'He saved our lives': Canadian woman among 1,000 Polish children adopted by Indian maharaja during WW 2. By Belle Puri
A
pot of fresh borscht simmers on the stove. The aroma
fills Karolina Rybka's two-bedroom apartment in Kelowna, B.C. The walls are
adorned with frames full of colourful needlepoint the great-grandmother
did herself. Everywhere
there's something to see — arrangements of dried flowers, knick-knacks and
endless family photographs.
It's an
atmosphere in stark contrast to decades-old memories that remain vivid in
Rybka's mind. She remembers
the squalid orphanage where she landed after the Soviets deported her family to
Siberia at the start of the Second World War. "They
gave us only one slice of bread," she said."There
were lots of children in a big room lying on the floor." Life was
bleak until an Indian maharaja came to the rescue. Rybka, of
Kelowna, B.C., is one of an estimated 1,000 Polish children provided
refuge by the Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, the ruler of
Nawanagar, after their release from the Soviet orphanage in 1942. "He
saved our lives," said Rybka.
Rybka was the third-youngest of seven children born to a carpenter and his wife in Zulin, a small village in Poland. When the Second World War began in September 1939, the country was invaded by the Germans and then by the Russians. Rybka's family was torn apart. Her father and one sibling escaped apprehension when Soviet troops came to their door one day at 6 a.m. She, her mother and five siblings were taken away. "They say, 'Get up. You're going to Russia. Get ready,'" said Rybka. The soldiers told the family there was no need to take any belongings, everything was available in Russia. "There was nothing in Russia. We were all starving there," said Rybka. With four and five families to a car with no beds or toilets, Rybka's family endured a month-long train journey to Siberia. Her mother and one sibling died there. Eventually, Rybka's father was able to make his way to Siberia and find his children but the reunion was short-lived.
It's an
atmosphere in stark contrast to decades-old memories that remain vivid in
Rybka's mind. She remembers
the squalid orphanage where she landed after the Soviets deported her family to
Siberia at the start of the Second World War. "They
gave us only one slice of bread," she said."There
were lots of children in a big room lying on the floor." Life was
bleak until an Indian maharaja came to the rescue. Rybka, of
Kelowna, B.C., is one of an estimated 1,000 Polish children provided
refuge by the Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji, the ruler of
Nawanagar, after their release from the Soviet orphanage in 1942. "He
saved our lives," said Rybka.Rybka was the third-youngest of seven children born to a carpenter and his wife in Zulin, a small village in Poland. When the Second World War began in September 1939, the country was invaded by the Germans and then by the Russians. Rybka's family was torn apart. Her father and one sibling escaped apprehension when Soviet troops came to their door one day at 6 a.m. She, her mother and five siblings were taken away. "They say, 'Get up. You're going to Russia. Get ready,'" said Rybka. The soldiers told the family there was no need to take any belongings, everything was available in Russia. "There was nothing in Russia. We were all starving there," said Rybka. With four and five families to a car with no beds or toilets, Rybka's family endured a month-long train journey to Siberia. Her mother and one sibling died there. Eventually, Rybka's father was able to make his way to Siberia and find his children but the reunion was short-lived.
Kind-hearted
maharaja
In 1941, the Soviets
declared an amnesty allowing orphans to leave Russia. Knowing he couldn't
provide for them, Rybka's father deposited his three youngest children at
an orphanage for Polish children in Siberia. It was the last time
they would see their father. Shortly afterward,
the kind-hearted maharaja unexpectedly came to their rescue. The ruler of
Nawanagar, a princely state in British India, volunteered to provide hundreds
of Polish children with a home.
They travelled, again
by train, to Persia and then 1,500 kilometres on army trucks to the Indian
state of Gujarat and a village called Balachadi. The maharaja greeted
the children with the words: "You are no longer orphans. From now on,
you are Nawanagarians and I am bapu, father of all Nawanagarians."The
maharaja built dormitories in which each child had his or her own bed and
provided them with food, clothes and medical care. He also provided for
the children's education by bringing in Polish teachers.
Rybka said most
days she went to school until noon, had lunch, and then walked with other
children to the ocean for a swim. "Big waves. We
were just jumping. We were so happy," said Rybka. Her memories include
playing sports, excelling in basketball and performing Polish dances for the
maharaja.
Family remembers
Polish children
The maharaja had
children of his own, as well as extended family who lived at his palace
not far from where the Polish children were staying. Nephew Rajkumar
Sukdevsinhji, 83, remembers spending a lot of time with the newcomers,
particularly playing football and celebrating Christmas. His uncle, he says,
was educated in England and "by nature was a wonderful person." "His mindset was
to help, to say here is a good cause, a worthy cause, something I should be
doing," said Sukdevsinhji by telephone from Mumbai.
The Polish children,
he says, were looked after with uniforms for school, teachers in class
and beautiful residences — everything was provided. Digvijaysinhji never
asked for anything in return for his grand gesture, but dreamed of the day a
street could be named after him in a liberated Poland. That didn't happen
during his lifetime. It was only after
Poland became fully independent in 1989 that a square in Warsaw was named after
the maharaja.
Subsequently, a small
park in the city has been named the Square of the Good Maharaja, a monument in
his honour has been erected and he was posthumously awarded the
Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 1947, India gained
independence from the British and non-Indians had to leave the country. Polish authorities
moved Rybka, then in her mid-teens, and others to England — and encouraged
them to participate in a pen-pal program.
At 18, the family of
Rybka's Canadian pen pal sent for her, she says, believing she might make a
good wife for their son. But he wasn't there
when she arrived in Prince Albert, Sask., and the next day she met another man.
She married him a few months later. Now a widow, Rybka
says she'd like to revisit Balachadi and see where she lived and grew up, but
doesn't see that happening at her age. The maharaja, she
says, was a good man and if he were alive and she could see him she would
hug him. "I have no idea
what would have happened to us, a thousand kids," she said. "The war was
everywhere. I have no idea what they would have done with us. Nobody wanted
us."
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/polish-children-adopted-by-maharaja-1.5351763