India was first to accept these refugees among the many nations where they were temporarily settled
KRC TIMES Desk
In the month of July 1943 one of the biggest settlement of refugees in India of around 5000 Polish children, adolescents and women was set up in Valivade-Kolhapur.
The World War II saw mass deportation of Polish people to Siberia and Kazakhstan after Soviet invasion of Eastern Poland between 1940 and 1941. When an amnesty was negotiated in 1942, General W. Anders took with him 40000 Poles out of Soviet Union mostly children and women, the men were either dead or fighting the war.
India was first to accept these refugees among the many nations where they were temporarily settled.
On 12th September a 27-member Poles in India delegation comprising Polish citizens who took refuge at Valivade in Kolhapur district during World War II, arrived in India along with their family members to rekindle their memories of childhood.
They were accorded a warm welcome in Kolhapur, the city where they lived during wartime. They paid tributes to the soil and recalled their memories at Valivade refugee camp. All these Poles had spent their childhood in refugee camp at Valivade village of Kolhapur district during 1942-1948.
A high level delegation led by Marcin Przydacz, Deputy Foreign Minister of Poland will arrive in Kolhapur on 13th September where he will interact with the industrialists and businessmen in Kolhapur on 14th September and inaugurate the memorial built in the area where the five thousand citizens lived as refugees from 1942 to 1948.
A museum will also be built in this area with the objective of helping the coming generations to know about the times and life at camp Valivade. Paintings, photographs, documents and other important articles will be displayed in the museum. The museum will be ready within a year.
“Lutha’s 72 year old memory of the bangles from Walivade”
“Lutha Maria stayed as a small girl with her mother at Valivade during 1942 to 1948. Her mother had put a bangle on her hand during the stay. She has preserved the bangle for the last 72 years. She says she continues to treasure the bangle as a memory from the land of Shahu Maharaj.
