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Polish refugees land in New Zealand
Polish refugees land in New Zealand
For the 733 children and 102 adults, it was the end of a long and perilous journey. They had survived deportation to the Soviet Union, forced labo.ur in Siberia and evacuation to the Middle East before reaching New Zealand
An estimated 1.7 million Poles were deported to labour camps in Siberia following the Soviet occupation of eastern Poland in 1939.
Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 prompted Joseph Stalin to send over 120,000 Polish prisoners to Iran,
In 1943 Prime Minister Peter Fraser invited a group of Polish children to New Zealand for the duration of the war.
Most of the refugees chose to settle in New Zealand after the war.
Relatives joined some in the late 1940s, while a small number returned to Poland.
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