Soldier Bear

Molavi Hall at University of Tehran, 16th Azar St., Enqelab St. has put the play ‘Wojtek, the Soldier Bear’ on stage.

The two-actor comedy based on a true story is performed by Ali Pouya Qasemi and Amir-Abbas Khorasani under Tanaz Mozafari’s direction, Tiwall.com reported

Wojtek (1942–1963) was a Syrian brown bear purchased, as a young cub, at a railroad station in Hamedan, Iran, by Polish soldiers who had been evacuated from the former Soviet Union during WWII.

In order to provide for his rations and transportation, the bear was eventually enlisted in Polish army officially as a soldier with the rank of private, and was subsequently promoted to corporal.

During the Battle of Monte Cassino, in Italy in 1944, Wojtek helped move crates of ammunition and became a celebrity with the visiting Allied generals and statesmen.

After the war ended, discharged from the Polish Army, he was billeted, and lived out the rest of his life, at the Edinburgh Zoo.