The State Archive in Rzeszw We were very poor, there were no jobs, kids had their classes in the open, there were no books." donation. By the end of 1943, 33,000 refugees were transferred from Iran to other countries. In Africa, Polish schools, churches, hospitals, civic centers, and manufacturing and service cooperatives were founded and Polish culture prospered. Archiwum Panstowe w Przemyslu The settlements were divided into sections and groups, and the heads of departments of education, pastoral care, health care, culture and work were appointed. [18] In late 1942 and early 1943, Polish camps in Iran were located at Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, and Ahvaz. Young Polish women living in exile in Uganda in the 1940s, as the Second World War raged in Europe. Ul. z Wac?awem Potockim w Montresor, There was no need to inform Stalin of the fact that the Soviet authorities often impeded the release of the deportees from their various places of confinement and absolved themselves from assisting them in any way whatsoever upon their release. knows. The settlement was financed by the Polish Government in London and by American institutions, including the National Catholic Welfare Conference and the Polish American Council. Trukhan, Myroslav. To accommodate the refugees, a sprawling stationary camp was established in Isfahan. Children were the vast majority of the refugees. Both settlements had hospital facilities run by Polish doctors and nurses. granted him the right to enslave all of Eastern and half of Central Europe. A few hundred people remained in Tanganyika. 8a Soviet reoccupation of the Borderlands (1944-45) 8b Repatriation (1944-47) The Poles in Africa were mostly disappointed with the result of the conference in Yalta, which led to the dependency of eastern Poland to the regime of Joseph Stalin, and they did not want to return to Poland ruled by communists controlled by the authorities in Moscow. Check with Polish Archives for birth records, Polish army records. They were provided with refreshments and not a few of the refugees were in tears when the train steamed out. He reveals them in his book "Flight Across the Sea." Why didn't America open its doors, and open them wide, to the Polish refugees? LUDNO CYWILNA I SIEROTY POLSKIE PO AMNESTII 12 SIERPNIA 1941 ROKU. The Kondoa settlement had 430 people, who lived in twenty barracks built of clay. In time, various Polish institutions, including 24 schools serving some 3,000 students, were established in Iran and several. his evil empire. The second wave of deportations by the Soviet occupational forces across the Kresy macroregion, affected 300,000 to 330,000 Poles, sent primarily to Kazakhstan. If this site was helpful to you, please consider making a donation to keep it going. By the end of 1945, another 4,300 were evacuated to Lebanon; by 1946, that number rose to 6,000. Ukrains'ki hovirky u Pol'shi. Poles in Mexico were not allowed to leave their camps. Altogether, some 35,000 parachute and glider troops were involved in the operation. Gdansk: http://www.ap.gdansk.pl/english/linki/poland.php, The Archives of New Records The document, According to a January 15, 1943, note from Beria to Stalin, 389,041 Polish citizens were freed as a result of that "amnesty.". In Uganda they were laid to rest at Nyabyeya in Masindi; Bombo in Luwero district, and Entebbe, according to records at the Uganda National Archives. Chicken and eggs were plentiful. amnesty etc. A Polish Child's WWII Journey. Several scout groups, schools, training centers, a Women's Auxiliary Service, and an Officers' Legion were established. To relieve ourselves, we had to jump out of the train whenever it stopped. A Canadian filmmaker explores the journey of his Polish forefathers in a documentary. In order to ensure the highest quality of our services, we use small files called cookies. Language--U. Varshava. Like the Nazis in the west of the country, the Soviet Union began to carry out ethnic cleansing. The British authorities were also preparing for their arrival in Africa. Workshops and village industries were started. Migration to and from countries in Southern Africa 1 is driven largely by the pursuit of economic opportunities, political instability and increasingly, environmental hazards. Despite the fact that in 1918 all Jewish organizations were against the rebirth of Poland, in1926 Poland gave full citizenship to some 700,000 Jewish refugees from USSR ,while at the same time Jewish refugees who escaped to France remained stateless until WWII. In 1938 some 20,000 to 30,000 Jews evicted from Germany were resettled in Poland by Polish authorities On Aug. 22, 1939 Hitler delivered a secret speech in which he stated that the complete destruction of Poland and especially its population was his primary target. A commandant usually a British official stood at the head of the administration of each of the settlements. The British agreed to evacuate Polish civilians from Iran and presented a plan for the placement of refugee settlements. http://wilson.ctstateu.edu/lib/archives/polish/, http://www.poland.pl/articles/index.htm?c=421, http://www.ap.gdansk.pl/english/linki/poland.php, http://www.loc.gov/rr/european/archiwum.html, http://www.mapywig.org/m/wig500k/MAPA_POLSKI_1_500_000_KRAKOW_11.jpg, http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP7.ADDENDA.HTM, http://www.videofact.com/english/samples/E_2/E19_part1.html, http://www.iyp.org/polish/history/antypolonizmy/jedwabne_en_124.html, http://www.videofact.com/english/samples/E_2/E19_part2.html, Polish Classes began on September 1, 1942. Shvaipol't Fiol'.24sm. imprisoned about 500,000 Poles during 1939-1941, including former officials, The refugees arrived on African shores in two stages. The local tribes provided the Poles with building materials and food and worked on the construction of Polish settlements. 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]. From 1942 to 1950, nearly twenty thousand Poles found refuge from the horrors of war-torn Europe in camps within Britain's African colonies, including Uganda, Tanganyika, Kenya and Northern and Southern Rhodesia. There was spinning, weaving, dressmaking, basket making with raffia from the wild palm trees in the forests, carpentry and metal-working. 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. Thousands of Jews were employed by the Soviets in deportation and execution of Polish citizens. He ordered his military commanders to use the utmost ferocity in merciless killing Polish men, women, and children. [8], The fate of the deported Poles improved in mid-1942, after the signing of the SikorskiMayski agreement. Language--P. Varshava, 1990. Political Migrations on Polish Territories (19391950). That was when Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact that divided several eastern European countries, including Poland, into German and Soviet spheres of interest. "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". MINISTRY OF INFORMATION SECOND WORLD WAR OFFICIAL COLLECTION, Polish Refugees in India and East Africa, 1942-1946, Deportation of the Polish Population from the Soviet Occupied Part of Poland, 1940-1941, Evacuation of the 2nd Polish Corps from the Soviet Union to Persia and Palestine, 1942. The contract was Ursus' third deal in Africa, a market that many Polish entrepreneurs are looking to boost. The Polish refugees also have a positive memory of the locals, says Durand. Bolicza 2, Addresses of Ukrainian the Poland - Soviet Union Border during 1945 -1950 When using our website, the cookie files are downloaded onto your device. [5], The evacuation of the Polish people from the USSR lasted from March 24, 1942, for one week, and then again from August 10, 1942, until the beginning of September. The British people were now resigned to the fact that Hitler had to be stopped by force. Union under the provisions of that tenuous "amnesty" of 1941. "They were young, and these intercultural encounters have shaped their humanity.". obituaries and death notices found in the Dziennik Chicagoski, 1890-1971. There, all were divided into several groups and began their education. Illnessestyphoid, dysentery, no restrooms in cars. In World War Two Polish refugees were deported from Poland to the Soviet Union, to Uzbekistan and to Persia. There were also teachers, so schools were built. 00-950 Warszawa skr poczt 1005 These countries included: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Some of them went on to emigrate to the United States, Argentina, Canada, France and Australia. 68p. His grandmother's testimonies about her life in the small town of Tengeru in northern Tanzania motivated the filmmaker to embark on an emotionally charged nine-year journey that took him to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. First the exiles came out of Siberia in cattle cars, arriving at ports on the Caspian Sea. I will never forget the journey on trucks through the mountains from Ashgabat to Tehran. which I can't recall at the moment. US membership $20; Canadian membership is $25. He still gets goose bumps when he looks at the footage today. This was Residents were associated in a number of cultural and sports associations. At its peak, Koja accommodated around 3,000 Polish refugees. Such was the lot of They ended up in Iran, India, Palestine, New Zealand, and British Africa, as well as in Mexico. Camps: Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from Listy braci: Karola, Antoniego, Jana, ciotki Zofii Lanckoronskiej (1942-1949). It had a clubroom, a hospital, and a gym. 4. and intellectuals.3 Some 4,254 of these were uncovered in mass graves in Katyn Forest by the Nazis in 1941, who then invited an international group of neutral representatives and doctors to study the corpses and confirm Soviet guilt.4 For more about Katyn, see: VHO.org. ul. Many were in Warsaw during the brutal German air and land bombardment, the majority have lost husbands, parents, or other relatives. [19], The first Polish refugees came to Palestine in summer 1942. The Poles went to the regions in the Soviet Union where the Polish Army was founded under command of General Wadysaw Anders, counting on the protection and the possibility of leaving the Soviet Union together with the soldiers. Archives in New York, English version: http://dione.ids.pl/~ijp/ang/onas.html. Sorokowski, Andrew. unfortunate term "amnesty" (the word should have been "manumission" or "emancipation") to characterize the release of the exiles; they were Stalin's bargaining chip in the contest for the status quo ante borders of Poland. But that was not Further Polish transports went to India by sea, from the port of Ahvaz to Bombay. But more stable settlements also emerged such as those in Balachadi, near the city of Jamnagar, and in Valivade, near Kolhapur. [17] Despite political instability and famine in Iran at that time, Polish refugees were welcomed by the smiles and generosity of the Iranian people. By the war's end, 26,121 Southern Rhodesians of all races had served in the armed forces, 8,390 of them overseas, operating in the European theatre, the Mediterranean and Middle East theatre . living conditions and brought the devastating contagious diseases under control, In Tanganyika, the largest settlement was Tengeru (4,000 refugees) and smaller camps were located in Kigoma, Kidugala, Ifunda, Kondoa, and Morogoro. The last camp that was built in Northern Rhodesia at Abercorn (today's Mbala, Zambia). Here's a map that shows Language--U. Vinnipeh, 1969. The Soviet Red Army had taken the Polish officers prisoner after invading eastern Poland in September 1939. Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwow Parstwowych (NDAP) The main route led through Turkmenistan to the Pahlevi transit camp in Iran (now Bandar-e Anzali) and from there mainly to camps in Tehran. For the plight of Poles who remained in the Soviet interior until the defeat of Germany, see Polish population transfers (194446) and the population exchange between Poland and Soviet Ukraine. Lesiv, Mykhailo. The second world war was not fought to save the Jews. Witness History speaks to one of them. Ul. PHOTO | UGANDA NATIONAL ARCHIVES. The listing of refugees is not complete, because new waves of refugees were constantly flowing in. Korespondencja, m.in. order.5, To all this Polish misery, pain, and death, we must add what the Germans did in the Poland they ruled. Were founded and Polish culture prospered Ahvaz to Bombay schools were built,... There was spinning, weaving list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia dressmaking, basket making with raffia from the port of Ahvaz Bombay... Construction of Polish citizens fate of the administration of each of the train steamed out schools serving some students! 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