Thanks. Wiki isn’t too bad & often provides external references.
>>>” I first heard of this while stationed in Teheran from 72-74 from some of the locals.”
Do you mean regarding “Iran being an ally of Nazi Germany” ? If yes, then it is plain Wrong. “Stultis” in post #7 gives a good, be it brief, account. Btw, there were only about a 1000 German nationals in Iran at the time. This number is apparently based on reports by British Embassy in Tehran in 1940.
Also, I do wonder who those “locals” were. You may already know that political agitation, disinformation & propaganda against the Pahlavis began at least 7 years before the actual revolution of 1979.
>>>” Reza Shah Pahlavi, issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term Iran in formal correspondence. Some believe he made this decision in order to be closer to Germany, by trying to emphasize the Aryan connection between Hitler’s idealistic German Aryan race and the Persian Aryan race,..”
Ok, this is at best anecdotal. I am looking for Actual evidence which clearly provides proof that Reza Shah issued a decree for name change based on “Nazi requests”. Is there one? I haven’t found one as yet.
You’re right. There is tons of info about Etymology of Iran vs. Persia. Iran has always been the correct name for Iran (Eran) – regardless of Nazis or Germans in general. It refers to Aryan race & Language of those tribes originating from central Asia, who settled in the plateau of Iran circa 2000 B.C. Persia, on the other hand, only refers to one province of Iran (was called “Persis” by the Greeks centuries ago during Cyrus the Great). In Persian was called “Pars or Parsa”. Today it is called the “Fars” province (only changed after Arab-Muslim invasion of Iran).
I think it is important to clarify the above because many mullah (IRI) supporters use this name-change deliberately & often cleverly focus on the term “Aryan” to be divisive, misleading and portray the “Persian” ethnic group in Iran as racist. Equally, they are well aware that for Westerners, the term “Aryan” is immediately associated with Hitler and Nazi Germany.
Last bit of relevant info: During the Pahlavi Dynasty, many Europeans (especially those from Poland), many Jewish by faith, were issued Iranian passports, and allowed to immigrate to Iran & be protected when the Nazis began to round up Jews in Europe as part of “Final Solution”. Moreover, the Nazis were told by Iranian authorities that Iranian-Jews were Iranians like every other Iranian citizen – Iranian passports during the Pahlavis did not specify “religion”. So, this is hardly the behavior or action of a so-called “Nazi Ally”.
http://www.vohuman.org/Article/Many%20Polish%20Boys%20were%20named%20Dariusz.htm
http://www.activistchat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=8745
http://iranvajahan.net/cgi-bin/news.pl?l=en&y=2007&m=11&d=03&a=6