list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia
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. South Africa, South Rhodesia, and North Rhodesia also became the home of Poles. 3. Arrested Polish gentiles were to be turned over to the Germans for execution. Exiled to Siberia. The listing of refugees is not complete, because new waves of refugees were constantly flowing in. Fundatsiia Sv.Volodymyra, . The eastern half of Poland was annexed by the Soviet Union. Own farms were run. Residents of Tanganyika, on their own initiative, helped newcomers from Poland to settle in the new country. Shvaipol't Fiol'.24sm. When using our website, the cookie files are downloaded onto your device. In the larger camps, like Tengeru [Arusha], there was less opportunity to meet Tanzanians, if only because there was a critical mass of Poles to spend time with, says Jonathan Durand, a Canadian documentary filmmaker and the grandson of Polish-African refugees. Then a special camp for Polish children was built near the village of Balachadi in Jamnagar, Kathiawar, thanks to help of the Maharaja Jam Sahib of Nawanagar (see also Help of Maharaja of Nawanagar for Polish refugees). Valivade housed 5,000 Polish refugees; there, they had their own self-government and succeeded in establishing four elementary schools, a high school, a junior college, and a trade school. The Refugee Office of the British colonial government in Nairobi handled the resettlement. http://www.videofact.com/english/samples/E_2/E19_part1.html. During World War Two, close to 20,000 Polish people found refuge in African countries. The British people were now resigned to the fact that Hitler had to be stopped by force. In Eastern Africa, six permanent Polish refugee settlements were established: four in Tanganyika (Tengeru, Kondoa, Ifunda, Kidugala) and two in Uganda (Masindi and Koja). (Roman Kryk, red.) Why didn't America open its doors, and open them wide, to the Polish refugees? Ukrainian Studies Fund. . Polish-American archives: http://wilson.ctstateu.edu/lib/archives/polish/ maps. Southern Rhodesia, then a self-governing colony of the United Kingdom that is located in the now-independent Zimbabwe, entered World War II along with Britain shortly after the invasion of Poland in 1939. A Canadian filmmaker explores the journey of his Polish forefathers in a documentary. Bogdan Harbuz stayed at Koja camp: "We did not receive any money for food, we only got 5 shillings a month for our expenses. Adamem i Iza Zamoyskimi, Zofia, Janowa,Tarnowska, oraz w sprawach PHOTO | UGANDA NATIONAL ARCHIVES. As historians dig out more information from national archives, and descendants recount family stories, the story of the Polish exiles in Africa gets richer. in the plans, and two days later all of the refugees were shipped off to + Copies of insurance death claims from the Polish Roman Catholic Union of Elated by this turn of events the far-flung Polish exiles began to make their way as best they could southward, to where Anders' army was forming, in the hope of liberation. The Kenyan port of Mombasa, the Tanganyikan ports Tanga and Dar es Salaam, and the Mozambican ports Beira and Laureno Marques (which is today's Maputo), were the first African stops for the Polish refugees. . found out about the arrival of the transport they rallied around the exiles 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. [17] Despite political instability and famine in Iran at that time, Polish refugees were welcomed by the smiles and generosity of the Iranian people. There were definitely Jews among the evacuees. http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/archiwum.html, If you know that you had relatives that were buried in the Przemysl area in Poland this link may help: http://www.cmentarzeprzemysl.pl/, In 1950 there was a border adjustment in the area They had survived deportation to the Soviet Union, forced . Following the Soviet invasion of Poland at the onset of World War II, in accordance with the Nazi-Soviet Pact against Poland, the Soviet Union acquired more than half of the territory of the Second Polish Republic or about 201,000 square kilometres (78,000sqmi) inhabited by more than 13,200,000 people. Those who refused were persecuted, sent to jails; mothers were told that if they refused, they would be sent to labor camps and their children would end up at orphanages. Altogether, in the two evacuations of 1942, 115,742 left: 78,470 soldiers and 37,272 civilians (13,948 children). The settlements in Koja and Tengeru ended their activities only in the second half of 1952. Amnesty for Polish citizens in the Soviet Union, Help of Maharaja of Nawanagar for Polish refugees, People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine, 1.1 million Poles (including Polish Jews), Soviet repressions of Polish citizens (1939-1946), List of Soviet Union prison sites that detained Poles, List of Polish refugees cemeteries in Africa. In smaller camps, there was much more reaching out to the local communities on the part of the Poles., READ: Tengeru: A long lost Polish history. Kenya Women's Emergency Organisation helpers looking after the large party of refugee women and children. Among people who stayed there was Bogdan Czaykowski. In Northern Rhodesia, 245 evacuees were accepted for permanent residence. Here is the other matching map to the West. What became of the rest? The settlements in Koja and Tengeru ended their activities only in the second half of 1952. After the hell that we survived, Tehran was a different world. By the end of 1943, 33,000 refugees were transferred from Iran to other countries. Military Archives in Warsaw T.2. centr. In 1948, the number of Poles in East Africa decreased to 3,497, of which 2,080 lived in Tanganyika. But Iran proved unable to care for such large numbers of refugees, causing the British government to move Polish civilians to other British colonies. UNHCR also aims to improve durable solutions such as local integration opportunities and increase public awareness of refugees and asylum issues. The listing of refugees is not complete, because new waves of refugees were constantly flowing in. In an official letter from the British Authorities it was said: "It has been agreed that the welfare work in the Polish settlements must continue and the minimum staff stays to ensure this must be retained." Historian Erik Lindner takes a long look back to discover answers to this question. In addition, your use of our website is tantamount to your consent to the processing of your personal data provided by electronic means. Residents were associated in a number of cultural and sports associations. granted him the right to enslave all of Eastern and half of Central Europe. Hundreds of thousands of Polish citizens were forced to leave their homes at a moment's notice and were transported in cattle cars to Siberia, Kazakhstan, and other distant parts of Russia. In Kenya, they were located in Rongai, Manira, Makindu, Nairobi, and Nyali near Mombasa. The majority of the refugees were women and girls (the younger men had been recruited into the Polish Army under General Wladyslaw Albert Anders). The pace of evacuation of Polish refugees from Iran to Africa was high. Vegetables on the other hand were scarce until the Poles started their own small gardens around their huts growing Irish potatoes, cabbages, corn, peas, soya beans, tomatoes and beetroot for barszcz, a sour soup popular in Poland and Eastern Europe. Tyrsa. They settled in transit and permanent camps in the British colonies of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanganyika. ch.1,3-4, 1990. Thousands of Jews were employed by the Soviets in deportation and execution of Polish citizens. 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. To relieve ourselves, we had to jump out of the train whenever it stopped. The main wave of Polish refugees sailed away from Iran to Africa. After the completion of the evacuation, there were over 110,000 Polish citizens in Iran. The resulting film, "Memory is our Homeland," won the Audience Award at the Montreal International Film Festival in 2019. Many lived in communes and camps until the early 1950s before finding permanent homes in North America, Europe, Australia and to a lesser extent, South Africa. 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. They were provided with refreshments and not a few of the refugees were in tears when the train steamed out. Upon agreement between Prime Minister Wadysaw Sikorski and the government of Mexico, some 10,000 Polish refugees settled in Mexico. There were 22 different camps that housed 13,000-19,000 Polish exiles spread out across East and Southern Africa, some with more than 6,000 people, others with just a handful of families. Polish underground courts prosecuted traitors and criminals during the war. The first stop of the refugees evacuated with Anders' army was Iran, where they found temporary quarters in large transit camps initially located in Pahlavi and Mashhad, and later in Tehran and Ahvaz. The Polish press developed (the biggest titles: "Pole in Africa" and "Voice of Poland", and a number of newspapers published in settlements), and even Polish-language radio programmes broadcast from Nairobi. They went by ship to Dar es Salaam and via Kigoma to Mpulunga on Lake Tanganyika, and subsequently they went in groups to Abercorn by lorry. In Ahvaz, "Camp Polonia" was one of the main exit centers for Poles leaving Iran, and the last Ahvaz camp closed in 1945. My mother refused the tempting offer of going to Santa Rosa in Mexico. In Eastern Africa, six permanent Polish refugee settlements were established: four in Tanganyika (Tengeru, Kondoa, Ifunda, Kidugala) and two in Uganda (Masindi and Koja). Children and adolescents were provided with pre-school and school care at various levels of education. It was in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, where the exiles got their first glimpse of Africans close up. Thousands of Europeans sought sanctuary in Africa during World War II among them were many Polish people. In my view, this toll is the direct and indirect responsibility of the new Polish government (although aided, abetted, and promoted by the Soviets), as I will establish in the next section. They ended up in Iran, India, Palestine, New Zealand, and British Africa, as well as in Mexico. He ordered his military commanders to use the utmost ferocity in merciless killing Polish men, women, and children. Korespondencja - sprawy urze dowe i osobiste (1946-1947). The State Archive in Rzeszw There were 22 different camps that housed 13,000-19,000 Polish exiles spread out across East and Southern Africa, some with more than 6,000 people, others with just a handful of families. In Palestine, the camps for the over 5,000 refugees transferred there were located in Nazareth, Rehovot, Ain-Karem, and Barbara. NKVD agents issued Soviet passports to Poles in February-May 1943. ul. This has fueled speculation that the U.S. government helped cover up Soviet responsibility for the massacre out of fear that saying the truth would anger Stalin, whom the Allies were counting on to help them defeat Germany and Japan in World War II. On the left, smiling and with her arms crossed that was my grandmother," says Durand. Bolicza 2, Addresses of Ukrainian . In the Kidugala settlement, 798 Poles lived near the deserted post-German Protestant mission. which I can't recall at the moment. The adults were uneasy and afraid of the unknown, but us, the children, were happy for an adventure. The Polish migration to Africa has its roots in an event from August 1939. (0-22) 831-32-06 do 08 Metiuk, Hryhorii. From Poland, over Russia and Iran, to Africa. Expulsion from Poland - beginning of wandering. Korespondencja z rodzina (1939-1940). The relief assistance afforded Zahal'na biblioteka. The service can provide the following: + A town or village location search and, if available, a brief area history. Because No wonder then that the estimates among Germans themselves for the human cost of the expulsion from the German eastern territories varies from 800,000 to 3,200,000 dead.29 Even lower figures are available. 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 . Migration expert Julia Devlin agrees with Durand's findings. Roma J. Czech, a dental hygienist in the UK, recalls a little of her mothers time in the displaced persons camps in Kenya. A Catholic church was constructed for the deeply religious Poles. 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. The details concerning processing of personal data by each unit can be found in their respective policies concerning the processing of personal data. donation. In World War Two Polish refugees were deported from Poland to the Soviet Union, to Uzbekistan and to Persia. And from 1939 to 1941, they deported en mass about 1,6000,000 Poles, including 400,000 Jews. It lasted until 16 January 1943, at which point it was effectively revoked. About 700,000 Poles were sent to Germany for forced labor,6 many to die there. 3 prymirnyky. The next transfer took place in 195559, after Stalin's death.[21]. diseases acquired in the Soviet Union which continued to rob the refugees of Within a few weeks, the Soviets invaded Poland from the east. Both settlements had hospital facilities run by Polish doctors and nurses. Archives in New York, English version. As a history student, he was surprised about the lack of information about Poles seeking sanctuary in Africa his professor had never heard of Polish refugee camps on the continent. In August 1945, the number of Polish refugees in Northern Rhodesia was 3,419, of which . They were provided with refreshments and not a few of the refugees were in tears when the train steamed out. There were sports teams, a choir and activities groups. The two refugee camps in Uganda were built at Koja, on the shores of Lake Victoria and Nyabyeya, Budongo Forest Reserve in Masindi district in northwestern Uganda. One of the administrators lived in a building that also had a community centre where films were shown. In Uganda, the camps were located in Masindi and Koya on Lake Victoria. On November 1, 1944, USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) arrived at Wellington, with 733 children on board. Welcoming signs with Polish flags, white eagles, and words of encouragement often greeted their arrival, high government officials paid them visits, and commemorative monuments were erected in their honor. In 1940, following the invasion and annexation of large parts of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, there was a mass de-Polonisation of the occupied territory, and between 320,000 and one million Polish nationals were rounded up and deported to the Urals and Siberia. And increase public awareness of refugees and asylum issues answers to this question the,... 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