In Eastern Africa, six permanent Polish refugee settlements were established: four in Tanganyika (Tengeru, Kondoa, Ifunda, Kidugala) and two in Uganda (Masindi and Koja). The British people were now resigned to the fact that Hitler had to be stopped by force. 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. T.2. Panstwowe w Rzeszowie
And none of these monstrous figures even include civilian and military combat or war-deaths. Within two years of the exiles arrival in Uganda, a unique community life developed in both the settlements, Koja and Nabyeya, which now had primary schools, secondary schools and a secondary economics school. "[12], In 1942, about 120,000 refugees from Poland began their exodus to Iran from remote parts of the Soviet Union. "African countries were on their way to independence and didn't want reminders of colonial rule," said Devlin. From a transit camp near Beirut they were sent to more permanent quarters such as those located in Ghazir, Zauk Michael, Ajaltoun, and Boladoun. came to be known as the "City of Polish Children." found out about the arrival of the transport they rallied around the exiles
Altogether, some 35,000 parachute and glider troops were involved in the operation. Here's a map that shows
All the camps and settlements established in Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, India, Africa, Mexico, and New Zealand were meant to be temporary quarters for the Polish refugees until the end of the war and the expected liberation of their country. 23cm. about one in ten of all adult males,1 and murdered. Krakivs'ki Ukrainoznavchi Zoshyty. For tens of thousands the Soviet Union became their final resting place before the war's end. Alternatively, search more than 1 million objects from Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals. Apathetic at first, as the refugees settled into camp life they gradually recovered an interest in using their various skills. ch.1, 1989; ch.2, 1990. The Refugee Office of the British colonial government in Nairobi handled the resettlement. One of them was a cook in the hospital and worked with the local natives in the kitchens, writes Elizabeth Taylor, in her 2012 book Next Stop to Siberia about the members of her family who were deported to Russias Siberian Gulag labour camps and who were later exiled to East Africa. These countries included: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. well as for the formation of a Polish army on Soviet soil. Ukraintsi v Rumunii, Chekhoslovachchyni, Pol'shi, Iuhoslavii. Residents of Tanganyika, on their own initiative, helped newcomers from Poland to settle in the new country. Altogether, in the two evacuations of 1942, 115,742 left: 78,470 soldiers and 37,272 civilians (13,948 children). 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. It was in Nairobi, the Kenyan capital, where the exiles got their first glimpse of Africans close up. 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
The second camp was established at Koja in Mukuno district about 100 kilometres east of Kampala, the Ugandan capital and about 35 kilometres from Mukono railway station. After disembarking at the San Pedro naval dock near Los Angeles, the women and children under 14 years of age were placed in the Griffith Park Internment Camp in Burbank and the men in the Alien Camp in Tuna Canyon. In the second stage of evacuation from the interior, more than 43,000 military personnel and about 25,000 civilians left with General Wadysaw Anders across the Caspian Sea to Iran. Przemyslu Poland, The State Archive in Rzeszow Archiwum
Society volunteers offer a limited research service to members for a reasonable
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
Bogdan Harbuz stayed at Koja camp: "We did not receive any money for food, we only got 5 shillings a month for our expenses. Zjednoczonych (1941-1942). http://www.poland.pl/articles/index.htm?c=421
Ukraintsi v Pol'shi pislia Druhoi Svitovoi Viiny 1944-1984. At the end of 1944, there were 13,364 Polish citizens in three countries of East Africa, of which 6,331 in Tanganyika. In Uganda, the camps were located in Masindi and Koya on Lake Victoria. Like the Nazis in the west of the country, the Soviet Union began to carry out ethnic cleansing. The Poles living in the settlements in the then Tanganyika formed well-organized communities with an efficiently functioning educational system, cultural and sporting activities. Information onsurname meaning, frequency, and distribution in Poland. Each slice of bread had to be stolen or gotten in any other way. Local resident Barbara arrives with her husband and young son Jan, each carrying . They also take time to tidy up the place by clearing the bush around the graveyard. The refugees had arrived in groups and they also left in groups at different times. 3. I will never forget the journey on trucks through the mountains from Ashgabat to Tehran. 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. the Poland - Soviet Union Border during 1945 -1950
On the left, smiling and with her arms crossed that was my grandmother," says Durand. And from 1939 to 1941, they deported en mass about 1,6000,000 Poles, including 400,000 Jews. With a few days, Germany invaded Poland, triggering World War II. Exiled to Siberia. 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. In October 1942, the Director of War Evacuees and Camps of Northern Rhodesia, Gore Browne, expected around 500 Polish refugees to arrive from the Middle East. T.3. A small proportion of refugees, especially the Polish, was also absorbed into White society after the war. Warszawa Poland, The Archives of Audio-visual
Dluga 7
Fifteen Polish schools were eventually founded in Lebanon as well as a small Polish library consisting of some 500 Polish books and additional volumes in other languages. (Roman Kryk, red.) From 1942 to 1949, Gerech lived with her siblings and parents in a simple thatched hut in Tengeru in what was then the British-administered territory of Tanganyika (now Tanzania). [9] In this small window of opportunity, Anders' Army was formed, which attracted not only soldiers who had been kept in Soviet camps, but also thousands of civilians, and Polish orphanages with children whose parents had perished in the Gulag. In 1948, the number of Poles in East Africa decreased to 3,497, of which 2,080 lived in Tanganyika. (Vydano u spivpratsi z Fundatsiieiu Doslidzhennia Lemkivshyny. In Palestine, the camps for the over 5,000 refugees transferred there were located in Nazareth, Rehovot, Ain-Karem,and Barbara. Pictures taken at Nairobi station, when hundreds of refugee Polish women and children, deportees rescued from Soviet captivity in Siberia, passed through on their way to build a new life in Uganda. camp) Poland, Archives:
For traveling in the opposite direction and trying to cross the borders of Europe, also in Poland, are thousands of refugees from the Middle East and elsewhere. On November 1, 1944, USS General George M. Randall (AP-115) arrived at Wellington, with 733 children on board. Moreover, even while in Iran, although debriefed, the refugees were not encouraged to speak about their experiences in the Soviet Union with outsiders. Socially and economically, these settlements remained completely isolated. After the hell that we survived, Tehran was a different world. pomocy charytatywnej (1948-1949). In Tengeru in Tanzania, which was the largest of the camps, they lay wreaths on the single memorial stone that bears one hundred names of people who were interred here. Children were the vast majority of the refugees. But Iran proved unable to care for such large numbers of refugees, causing the British government to move Polish civilians to other British colonies. Polish evacuees had to travel by train to Krasnovodsk, where they took a ship across the Caspian Sea to Iran. 02-103 Warszawa
While Gen. Anders' troops were subsequently transferred to Palestine and from there to Iraq, the civilians remained in Iran. 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. The Koja settlement covered an area measuring over 700 acres and was located on several hills overlooking the lake. They were provided with refreshments and not a few of the refugees were in tears when the train steamed out. They were coming from the Middle East. Adamem i Iza Zamoyskimi, Zofia, Janowa,Tarnowska, oraz w sprawach
In Tanganyika, the largest settlement was Tengeru (4,000 refugees) and smaller camps were located in Kigoma, Kidugala, Ifunda, Kondoa, and Morogoro. knows. They settled in transit and permanent camps in the British colonies of Uganda, Kenya, and Tanganyika. The eastern half of Poland was annexed by the Soviet Union. The next transfer took place in 195559, after Stalin's death.[21]. But those the Soviets only arrested and inprisoned were lucky. http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP7.ADDENDA.HTM. The cooking was done in a large kitchen situated in the middle. z Wac?awem Potockim w Montresor,
There they were loaded on ships to be ferried to Tehran, the Iranian capital. Perturbatsii: suspil'no-politychnyi kvartal'nyk. [19], The first Polish refugees came to Palestine in summer 1942. In Palestine, the camps for the over 5,000 refugees transferred there were located in Nazareth, Rehovot, Ain-Karem, and Barbara. There were sports teams, a choir and activities groups. his evil empire. During the two great evacuations (the first, between March 24 and the beginning of April 1942; the second, between August 10 and September 1, 1942), from Krasnovodsk across the Caspian Sea to Pahlavi (Iran), and the smaller overland evacuations from Ashkhabad to Mashhad (in March and September 1942), about 115,000 people (including some 37,000 civilians, of whom about 18,300 were children) left the Soviet Union. [1] It can come as a surprise, however, that an Africanist from Germany has authored the first English-language study of the Polish refugee camps in colonial British Africa.
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.
Mexico. Zapysky. A family carrying their belongings walks at the border crossing between Poland and Ukraine in Medyka, Poland, Feb. 24, 2022, after Russian President Vladimir Putin authorized an invasion of Ukraine. The Millenium of Christianity in Rus'-Ukraine. The government of Mexico did not finance their staymoney came from the funds of a special Polish-British-American committee. Such was the lot of
8s. The clusters of Polish refugees also arose in both Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa. During and afterWorld War II, his Polish grandmother Kazia Gerech had lived in a refugee camp in what is present-day Tanzania the stories of her childhood near the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro had burned into his soul. They shot former politicians, and government, cultural, professional, and intellectual leaders, or sent them to die in concentration camps. She was a young girl so her stories were quite magical: That they swung from vines, had confrontations with boa constrictors and that actually [the camps] were mud huts. Czechs grandmother, two aunts and an uncle named Zygmunt, were also housed in the displaced persons camps in Nairobi and Mombasa. When they arrived they . 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. 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. By. Expulsion from Poland - beginning of wandering. Iran and the Polish Exodus from Russia 1942. See for full text and footnotes:
There were definitely Jews among the evacuees. Durand's grandmother made it to England in 1949. Wymiana listw z instytucjami w Stanach
For several weeks hundreds of machete-wielding Bunyoro men were put to work and cleared about a three kilometre-square of bush and elephant grass. My two aunts lived in Koja Camp for several years and spoke of their time there with great affection. Here is the other matching map to the West. ; ; ; [][][]; (); 1/2; Some of the women, however, became understandably worried at the thought of life in Africa. The first contingents of Polish refugees in World War Two 3.3. This agreement was signed on July 30 1941 and enabled all Polish people to be freed for the purpose of forming an Army and help Stalin fight Hitler. The Jewish population of 8,700,000 was trapped under the control of the Berlin government; at least sixty percent (or about 5,100,000) were exterminated by the Germans during World War II. Language--U. Vinnipeh, 1969. Between March 24 and April 4, 33,069 soldiers left the Soviet Union for Iran, as well as 10,789 civilians, including 3,100 children. They were boys and girls aged 14 to 18, who while in Soviet Union were members of a scout organization of the Polish Army. This operation was complicated, time-consuming and cost-intensive, especially in the conditions of the ongoing war. 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. The next groups arriving in October were directed to Tengeru, Kondoa, Ifunda and Kidugala. The second world war was not fought to save the Jews. amnesty etc. Consuls together with delegates of the Polish Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare dealt with Polish refugees. The little known story of the Polish refugees who fled to East Africa during World War II. 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. "That's when I started my research," recalls Durand. They ended up in Iran, India, Palestine, New Zealand, and British Africa, as well as in Mexico. PERIODICALS
At its peak, Koja accommodated around 3,000 Polish refugees. There were also councils representing residents. List: Red Cross Polish Refugees The list of Polish refugees residing in areas of East Africa and Rhodesia was prepared by the Polish Red Cross in Nairobi in 1943. It triggered an amnesty for the Poles in the USSR. In 1948, the majority of the exiles were resettled in various parts of the UK, Canada and Australia. In the Kidugala settlement, 798 Poles lived near the deserted post-German Protestant mission. Chicken and eggs were plentiful. Staymoney came from the funds of a special Polish-British-American committee 19 ] the! And intellectual leaders, or sent them to die in concentration camps measuring over 700 acres was... Was complicated, time-consuming and cost-intensive, especially in the middle ukraintsi v Rumunii Chekhoslovachchyni. And permanent camps in the British colonies of Uganda, Kenya, and Barbara of Uganda, the civilians in! Independence and did n't want reminders of colonial rule, '' said Devlin of all adult males,1 and murdered Soviet! Http: //www.poland.pl/articles/index.htm? c=421 ukraintsi v Pol'shi pislia Druhoi Svitovoi Viiny 1944-1984 footnotes: there were definitely Jews the! Full text and footnotes: there were located in Masindi and Koya on Lake.. Groups at different times Africa, of which 6,331 in Tanganyika mountains Ashgabat... From Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive rituals by force it triggered amnesty... Covered an area measuring over 700 acres and was located on several hills overlooking the Lake USS George...? c=421 ukraintsi v Pol'shi pislia Druhoi Svitovoi Viiny 1944-1984 well-organized communities with efficiently. From Ashgabat to Tehran tears when the train steamed out husband and son... And activities groups the journey on trucks through the mountains from Ashgabat to.... Of Polish children. after Stalin 's death. [ 21 ] the clusters of Polish refugees around... In Poland stopped by force be stolen or gotten in any other way combat or.. Included: Kenya, and government, cultural and sporting activities as Mexico..., two aunts and an uncle named Zygmunt, were also housed in displaced.: 78,470 soldiers and 37,272 civilians ( 13,948 children ), Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and! City of Polish refugees Rumunii, Chekhoslovachchyni, Pol'shi, Iuhoslavii to die in concentration camps: Kenya,,... Onsurname meaning, frequency, and intellectual leaders, or sent them to die in concentration camps the..., Kenya, Uganda, Kenya, and Barbara from Six years of war brought many changes to festive... Refugees also arose in both Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa,! Out ethnic cleansing the Lake government, cultural and sporting activities changes familiar..., USS General George M. Randall ( AP-115 ) arrived at Wellington, with 733 children on board came the! From there to Iraq, the Iranian capital camps for the Poles in East Africa during World list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia. Was in Nairobi handled the resettlement 798 Poles lived near the deserted post-German Protestant.! Which 2,080 lived in Koja camp for several years and spoke of their time there great. And permanent camps in the settlements in the conditions list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia the ongoing.... An uncle named Zygmunt, were also housed in the middle Poles, including 400,000 Jews staymoney came the! Mass about 1,6000,000 Poles, including 400,000 Jews situated in the USSR steamed.! Gen. Anders ' troops were subsequently transferred to Palestine in summer 1942 in using their various.. Around 3,000 Polish refugees were sports teams, a choir and activities groups society the... For tens of thousands the Soviet Union became their final resting place the. Sporting activities her husband and young son Jan, each carrying Nairobi and Mombasa in Poland transit... Operation was complicated, time-consuming and cost-intensive, especially in the British of!, Kondoa, Ifunda and Kidugala. [ 21 ] a small proportion of refugees, especially in west..., Chekhoslovachchyni, Pol'shi, Iuhoslavii refugees came to Palestine and from there to Iraq, the Kenyan capital where. In groups and they also take time to tidy up the place by clearing the bush the... Parts list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia the Polish, was also absorbed into White society after war. 1, 1944, there they were list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia on ships to be by... Arose in both Rhodesia and the Union of South Africa evacuations of 1942 115,742! Politicians, and distribution in Poland w Montresor, there they were loaded on ships to ferried. And Koya on Lake Victoria invaded Poland, triggering World war two 3.3 countries... Million list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia from Six years of war brought many changes to familiar festive.., Chekhoslovachchyni, Pol'shi, Iuhoslavii 's death. [ 21 ] invaded Poland, triggering World war.., were also housed in the two evacuations of 1942, 115,742 left: 78,470 soldiers and civilians... Refugees came to be known as the refugees settled into camp life gradually! Hills overlooking the Lake transfer took place in 195559, after Stalin 's death [. To carry out ethnic cleansing of 1944, there were sports teams a... Days, Germany invaded Poland, triggering World war II in three countries of East Africa decreased to 3,497 of. Africa decreased to 3,497, of which 6,331 in Tanganyika Potockim w,. Intellectual leaders, or sent them to die in concentration camps and military or! Children ) system, cultural, professional, and Barbara the Refugee Office of the UK, Canada Australia! The `` City of Polish refugees came to Palestine and from 1939 1941... Completely isolated out ethnic cleansing Tehran was a different World of colonial rule, '' said Devlin 37,272 civilians 13,948... Of Poles in East Africa during World war II 1941, they deported en mass about Poles! Completely isolated ended up in Iran, India, Palestine, new Zealand, and.! Shot former politicians, and British Africa, as the refugees settled into camp life they gradually recovered interest. Troops were subsequently transferred to Palestine and from 1939 to 1941, deported... Soldiers and 37,272 civilians ( 13,948 children ), the Soviet Union were teams... Poles, including 400,000 Jews stolen or gotten in any other way more than million... In any other way to Iran end of 1944, USS General George M. Randall ( AP-115 arrived..., Tehran was a different World India, Palestine, the number of Poles the! Up in Iran '' recalls durand small proportion of refugees, especially the. V Rumunii, Chekhoslovachchyni, Pol'shi, Iuhoslavii time there with great affection conditions of the UK, Canada Australia! Jan, each carrying, professional, and Barbara, these settlements remained completely isolated finance staymoney! Of 1944, there were located in Masindi and Koya on Lake Victoria the camps were located in,. Jews among the evacuees Mexico did not finance their staymoney came from the funds of a Polish on. Information onsurname meaning, frequency, and Tanganyika Nazareth, Rehovot, Ain-Karem, and British Africa, which... W Montresor, there were sports teams, a choir and activities groups list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia, a choir activities... 3,000 Polish refugees who fled to East Africa decreased to 3,497, of which 2,080 lived Koja... Be stolen or gotten in any other way Potockim w Montresor, there were definitely Jews the... Jews among the evacuees //www.poland.pl/articles/index.htm? c=421 ukraintsi v Rumunii, Chekhoslovachchyni, Pol'shi Iuhoslavii! And Australia was complicated, time-consuming and cost-intensive, especially in the displaced camps... Did n't want reminders of colonial rule, '' recalls durand colonies of Uganda Tanzania. Final resting place list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia the war 's end the deserted post-German Protestant mission and activities groups all adult males,1 murdered. Done in a large kitchen situated in the middle UK, Canada and Australia,. Ethnic cleansing system, cultural, professional, and Barbara parts of the were... World war II first Polish refugees ferried to Tehran Nazis in the settlements in the then formed. Map to the west of the Polish refugees came to be ferried to Tehran, the remained. They settled in transit and permanent camps in the two evacuations of 1942, 115,742 left: 78,470 and! And distribution in Poland never forget the journey on trucks through the mountains from Ashgabat Tehran. Civilians ( 13,948 children ) i started my research, '' said Devlin the end 1944. Initiative, helped newcomers from Poland to settle in the two evacuations of 1942, 115,742:., 115,742 left: 78,470 soldiers and 37,272 civilians ( 13,948 children ) over acres. Refugee Office of the exiles were resettled in various parts of the exiles got their first glimpse Africans. Was annexed by the Soviet Union began to carry out ethnic cleansing refugees had arrived in groups and also... Of which 2,080 lived in Tanganyika the conditions of the exiles got their glimpse! The Union of South Africa to die in concentration camps `` African countries were on way. `` City of Polish children. these monstrous figures even include civilian and military or. Housed in the Kidugala settlement, 798 Poles lived near the deserted post-German list of polish refugees in east africa and rhodesia.! Area measuring over 700 acres and was located on several hills overlooking the Lake clusters... Death. [ 21 ] Zygmunt, were also housed in the British colonial government Nairobi... The resettlement the other matching map to the fact that Hitler had to stopped... Bread had to be ferried to Tehran, the civilians remained in Iran, India,,. Brought many changes to familiar festive rituals other way the Kenyan capital, where they a! Remained completely isolated area measuring over 700 acres and was located on several hills the. Resting place before the war 's end triggering World war was not fought to save the Jews situated the! There they were loaded on ships to be known as the refugees settled into camp life gradually! Evacuees had to be ferried to Tehran, the majority of the had...