The book "Farangis" describes the life of Farangis Heidarpour, a brave Iranian lady, who killed a Ba'athist invading military with ax and captured another one in the first days of the 8-year imposed war. We will continue to learn more about her and her biography. A biography that caused the praise of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution.
After 3 decades from the end of the 8-year-war imposed by the US through the Iraqi regime on the Islamic Republic of Iran, many of the effective events of that period have not been related to the new generation and the world at all. The presentation of the memories and publication of every new book in this field expresses only part of the events of those times for the contemporary readers.
Concurrent with the days marking the thirty-eighth anniversary of the Holy Defence week, the news of publication of a book was released on the media outlets. The book highlights a tiny section of the glories and sacrifices of Iranian women during the Holy Defense. The book "Farangis", written by Mahnaz Fattahi, is one of the most impressive works on the inexhaustible participation of women during the holy defense era, which reflects the memories of Farangis Heidarpour, one of the brave women of Gilan-e-Gharb town in western Iran.
The book “Farangis” contains 12 chapters and its narrator is a brave woman of Kermanshah. The first chapter deals with the childhood of Farangis in which there is no war or its aftermath. Her family lived in the village of Avezin of Gilan-e-Gharb town and is considered part of the great tribe of Kalhor. She states that, despite her reluctance, she had to marry an Iraqi man in the city of Khaneqein, which was prevented by the intervention of one of the elderly relatives.
In the second chapter, starts with a proposal of marriage by a suitor from the adjacent village and ends in marriage. Thus, she begins a life with a man named Ali Mardan. The next chapter shows that this young couple begins a pretty happy life, but in the aftermath of the imposed war, the dark shadow of war and tough days spread over the village and their lives.
A group of men rush to the war theaters to deter the enemy's advancement, and then another group leaves the village to get information of the first group. But the latter group is martyred. The remaining women and men in the village take shelter in the surrounding mountains, thus exposing the terrible scenes of war and the splendor of resistance and the epic of the men and women of the border regions one after the other. When Farangis returns home to take supplies and provisions, she comes across two Iraqi soldiers. She kills one of them with an ax and takes another captive.
The next chapters of the book touch upon the homelessness of Farangis and her family and other residents of the villages of the border regions as they change their place several times. Many times they return to the village, but every time they encounter the incessant bombardment of the enemy and a number of them are martyred and injured. Many members of the Farangis family are martyred and wounded in these events. In addition to the enemy’s bombardment, the stepping on the landmines by the unaware villagers also causes ample disasters for them. Given the geographical location of Farangis and her family, she describes scenes from the era of Holy Defense as one of the main events of the war at that time. Besides the continuous bombing of the villages around Gilan-e-Gharb, other events are also related in this chapter such the dastardly assault by MKO elements on Islamabad and Mersad operation and other events that are an unforgettable event in the life of this hero woman. She also remembers the visit of the Leader to the province of Kermanshah in which Ayatollah Khamenei goes to Gilan-e-Gharb and Farangis meets the Leader.
The book "Farangis" has a simple and fluent prose, the sequence of time has been observed in the course of events, and the author has successfully described different environments from the nature to the scenes of war and the text of the book has a correct and proper edition. In the final section, Mahnaz Fattahi, author of the book, presents a description of the current position of Farangis Heidarpour and her family members, and the book ends with 85 images and 9 documents related to the topic of the book.
Mahnaz Fattahi, author of Farangis, says: "In the story of Farangis, I deliberately portrayed the native environment and I was interested in enabling the reader of the book to visualize a Kurdish woman who has acted bravely. I want the book "Farangis" to be the book of the women of my country. I actually described Farangis just as she was; not a single word more or less.
The writer of Farangis said that she has worked on this book for three years and has repeatedly visited the village of the residence of this lady. She states, "The book Farangis was rewritten more than 50 times because I was very sensitive about this topic and I wanted to introduce precisely the bravery of Farangis and the people of Kermanshah during the Holy Defense.
The book "Farangis" has been introduced in the 17th edition of the Book of the Year of holy defense and has been translated into Urdu and English and is currently translated into Kurdish. A version of the book is also being written for kids and teens.
The men and women of Kermanshah, who were brutally attacked by the invading enemy, acted like undying heroes in the hearts of the people of this land. Throughout the unrelenting years of the imposed war, what was really astounding was the existence of courageous women who stood against the enemies very powerfully, and did not let an inch of their land fall into the hands of the usurpers.
Farangis Heidarpour is one of the living heroines of this era. For sure, this woman from Kermanshah symbolizes the noble and great ladies of this land, especially those of the western Iran, who never yield to the greedy enemies and always resist perseveringly on the ideas and ideals of Islam and the Islamic Republic. This book in fact mirrors the bravery, sacrifice, steadfastness, faith and loyalty of the people of Kermanshah province and their great contribution to the cause of Imam Khomeini.
Although writing memoirs of women of the Holy Defense era began from the very first year of the outbreak of the imposed war, it has undergone changes in recent years as it these writings have become more elaborate and palatable to the taste of the young generation. Along with these changes, identifying new narrators and looking at the war from their perspective is a fact that has given more variety to women's memoirs of the war.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei tries to study all of these works and, in many occasions, provides specialized views and detailed critique. Recently, the brave lady of Kermanshah Farangis Heidarpour and the writer of the book Mahnaz Fattahi met with the leader of the Islamic revolution. At the same time, a text went viral in which the leader has praised the writer, and the main character of the book Ms. Farangis Heidarpour. The leader's commendation on the book reads,
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
The unspoken and important part of the events of the defense era can be found in this book in the form of the account of this brave lady. The brave lady Farangis speaks to us with the very resolute and powerful spirit and honest and sincere language of a villager, with a woman's tender and delicate feelings; and shows us an unknown and important part of the geography of the imposed war in detail. We were not informed of the borderline villages during the war and their plagues and displacement, starvation and material damage and the devastation and the grief of their loved ones as it has been detailed so expressly and honestly in this account; neither did we know of the sacrifice of their youth who were among the first to rush to encounter the enemy. The story of killing and capture of the enemy by this great lady is itself an independent and exceptional story, which had happened only in Susangerd in the same period. Lady Farangis should be venerated, and the author of the book Ms. Fattahi should be thanked for the eloquent and beautiful style and art of interviewing and writing memoirs.
After the end of the imposed war and in order to venerate Lady Farangis Heidarpour, the brave woman of Gilan-e-Gharb, a memorial was built at the entrance to Shirin Park in Kermanshah, as a symbol of the resistance of women in Kermanshah province. During the Revolution and imposed war, Kermanshah Province presented 945 female martyrs to the Islamic Revolution.
We finish this program by quoting part of the book "Farangis".
He asked: Shall we leave here? Go to the town or ....
I looked at him in annoyance and said, "You mean you want to give our house to the Iraqis and leave?"
He got up, looked at the stars in the dark of night and said: "The war is terrible. You'll be killed, or God forbid, if you fall into the hands of the enemy ..."
I sat down beside him, and I raised my head like him and stared at the stars, saying, "Remember, the last one to leave this village is me. For me, escaping means death. I will not escape easily. Remember, I'm Farangis. That's right, I’m a woman, but I'm fighting like a man. I'm not scared. Do you understand?"
