04 Dec 2020
Uncategorized 340 Comments
December 4, 2020 thepartizaneditor

The Indian Schindler and a little Poland in Gujarat

1st of September, 1939 was a momentous day in the history of entire humankind – the day Hitler’s 3rd Reich stormed into Poland and unleashed hell, the day which pushed the world into the deadliest war it has ever seen. What often goes unnoticed is that the poor Polish people suffered the misfortune of seeing their beloved homeland ravaged not once but twice over. Sixteen days after the German armed forces and tanks rolled into Poland, Stalin’s Red Army walked into the country through its eastern borders and faced considerably less resistance from an already vanquished foe.
Germany and the Soviet Union had earlier arrived at a tacit agreement to carve up Poland among themselves with Germany keeping the western parts and the Red Army occupying the eastern areas. This mutually beneficial cooperation remained in place till 1941 when Hitler decided “dil maange more” and waged into war against Soviet Russia. While horrors of the German occupation were well documented, the same of the Soviets, although less publicized, were no less horrific. Adult males were forcibly conscripted into the Red Army. Women and children were made homeless and most were thrown into refugee camps in central Asia or Siberia where they lived in miserable conditions.
In 1941, the Polish government-in-exile managed to convince Joseph Stalin to agree to an amnesty, brokered by Red Cross, to allow Polish refugees to leave the Russian gulags where they’d been living and relocate to different countries which were willing to give them shelter. Mexico and New Zealand were among the countries that provided a new home to some of the refugees. But probably the most magnanimous gesture came from a kind heart closer home.
Maharaja Jam Sahib Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the ruler of Nawanagar, was a Hindu member of Britain’s war cabinet. His close friendship with Ignacy Paderewski, a Polish pianist and diplomat, had anyway made him fond of Polish culture. The plight of the homeless children moved him much and he acted swiftly to provide a home to some of them. The British Indian administration was less keen about the same. They were happy to have a Polish army to help with war efforts but less so about civilians. Thus it happened that when a ship from Iran, carrying nearly 1000 Polish refugee children arrived in Bombay, the British Governor refused to let it dock. That’s when the kind king intervened.
With his own money and contributions from his royal friends, he raised Rs 6, 00, 000 to build a refugee colony in Balachadi – a seaside vacation resort for the royal family of Jamnagar. More than 60 buildings, a chapel, laundry rooms, a stage to hold plays, a community center for Saturday evening dances for the young adults, sports grounds – all came up here between 1942 and 1945. When the 1st batch of about 170 Polish kids arrived at Balachadi, the Jamsahib welcomed them with these words: “You are no longer orphans. From now on you are Nawangarians, and I am Bapu, father of all Nawangarians, so I’m your father as well.”
For the refugee children whose only reality in life was the harshness of the Soviet gulags, this was paradise. The dormitories had bunk beds – one for each child, a luxury they had never known. Digvijaysinhi even handed over the royal guest house to be converted into a school. A special library was set up with Polish books so that the children could learn their mother tongue. When they struggled to adapt to spicy Indian food, the Jam Sahib arranged for 7 chefs from Goa who were tasked with preparing less spicy food palatable for the children.
"You are no longer orphans. From now on you are Nawangarians, and I am Bapu, father of all Nawangarians, so I’m your father as well."

One of the favorite pastimes of the children was staging plays and Digvijaysinhi never missed attending these. He would arrive with toffees in his coat pockets which he distributed generously after the event was over. Whenever he attended a show, he donated 1001/-. Between 1942 and late 1946 when it wound up, it is estimated that close to 1000 Polish refugee children found shelter at the camp in Balachedi.
When the camp finally wound up and the children journeyed for their original homeland, it was difficult to say who was more heartbroken, the king or his little friends. Digvijaysinhi never asked for a single penny of compensation for all that he did. His only wish was to have a road/street named after him in Poland. Sadly, it was not to be fulfilled in his lifetime. The new regime of Poland in the post-war era was Communist and was wary that such an act would give highlight to the atrocities committed by Soviet Russia from 1939 – 1941. It would be long before the benevolent king’s dear wish would be honored.
In 2012, long after the fall of the Communist regime, Poland finally recognized her friend in need. A square in Warsaw was named after Digvijaysinhji – dubbed Square of the Good Maharaja. A monument in his honor was also erected and he was posthumously awarded “The Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.”

Even today, Jamnagar gets Polish visitors every year, many of them the children – now in their 80s – who for the first time in their lives experienced true childhood and humanity in this foreign land thanks to a man with a very large heart.

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