Indian homecoming for Polish grandchildren

It didn’t come as a surprise earlier this year in March when Kieran Kyle Culkin walked away with the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in A Real Pain. In the comedy-drama, Culkin sets off on a journey through Poland with his mismatched cousin (played by Jesse Adam Eisenberg) to honour their Jewish grandmother, a holocaust survivor.

Coincidentally, a few weeks before the Oscars, a group of young Polish men and women were retracing their grandparents’ journey in India. Their ancestors were among the Polish children orphaned during the course of World War II, who found refuge in this country.

Twenty Polish youth, some of them grandchildren of the Polish survivors, visited Balachadi (Jamnagar) and Valivade (Kolhapur) in February under the Jamsaheb Memorial Youth Exchange Programme. The visit was organised by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, after PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Poland last year.

“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 one of about 1,000 Polish children orphaned during World War II who were sheltered by the Maharaja of Nawanagar (presently Jamnagar), Jam Saheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, in the erstwhile state of Gujarat. The year was 1942, when Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, and the exiled Polish Government in London was anxious about the future of their younger generations. The Maharaja, whose musical skills were appreciated by the great Polish pianist and statesman Ignacy Jan Paderewski, created a home within his estate for the orphaned children.

“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 with his 25-year-old sister Kasia Michalowska.

The memorial depicts a woman with a babe in her arms, caressing the head of a child reaching up to 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 passed away last year.

Little Poland in books

After World War II, the efforts of the International Red Cross helped these Polish children reunite with their surviving families across the world, including Poland, the U.K., Canada, and Australia. Books and documentaries have captured their experiences. Poles in India 1942-1948: Second World War Story is a collective work of these Polish survivors, based on archival documents and personal reminiscences.

Many survivors have travelled to India on various occasions to take a trip down memory lane. Two documentary films, A Little Poland in India and Jindobrey India, made between 2012 and 2015, have explored this journey through intimate conversations with the survivors.

For the Polish youth, it was a moving experience to visit the places that meant so much 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 students of the Sainik school in Balachadi.

Christmas in Balachadi

Their grandfather would often tell them stories 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 were different in Balachadi. Jam Saheb, whom the children lovingly called “Bapu”, would send bags full of gifts saddled on camels, and watch their traditional performances. “They tried to recreate the “Jasełka” (Nativity Play) using things they had in the camp. In Polish tradition, Santa Claus comes in a cart drawn by flying reindeers but in Balachadi they saw camels, which they found exotic. They missed the Christmas snow as December was still quite warm in Balachadi,” Kasia recalls. while shopping for family and friends, picking up colourful Indian handicrafts and postcards. “Granddad would pick these up for us whenever he visited India,” she adds, donning a hand embroidered jacket, while Arek chooses traditional Indian jewellery for his fiancée.

Peace and bedtime stories

Barbara Gutowska, 22, the granddaughter of (late) Roman Gutowski, another Polish child who lived in the Maharaja’s camp, says visiting India has been a surreal experience. “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 adds. A student at the University of Warsaw, Gutowska is keen on learning Indian classical dance.

Bartosz Jezierski, 17, a high school student, stands at the memorial museum of one of the 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 young people are struck by the similarity between two entirely different places and cultures. “This trip showed me that we are not as different as we might think,” says Kasia, a student at 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 writer is an independent documentary filmmaker and author of A Little Poland in India and Jindobrey India.