The housing was primitive: dwellings made of clay, with roofs made of grass and banana leaves. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2014/01/08/world/europe/ap-eu-poland-katyn-massacre.html?emc=eta1&_r=0, Then there were the Soviet deportations. Language--U. Krakiv, 1995. "I recognized the hospital and a group of young girls walking toward the camera. Thus ended the saga Historian Erik Lindner takes a long look back to discover answers to this question. [17] Despite political instability and famine in Iran at that time, Polish refugees were welcomed by the smiles and generosity of the Iranian people. In 1944, the prime minister of New Zealand, Peter Fraser, agreed to take a limited number of Polish orphans and half-orphans, whose parents had died either in Soviet Union or Tehran, or whose fathers had fought at the front. He still gets goose bumps when he looks at the footage today. T.2. They then constructed temporary mud and thatch huts. Although provisions were made to resettle several thousand Poles in that country, only two transports arrived in the summer and fall of 1943 with a total of 1,432 refugees. Children and adolescents were provided with pre-school and school care at various levels of education. Metiuk, Hryhorii. He ordered his military commanders to use the utmost ferocity in merciless killing Polish men, women, and children. Children were taken care of by the Polish Red Cross and residents of Bombay. ul. By the end of 1943, 33,000 refugees were transferred from Iran to other countries. Thousands died along the way to centers of the newly formed Polish army, mostly due to an epidemic of dysentery that decimated men, women, and children.[10]. who dug up the graves in the Katyn forest, were responsible for the murders. And none of these monstrous figures even include civilian and military combat or war-deaths. No doubt "Uncle Joe"(Joe Stalin) homo sovieticus barbarosus incarnate must have been grateful to the Western Allies for their conspiracy of silence, for preserving the "good name" of Lesiv, Mykhailo. Archiwum Panstowe w Przemyslu POLISH REFUGEES IN EAST AFRICA, 1942-1946 description Object description Kenya Women's Emergency Organisation helpers looking after the large party of refugee women and children. It is no longer just a footnote in history. Harvard University. centr. knows. These exiles found temporary refuge in Iran, India, Palestine, New Zealand, Mexico and British East and Southern Africa. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP7.ADDENDA.HTM, The Soviets arrested and Having unloaded H.M. Troopship Nevasa at Karachi, then in India, now West Pakistan they were tasked to sail to Khorramshahr, in Persia, now Iran on the 17th of March 1944. Among the victims on this altar of silence were the 14,500 prisoners of war interned in Kozelsk, Starobelsk, and Ostashkov and During World War Two, close to 20,000 Polish people found refuge in African countries. Christmas celebrations during theSecond World Waroften had to be scaled down or adjusted as restrictions and shortages took their toll. Because Polish territory was occupied, so the government could only count on the Britons help in finding shelter for the population. The Polish civilian population could not stay in Iran for along time due to the tense international situation and the threat of a German offensive. In Kenya, they were located in Rongai, Manira, Makindu, Nairobi, and Nyali near Mombasa. Both settlements had hospital facilities run by Polish doctors and nurses. Show more. Unfortunately, due to bad health conditions caused by the poor living standard in the Soviet Union and the hardships of traveling, more than 2,100 people (5.7% of the total) died in Iran due to dysentery, typhoid, malaria and diseases caused by malnutrition. The details concerning processing of personal data by each unit can be found in their respective policies concerning the processing of personal data. Children were the vast majority of the refugees. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP7.ADDENDA.HTM. Language--U. Varshava, 1997. Posted on . There, all were divided into several groups and began their education. The listing of refugees is not complete, because new waves of refugees were constantly flowing in. Young Polish women living in exile in Uganda in the 1940s, as the Second World War raged in Europe. Another report that Van Vliet made a few days later in Washington is considered missing. In addition, your use of our website is tantamount to your consent to the processing of your personal data provided by electronic means. You can change the settings of your browser at any time. Several scout groups, schools, training centers, a Women's Auxiliary Service, and an Officers' Legion were established. The Polish refugees housed in the various camps in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, India, and Africa moved to Great Britain and its dominions, Canada and Australia, from where some of them later emigrated to the United States; some also settled in Argentina. In 1940-41, several hundred thousand citizens of the Second Polish Republic were deported deep into Soviet Russia, which, as a result of aggression with Nazi Germany, occupied the eastern part of Poland after September 17, 1939. Some exiles also found asylum in India in transit camps set up in Quetta, Mount Abu, Panchgani, Bandra, and in and near Karachi (such as the Country Club Camp, Haji Pilgrims Camp, and the Malir Camp). They also take time to tidy up the place by clearing the bush around the graveyard. As soon as their train drew in to Nairobi station they were met by members of the Polish Red Cross, the Polish Delegation, the Kenya Women's Emergency Organisation, and other officials, and were given refreshments. Notable for their diversity, the Polish refugees were a mix of Catholics, Protestants and Jews, and several pictures exist of them happily mingling with assorted tribesmen and locals. Archives in New York, English version: http://dione.ids.pl/~ijp/ang/onas.html. But what happened to the rest of the hundreds of thousands of deportees who did not leave with Anders' army? She hoped we would return to Poland some day. Within a few weeks, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east. "De-Polonizing the territories newly incorporated into the USSR", "Near and Middle East: The evacuation of the Polish people from the USSR", "Evacuation of Polish civilians from the Soviet Union to Persia 1942". 1 November 1944. Chicken and eggs were plentiful. We were very poor, there were no jobs, kids had their classes in the open, there were no books." At that time, the Poles were the largest minority of European origin in East Africa. Polish-American archives: http://wilson.ctstateu.edu/lib/archives/polish/ When the Polish community Wood scavenged from the surrounding wilderness was used for fuel, and a bakery was eventually established that baked over one thousand loaves of bread daily. Dyrektor dr. Hubert Wajs, The State Archive in Przemysl The dead were buried at various graveyards in East and Southern Africa. To all intents and purposes, they had found a brave, new world. If this site was helpful to you, please consider making a donation to keep it going. well as for the formation of a Polish army on Soviet soil. For many, the help provided by the United States and Great Britain was too little and too late. Military Archives in Warsaw Tehran was a gate, through which we were sent, in groups, to different parts of the world. The adults were uneasy and afraid of the unknown, but us, the children, were happy for an adventure. In Africa, Polish schools, churches, hospitals, civic centers, and manufacturing and service cooperatives were founded and Polish culture prospered. Residents of Tanganyika, on their own initiative, helped newcomers from Poland to settle in the new country. One of the largest refugee groups in Africa was some twenty thousand Polish people, who stayed from 1942 to 1950 in 20 refugee camps spread over Britain's African colonies. After the end of WWII in September 1945, the African host countries pushed to get rid of the Polish refugees. itd. The date is May 2000 and it comes concerns and construction projects in Southern Rhodesia. Language--P. Varshava, 1990. In World War Two Polish refugees were deported from Poland to the Soviet Union, to Uzbekistan and to Persia. W arsaw, P oland The refugee center that Dr. Tade Daniel Omoshoto set up in a southwestern residential neighborhood of Warsaw doesn't look like much . living conditions and brought the devastating contagious diseases under control, The delicate balance between the Soviet Union and the Western Allies had to be maintained, it seems, at any cost. However, during first years of war the rate of German and Soviet murder of the Poles was much higher than that of the Jews. On November 1, 1944, USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) arrived at Wellington, with 733 children on board. Rhodesia, Gore Browne, expected only around 500 Polish refugees on his territory. 00-950 Warszawa skr poczt 1005 Unlike the Soviet Union, these were, after all, ancient civilized cultures. Language--U. Kholm, 1943. and Polish archives This was a small fraction of the approximately 1.7 million Polish citizens who had been arrested by the Soviets at the beginning of the war. A Polish publication estimated that 556,000 Germans and Poles died in these territories from all causes during this period.30 The West German Federal Ministry for Expellees, Refugees, and War Victims calculated the loss from 1945 to 1950 as 1,225,000 for Germany's eastern territories.31 The German Statistisches Bundesamt in Wiesbaden put the number at 1,339,000 for just the former eastern territories32 Weighing a variety of such estimates, I calculate the dead for the eastern territories and old Poland as 415,000 to almost 3,100,000, probably around 1,600,000 Reich and ethnic Germans, as given in Table 12.1. PERIODICALS maps. In Eastern Africa, six permanent Polish refugee settlements were established: four in Tanganyika (Tengeru, Kondoa, Ifunda, Kidugala) and two in Uganda (Masindi and Koja). All are eager to help the Allied Cause in any way possible. Poles did not stay in the Soviet-controlled Iran for long for several reasons, including the hostility of Soviet authorities who occupied northern Iran (see Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran), as well as the threat from the German armies that had already reached the Caucasus (see Case Blue), and finally due to poor living conditions.[13]. The State Archive in Rzeszw Some of the women, however, became understandably worried at the thought of life in Africa. And more. Earlier, already in September 1941, the Polish government decided to set up consulates in Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda as well as in both Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa. 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