Nearly eighty years after they first arrived, a group of Poles returned on Sunday to the western Indian city of Jamnagar where they found sanctuary after fleeing the Soviet occupation of Poland during World War Two.
Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Nawanagar, the "Jam Sahib" as he was affectionately called, established a camp for Polish children in his territory, where more than 1,000 arrived from the Soviet Union in 1942 after Stalin granted an "amnesty" to all Polish citizens allowing them to leave.
Nawanganar, now Jamnagar in the state of Gujarat, became home for children evacuated from Siberia where they had been transported after the 1939 Soviet invasion of Poland.
The ships carrying Polish refugees, including many children aged two through 17, were denied entry in a number of ports while sailing from Iran to Bombay (now Mumbai), then under British colonial rule. The Maharaja, who was a member of the Imperial War Council, facilitated the ships' entry and established a camp in Balachadi, about 25 km (15 miles) from the capital city Jamnagar, for the Polish refugees.
One of the camp's former residents, Wieslaw Stypula, said the children unfurled a Polish flag when they arrived, symbolising that "a tiny independent Polish republic was established".
Many of the children were orphans, though some were later joined by their mothers. Another former refugee, Josphine Nowicka Salva, said the children had no idea what had happened to their families on coming to the camp.
After the end of the war some of the refugees returned to Poland, others were transferred to Valivade in the state of Maharashtra, where a second camp was established for Polish refugees.
A school was later founded on the camp grounds and now bears a plaque donated by the former refugees.
The group also participated in commemorations of Poland's 100 years of independence with Poland's ambassador to India Adam Burakowski.
Jamnagar was the best place in India to celebrate the anniversary due to the kindness shown by the maharaja to the thousand or so Polish refugees, Burakowski said.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 International, Reuters