As Indian students in Ukraine flee to Poland, the country has promised support. It reminds us of the time when Jamsaheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, a former ruler of the princely state of Nawangar, gave refuge to hundreds of Polish children during World War II
Jamsaheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the former ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar in the Kathiawar region of present-day Gujarat with some of the Polish children he had sheltered during World War II. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
The Russian onslaught in Ukraine has forced thousands of Indians in the war-torn nation to flee. Many have crossed the borders to neighbouring nations to the west – Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary, and Moldova.
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The border post between Ukraine and Poland remains the busiest and Indians too are flocking to these checkpoints in larger numbers.
On Tuesday, around 2,000 Indian nationals, mostly students, entered Poland, according to The Indian Express. Not only are they being taken in without visas, but the Polish ambassador Adam Burakowski has also assured that there will special flights of the students to fly back to India and that the country will help in the evacuation process.
“The border points are overcrowded but we are receiving everyone with a warm heart,” he told ANI.
In times of crisis, it’s the stories of kindness and empathy that stand out. This brings to mind Jamsaheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the former ruler of the princely state of Nawanagar in the Kathiawar region of present-day Gujarat.
The large-hearted king sheltered hundreds of Polish children displaced by World War II.
Little Poland in a little part of India
Months before the outbreak of World War II, the now-celebrated Kindertransport project was undertaken – a mission to ferry orphaned and lost children from Germany and occupied Europe to safety. It helped 10,000 children escape from the brutalities of Adolf Hitler.
Around 500 Polish children, aged between two and 17, from war-torn Poland and prison camps in the Soviet Union were put on a ship that was headed to India’s western coast. The journey was long and arduous, stretching across Turkmenistan, Iran, Afghanistan, present-day Pakistan before it reached western India.
The children were denied entry at many ports before they arrived at Nawanagar. By now, they were exhausted and famished but found a kindred soul in Digvijaysinhji. It was not an easy time in India, as the country was fighting for its independence.
But the maharaja put all of that behind him and took the children in, looking after him like their own. “Don’t consider yourselves orphans. You are now Nawanagaris and I am Bapu, the father of all Nawanagaris, including yourselves,” he told them, according to a report in The Hindu.
And thus began the story of Little Poland in a little part of India.
Digvijaysinhji built a camp for the refugee children in a place called Balachadi not too far away from his summer palace, 23 km from Jamnagar. He provided them with medical aid, accommodation, and schools. He opened another camp for them in Chela. The maharaja roped in rulers of Patiala and Baroda and also reached out to the Tata group to raise funds for the children. Lakhs of rupees were pooled to ensure that the needs of the Polish children were met.
“Our father politically adopted them,” the king’s daughter Harshad Kumari, told Outlook Magazine.
Digvijaysinhji was familiar with the culture of Poland. During his stay with an uncle in Switzerland in the 1920s, he had interacted with his Polish neighbours.
It is said that it was this kind gesture that encouraged other places in India to welcome Polish refugees. Between 1942 and 1948, more than 20,000 refugees stayed and travelled through India.
After the war was over, the refugees were asked to return. A few returned to Poland; many others chose the United Kingdom, Australia, and other Commonwealth Nations. Digvijaysinhji bid them farewell personally at a railway station.
Jamsaheb Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja built a camp for the refugee children in a place called Balachadi not too far away from his summer palace, 23 km from Jamnagar. Image Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Warsaw’s tribute to the king
Decades later, Digvijaysinhji’s legacy remains alive. A school in Warsaw is named after the maharaja and it has a touch of India to it. Walls are adorned with pictures of Indian monuments and graffiti on our classical dances and culture. It is run by the Friends of India Education Foundation and Digvijaysinhji is the patron saint of the school.
The Polish government has also honoured the king posthumously by presenting the “Commanders Cross of the Order of the Merit of the Polish Republic,” awarded to those who have contributed to improving Warsaw’s relations with other nations.
According to The Hindu report, Warsaw also plans to name a square after Digvijaysinhji.
In 2009, when then Polish prime minister Donald Tusk met then President Pratibha Patel, he had an emotional moment. Remembering the kind-heartedness of Digvijaysinhji, he had said, “When others were killing our children, you were able to save them.”
A documentary on the king
A documentary titled Little Poland in India chronicles the story of the selfless king, who became the saviour of orphaned children hit by war. It’s a heart-warming film produced by Delhi-based filmmaker Anu Radha. Little Poland in India revolves around five survivors who talk about how they got a chance at a new life and found a second home in India.
“There are no boundaries and no continents between human hearts,” Anu Radha had said when the film was premiered in 2013.
These are words we can hold on to today. Hundreds of Indians now look to Poland for help, as the Russia-Ukraine conflict rages on.
With inputs from agencies
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