Poland to immortalise refugees sent to Kenya after World War II

Poland says it will soon launch a regular exhibition in Kenya to commemorate the life and influence of its refugees who settled in the country and the region after World War II.

Visiting Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Paweł Jabłoński said Friday that his country will organise regular exhibitions as soon as the threat of the Covid-19 pandemic is reduced.

This is part of the country’s cultural relations with Kenya and Africa, and will help the countries remember the thousands of Polish refugees who were brought to Africa to find peace after the war.

“This is an interesting part of history. Not much is known in Poland or Kenya. [The history shows the] strong relations between our nations, even before Kenya gained independence,“ he told a press conference at the National Museums of Kenya.

Mr Jabłoński, who earlier visited Tanzania, was in Nairobi for meetings with Kenyan officials.

At NMK, he attended exhibitions about Kenya’s history after meeting with Principal Curator Joyce Kinyanjui.

He then proceeded to Kiambu County, where he toured projects his government has funded.

What happened

Poland, occupied during World War II and whose government was exiled in London, became a battleground for rival Nazi and Soviet forces.

The war resulted in a huge number of civilians and captured Polish soldiers being imprisoned by the Soviets, who had defeated the Nazis.

By 1939, official records indicate more than 320,000 Poles had been detained and sent to camps in remote parts of the Soviet Union.

In July 1941 in London, the Soviets and the Polish government signed the Sikorski-Mayski agreement, which provided for the freeing of thousands of refugees, in exchange for allowing Poland to form its army.

Some historians argue the deal allowed Poland to organise its own nascent government but boosted the Soviet push to annihilate the Nazis.

As a result, thousands of Poles remained exiled abroad.

Some of those freed from Soviet camps were brought to Africa in an arrangement by the then British colonial empire.

The estimated 20,000 refugees, mostly children, settled in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe [then known as Northern and Southern Rhodesia, respectively].

Strong ties

In Kenya, the refugees settled in Nairobi, Makindu and Mombasa.

Most of them later migrated to the West while others remained, working in various sectors of the then colonial Kenya.

In the past, Poland, which is now a member of the European Union, has enhanced cultural connections with Kenya through annual film festivals and music while the National Archives in Kenya has stored tons of documents about the arrival, life and influence of Polish refugees.

One such polish film, known as ‘Hiding and Seeking’, which was shown in Kenya, reflected on the journey of Poles and Jews displaced from their country.

“We have learnt a lot about Kenya’s rich history. What was really inspiring to me was the struggle for independence from colonial rule,” the Polish deputy minister told journalists.

“Poland is one of the European countries that has never had any colonies and was actually colonized. We were under foreign rule so we share the same emotion and history as we also fought for our independence,” he said.

“This really evokes our national spirit. Kenya and Poland have very many strong traits. Our nations are very strong together and even though we are far apart, I’m sure we will bring our nations closer together through exchanges in diplomacy, culture and a (shared) history.”

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