Polish Children's 65th Reunion, Wellington, NZ

Polish New Zealanders Reunite to Remember Pahiatua Pole Refugees

Oct 31, 2009

In 1944, 733 Polish children disembarked in Wellington. Some were accompanied by a parent; most left families behind in unmarked graves across Siberia and Central Asia.

An estimated 500 of these ‘Pahiatua Poles’ commemorate the 65th anniversary of their arrival with a reunion this weekend (Oct 31st-Nov 1st 2009) at the Overseas Terminal in Wellington, New Zealand. Lech Walesa, former Polish President and the man acknowledged for restoring freedom to Poland, attends as guest of honour.

Polish Refugee Children Begin the Epic Journey to New Zealand

The children’s grim journey began in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland. Hitler’s troops advanced swiftly into the Polish countryside. Just weeks later, Soviet tanks entered Poland from the east. The forced removal of Poles from their homeland began in February 1940. Cattle wagons lined up while families were driven from their homes. In the NZ Listener (Oct 31-Nov 6 2009), Zdzislaw Lepionka, three years old at the time, remembers: “a big commotion – lots of screaming”. Armed men thumped on doors in the dark of night, little time to gather belongings; the sound of gunfire, instant liquidations.

Young and old, male and female, were hustled to the nearest railway station, herded into cattle wagons and transported to the sub-arctic wastes of Siberia through frozen countryside. The wagons were cramped and unsanitary. The journey took weeks. Babies who died along the way were thrown into the snow. People left the trains in search of food and never returned. Conditions were equally grim at their destinations and many more people perished during the next two years of unspeakable hardship.

Polish Refugees Dispatched South from Freezing Siberian Labour Camps to the Deserts of Kazakhstan

In 1941 Germany invaded the Soviet Union. Hitler’s turnaround put Stalin on the same side as the Allies. The thousands of Polish soldiers transported to labour camps in Siberia had become a valuable commodity in the campaign against Germany. The Polish citizens held in Russian labour camps and prisons were granted a political ‘amnesty’.

Based in London, the Polish Government-in-exile was arranging passage from Iran for Polish refugees. The Poles who had been transported to Siberian labour camps and mines now began the long trek south, a journey no less arduous than the first, with many people succumbing to typhoid and dysentery along the way. Disease was exacerbated by the dramatic change in climate from the freezing Siberian winter to the heat of the Kazakhstan deserts. Parents starved so that their children could eat. “I think our mother sacrificed herself for us,” said Lepionka. Many more children than adults survived, finding themselves stranded in Red Cross camps and orphanages in Iran, unable to return to a Poland caught in the war zone between Germany and Russia.

Polish Refugee Children Offered Refuge in New Zealand

The children’s voyage to New Zealand was initiated by Countess Maria Wodzicka, wife of the then Polish Consul. The Countess shared with Janet Fraser, wife of NZ Prime Minister Peter Fraser, her idea that New Zealand could provide refuge for some of the Polish children. Peter Fraser and the NZ Government concurred. Bureaucratic doors were unlatched. The last leg of the children’s journey was about to begin.

After spending the first part of the voyage on the filthy rat-infested Sontay, on arrival in Bombay the children, their guardians and few surviving parents were transferred to the American troopship, the USS General Randall. Their knowledge of New Zealand was sparse. They had heard it was a beautiful country, that the grass was green and, perhaps with some alarm, that the inhabitants included cannibals called Maoris.

Dioniza Choros (née Gradzik) in ‘New Zealand’s First Refugees: Pahitaua’s Polish Children’ recalls sailing into Wellington Harbour on the evening of 31st October 1944. The sun was shining when they disembarked next morning. There were bands playing, cameras flashing, press interviews and “kind ladies” handing out sweets. The refugees boarded two trains bound for Pahiatua. The army-run camp contained a school, Catholic church, hospital and dentist. Flowers had been placed in rooms, beds made with clean linen. Nourishing food was abundant.

Pahiatua Poles Become Polish New Zealanders

While welcoming and appreciating the hospitality of New Zealanders, the ‘Pahiatua Poles’ had held an enduring faith that they would soon return to a free Poland; but circumstances were to turn against them yet again. As the spoils of war were apportioned, Eastern Poland was annexed to the Soviet Union and the remainder of Poland placed under Communist dictatorship. The Polish refugees found themselves once again stranded in a foreign land.

While conditions were undoubtedly improved: “I was at long last healthy,” writes Choros. “I could swim in the river, climb hills and play netball,” the loss of the sustaining dream of a return to the homeland was shattering. These people who had been stripped of so much, must now adjust to the prospect of growing up in a caring but alien land.

The copyright of the article Polish Children's 65th Reunion, Wellington, NZ in New Zealand History is owned by Lyn Rasmussen. Permission to republish Polish Children's 65th Reunion, Wellington, NZ in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.