Date: 1 September 1939 , this was the day when the most terrible war in history started from the land of Poland. On this day Hitler’s Nazi army attacked Poland. Exactly 16 days later, Soviet Union’s dictator Stalin attacked from the other end and divided Poland into two parts.
The joint attack by Hitler and Stalin devastated Poland. Thousands of children were separated from their parents. Welsh historian Norman Davies describes in his book Heart of Europe that 2 million people from Poland were loaded onto trains and deported to Arctic Russia, Siberia and Kazakhstan of the United State of Soviet Russia (USSR). These included orphaned children of Polish soldiers.
Most of the people arrested were Jews. They were kept in labour camps in Siberia, which are called Gulag. Here the prisoners were given only one piece of bread to eat, on which they survived for many days. During this deportation which lasted from 1939-40, about 10 lakh people died.
Everyone knows this story, but very few people would know that these captives found a new home in India, 1460 kilometers away from the Gulag in Siberia. How did these people travel to India? How a king from Gujarat became a family for these orphaned children. In this story, we will know how the people of India and Poland came closer during the Second World War…
Hitler broke the agreement with Stalin, attacked the Soviet Union
On 22 July 1941, Hitler broke his promise to Stalin and attacked the Soviet Union i.e. USSR and with this a new hope arose for the prisoners of Gulag. USSR joined hands with the Allied forces formed against Nazi Germany. Under the new agreement, Stalin agreed to form a Polish army and the arrested people were released.
Thousands of Polish citizens, freed from Soviet captivity, moved towards Central Asia. In March and August 1942, 38,000 refugees reached Iran. Most of them were women and children. They were kept in special camps in cities like Tehran, Isfahan and Ahvaz. Meanwhile, the search for a permanent place for these children began.
While on one hand the Jews were being massacred in Europe and especially in Germany, on the other hand the British government in India was not ready to give shelter to the Jewish refugees. They had laid down tough conditions citing the need for special camps and educational facilities for the refugees.
The condition of these children, who were battling between life and death during their journey from one country to another for 2 years, was very bad. Due to starvation and malnutrition, these children had become like skeletons. Their hair had grown and they were wearing torn and old clothes. Meanwhile, the Polish Consulate Office in Bombay, 2800 km away from Tehran, decided to help the Jewish refugees.