centers in six districts of Persia. The organization often provided food in exchange for labor in larger cities. Most of the refugees in Persia were Assyrian or Armenian Christians. This photo appeared in the January 1920 issue of The New Near East magazine.

Relief station in Teheran, Persia

Near East Relief provides bread to Christian refugees in Teheran, Persia at a relief station. Very early in the organization’s history, Near East Relief joined forces with the existing Persian relief committee in America. Most of the refugees in Persia were Assyrian, Nestorian, Syriac, and Chaldean Christians rather than Armenians. By 1920 there was also a large community of internally displaced Persian Muslims in the Urumia region.