Indian homecoming for Polish grandchildren

It didn’t come as a shock earlier this yr in March when Kieran Kyle Culkin walked away with the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his efficiency in A Real Pain. In the comedy-drama, Culkin units off on a journey by means of Poland along with his mismatched cousin (performed by Jesse Adam Eisenberg) to honour their Jewish grandmother, a holocaust survivor.

Coincidentally, just a few weeks earlier than the Oscars, a bunch of younger Polish women and men have been retracing their grandparents’ journey in India. Their ancestors have been among the many Polish kids orphaned throughout the course of World War II, who discovered refuge on this nation.

Twenty Polish youth, a few of them grandchildren of the Polish survivors, visited Balachadi (Jamnagar) and Valivade (Kolhapur) in February below the Jamsaheb Memorial Youth Exchange Programme. The go to was organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, after PM Narendra Modi’s go to to Poland final yr.

“Our grandfather was always talking about India. He called it his second home,” says Arkadiusz Michałowski (Arek), 28, a resident of Warsaw, whose (late) grandfather Wieslaw Stypula, was considered one of about 1,000 Polish kids orphaned throughout World War II who have been sheltered by the Maharaja of Nawanagar (presently Jamnagar), Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, within the erstwhile state of Gujarat. The yr was 1942, when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and the exiled Polish Government in London was anxious about the way forward for their youthful generations. The Maharaja, whose musical abilities have been appreciated by the nice Polish pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski, created a house inside his property for the orphaned kids.

“It was my grandfather’s dream to show us where he spent his childhood, introduce us to the people who remember the camp, and show us the memorial in Balachadi that he was instrumental in designing,” says Arek, who was visiting India along with his 25-year-old sister Kasia Michalowska.

Kasia and Arek on the memorial in Balachadi
| Photo Credit:
Nilesh Kanakhara

The memorial depicts a lady with a babe in her arms, caressing the top of a kid reaching as much as her. “The woman symbolises Mother India, an Indian child is in her arms and she is hugging a Polish child with her other arm. It is symbolic of how the Good Maharaja in India protected all the Polish children,” says Arek. “I cried when I read the poem carved on the memorial. It was written by my grandfather in the Balachadi camp when he was a teenager. It is part of him, his story, and my past,” say Arek, remembering his grandfather who handed away final yr.

Little Poland in books

After World War II, the efforts of the International Red Cross helped these Polish kids reunite with their surviving households internationally, together with Poland, the U.Ok., Canada, and Australia. Books and documentaries have captured their experiences. Poles in India 1942-1948: Second World War Story is a collective work of those Polish survivors, based mostly on archival paperwork and private reminiscences.

Many survivors have travelled to India on numerous events to make a journey down reminiscence lane. Two documentary movies, A Little Poland in India and Jindobrey India, made between 2012 and 2015, have explored this journey by means of intimate conversations with the survivors.

Grandchildren on the memorial in Balachadi
| Photo Credit:
Nilesh Kanakhara

For the Polish youth, it was a shifting expertise to go to the locations that meant a lot to their grandparents. “Our grandfather was dedicated to sharing the story of his life in India. He had photos from his childhood and material he collected for his books, which focussed mostly on his memories of India, and the Good Maharaja. He didn’t want to share horror stories from the war. He wanted to convey that, even during the darkest times, there were still good people in the world. His books dwelt on how wonderful India appeared to the Polish children, who knew only the dark and brutal world war,” says Kasia, her voice choked with emotion, standing amidst the scholars of the Sainik faculty in Balachadi.

Bartosz along with his grandfather Anrzej
| Photo Credit:
From Bartosz’s private assortment

Christmas in Balachadi

Their grandfather would typically inform them tales about India. “The Polish children hated spinach and tried to throw it away. They played musical instruments as a band and started a Polish Scouting Team. They learned the Nawanagar Anthem, but every morning they raised the Polish flag in the centre of the camp,” continues Arek.

Christmas celebrations have been completely different in Balachadi. Jam Saheb, whom the kids lovingly known as “Bapu”, would ship luggage stuffed with presents saddled on camels, and watch their conventional performances. “They tried to recreate the “Jasełka” (Nativity Play) utilizing issues that they had within the camp. In Polish custom, Santa Claus is available in a cart drawn by flying reindeers however in Balachadi they noticed camels, which they discovered unique. They missed the Christmas snow as December was nonetheless fairly heat in Balachadi,” Kasia recollects. whereas procuring for household and mates, choosing up vibrant Indian handicrafts and postcards. “Granddad would pick these up for us whenever he visited India,” she provides, donning a hand embroidered jacket, whereas Arek chooses conventional Indian jewelry for his fiancée.

Kasia along with her grandfather Wieslaw Stypula
| Photo Credit:
Tomasz Stankiewicz

Peace and bedtime tales

Barbara Gutowska, 22, the granddaughter of (late) Roman Gutowski, one other Polish youngster who lived within the Maharaja’s camp, says visiting India has been a surreal expertise. “I am standing in the place I have known only from my childhood bedtime stories. The place that my grandfather considered his home. The place where he grew up, played, began primary school, made friends and experienced various exotic adventures. I have found peace,” she provides. A pupil on the University of Warsaw, Gutowska is eager on studying Indian classical dance.

Barbara along with her grandfather Roman Gutowski
| Photo Credit:
From Gutowski’s private assortment

Bartosz Jezierski, 17, a highschool pupil, stands on the memorial museum of one of many largest Polish survivors’ camps in Valivade, 10 km from Kolhapur. “My grandfather, Andrzej Jezierski, was one of the children who were lucky enough to find refuge here,” he says. These younger persons are struck by the similarity between two solely completely different locations and cultures. “This trip showed me that we are not as different as we might think,” says Kasia, a pupil on the University of Warsaw.

Her brother echoes her sentiments. “I am, and always will be, very grateful for the huge act of kindness and selflessness shown by the Good Maharaja. If not for him, I would not be here in this world. It is the debt of a lifetime, which I hope we will be able to repay one day by helping others in need,” says Arek, with humility.

The author is an impartial documentary filmmaker and creator of A Little Poland in India and Jindobrey India.