开云体育

-----Original Message-----
From: Bert Bakker [mailto:bert_bakker41@...]
Sent: October 15, 2004 12:44 AM
To: Kresy-Siberia@...
Subject: [Kresy-Siberia] Polish refugee children in South Africa



With kind permission of the Editor of The Southern Cross
(www.thesoutherncross.co.za) a Roman Catholic weekly published in
South Africa, I hereby reproduce an article that appeared in one of
its issues.

I hope that the contents are of interests some of our readers.


Bert Bakker
Nelspruit
South Africa




From Siberia to SA: South Africa's Polish kids


On April 10, 1943, 500 Polish children, mostly orphans, landed in
Port Elizabeth, en-route to Oudtshoorn. Their story is one of faith,
determination and survival, 60 years after their arrival.

In the early hours of September 1, 1939, the juggernaut that was the
German armed forces was unleashed against Poland.

In 1938 the Soviets and the Nazis had signed a non-aggression pact.
Joseph Stalin, supreme leader of the Soviet Union, saw Adolf
Hitler's invasion of Poland as a perfect opportunity to grab a
part of the country as well.

Two weeks after the Germans invaded, on September 17, Soviet troops
occupied the eastern half of Poland, annexing the area to the
Ukraine and Belorussia.

During the winter of 1939-40 the Soviets began evicting Poles from
their homes and deporting them to Russia. Over a million were
deported during this period. Their homes were given to Russians.

For the most part these evictions were done at gunpoint by Soviet
troops and members of the feared Soviet state police, the NKVD
(later KGB)

Entire families were removed from their homes, bundled into sleighs
and taken to the nearest railway station. Here they were loaded into
cattle cars which were then locked and transported to labour camps
in Russia-mostly in Siberia.

Anna Lepkowski was 14 when the NKVD arrived at her home. "I still
remember it clearly," she says. "There were 15, maybe 20, Russian
soldiers. They had guns and dogs and they were telling us to come
out of the house at once. I could see on their hats the green badge
of the NKVD."

Anna and her family were put into a sleigh and, under armed guard,
taken to a nearby railway siding.

"We were locked into a cattle car with a lot of other families. It
was soon overcrowded and there was not enough room for anyone to lie
down. It was freezing cold and we didn't have warm clothes."

Most of the families had been driven out of their houses without
being allowed to pack any clothes. They travelled in what they had
been wearing.

The train stood at the siding for about seven hours before it began
the long journey to Siberia.

They were given little food on the journey and the only ablution
facilities was a hole in the floor of the railway wagon. The cold at
times plunged to -60. Many passengers did not survive the trip.
Anna's 8-year-old sister died from the cold.

Mary Maczakowska was 13 when her family was rounded up for
deportation to Siberia in 1940. "The labour camp in Siberia was
terrible," she says. "In winter the average was -50. It was so
cold that if you cried your eyes would freeze." In summer, however,
it was not uncommon for those in the Siberian labour camps to die of
heat stroke. Both Ms Maczakowska's parents died during the winter
of 1940.

In the summer of 1941 the Polish government in exile in London
received permission from the Soviet Union to release several hundred
thousand Poles from labour camps, prison and forced resettlement in
the Soviet Union. Thousands had died as a result of hunger and
sickness.

Stalin, facing defeat by Germany, agreed to utilise the Poles
he'd deported (hundreds of thousands were already dead on his
orders) to form a Polish army. The women and children were later
transferred to camps in the British-controlled Middle East and
Africa.

Ms Maczakowska was helped by the newly formed Polish army and she
was sent to Persia (now Iran) and then to India where she spent six
years. She then went to Mombasa in East Africa before arriving in
Johannesburg in 1948.

Among the Poles released from the labour camps was a group of 500
children, most of whom had been orphaned. They had suffered untold
hardships in the camps.

Karol Trybus was one of these children. He had lost his father and
younger brother. By the time the amnesty was granted, only his
mother and two brothers were still alive. Jan Trybus, his eldest
brother enlisted in the Polish army. He arranged for his brothers,
Adolf (8) and Karol (12), to be cared for by friends. A few days
later Polish army officials collected the two boys and took them to
the Polish welfare. They spent time in Persia, as did the other
children.

After nearly six months in Persia, the group of 500 children were
put on a Polish ship and set sail for South Africa. The trip, via
the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean, took a month.

The ship docked in Port Elizabeth on April 10, 1943. From there the
children were transported by train to Oudtshoorn in the Western
Cape. Part of the military base had been transformed into the Polish
Children's Home (Dom Polskich Dzieci) for their temporary
accommodation, care and education.

Under the supervision of the South African Department of Social
Welfare, as well as Polish consular and ministry representatives, it
remained in operation until 1947.

Relatives of some of the children were traced and they went to join
them. Others were sent to other parts of Africa such as Uganda and
Tanganyika. About 300 of them remained in South Africa and, after
finishing school, found employment.

"The Catholic Church and schools helped us tremendously," says J
Morawksi, one of the children and now a resident of Plettenberg
Bay. "They guided us in our new life. We are grateful to the country
and the people and town of Oudtshoorn have a very special place in
our hearts."

In 1993 a painting of the Black Madonna (brought from Poland by
Stefan Adamski) was presented to the Oudtshoorn cathedral by the
surviving "children".

"It was to thank God and the people of South Africa for giving us a
home," said Irena Banch (ne Dolinska), one of the children.

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of their arrival in South Africa,
an altar was built in Oudtshoorn cathedral, paid from donations from
the children and their families.

If you pass through Oudtshoorn, stop and pay a visit to the
cathedral, see the altar, and say a prayer for the children who are
still living-and for those who are not.

The Southern Cross, October 1-7, 2003

Copyright (c) 2003/2004 The Southern Cross. All rights reserved.












*
KRESY-SIBERIA GROUP = RESEARCH REMEMBRANCE RECOGNITION
"Dedicated to researching, remembering and recognising the Polish citizens
deported, enslaved and killed by the Soviet Union during World War Two."
*
Discussion site :
Gallery (photos, documents) :
Film and info :
*
To SUBSCRIBE to the discussion group, send an e-mail
saying who you are and describing your interest in the group to:
Kresy-Siberia-owner@...
*

Yahoo! Groups Links