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2021-02-14T23:11:02Z

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{{use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{short description|Memorial Pillar memory of over 5000 Polish refugees who escaped to India during World War II}}

The '''Memorial Pillar''' located in Valivade (a village near [[Kolhapur]], India) is in memory of over 5000 Polish refugees who escaped to India during [[World War II]] and were given shelter in the area. Poland<nowiki>''</nowiki>s Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz unveiled the pillar on 14 September 2019.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/polish-wwii-memorial-pillar-unveiled-in-kolhapur/1618788|title=Polish WW-II Memorial Pillar unveiled in Kolhapur|last=|first=|date=14 September 2019|website=Outlook India|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolhapur/memorial-pillar-to-remember-polish-refugees-to-be-unveiled-on-saturday/articleshow/71087260.cms|title=Memorial pillar to remember Polish refugees to be unveiled on Saturday|last=Bhusari|first=Piyush|date=12 September 2019|website=The Times of India|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2019-09-14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/memorial-to-polish-refugees-to-be-unveiled-in-kolhapur/article29412737.ece|title=Memorial to Polish refugees to be unveiled in Kolhapur|last=Banerjee|first=Shoumojit|date=2019-09-14|work=The Hindu|access-date=2019-09-14|language=en-IN|issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

== Background ==
The first group of refugees had arrived in Valivade on 11 June 1943 and stayed till 1948. Whereas in 1948, many Poles returned to their homeland, a few stayed back.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://theprint.in/india/for-these-poland-nationals-with-ties-to-world-war-ii-home-is-a-tiny-village-in-maharashtra/291291/|title=For these Poland nationals with ties to World War II, 'home' is a tiny village in Maharashtra|last=Phadke|first=Manasi|date=14 September 2019|work=The Print|access-date=14 September 2019}}</ref> Valivade was the largest settlement of Polish citizens In India during the war.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Piotrowski|first=Tadeusz|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Kefzi0_vwIC&q=%22Jamnagar%22%20polish&pg=PA126|title=The Polish Deportees of World War II: Recollections of Removal to the Soviet Union and Dispersal Throughout the World|date=2015-09-17|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0-7864-5536-2|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Phadnis|first=Samrat|date=February 13, 2014|title=Over 70 Polish refugees to visit city in March, relive WW-II memories|work=The Times of India|url=https://m.timesofindia.com/city/kolhapur/Over-70-Polish-refugees-to-visit-city-in-March-relive-WW-II-memories/articleshow/30313290.cms|url-status=live|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201221518/https://m.timesofindia.com/city/kolhapur/Over-70-Polish-refugees-to-visit-city-in-March-relive-WW-II-memories/articleshow/30313290.cms|archive-date=2021-01-08}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Deshpande|first=Devidas|date=July 31, 2011|title=The last Pole of Valivade|work=Pune Mirror|url=https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/cover-story/the-last-pole-of-valivade/articleshow/32090088.cms|url-status=live|access-date=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191020125307/https://punemirror.indiatimes.com/pune/cover-story/the-last-pole-of-valivade/articleshow/32090088.cms|archive-date=2021-01-08}}</ref>
There were other smaller Polish settlements in India at the time in areas such as [[Balachadi]] and [[Panchgani]] which offered settlement mainly due to the hospitality of [[Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji]], [[Maharaja]] [[Jam Sahib]] of [[Nawanagar State]].<ref name="PHM1">{{Cite web|url=https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/FQKCQq9LDKemIg|title=Google Arts & Culture: 1939–1948 Passage to India, Polish settlements in Balachadi and Valivade|last=Wójcicka|first=Ewa|authorlink=|date=|publisher=Polish History Museum|location=Warsaw|page=|language=|trans-title=|isbn=|volume=}}</ref><ref name="TBI1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.thebetterindia.com/52118/maharaja-digvijaysinhji-ranjitsinhji-jadeja-nawanagar-ww2-little-poland-in-india/|title=How One Maharaja Helped Save the Lives of 640 Polish Children and Women During World War II|last=Jumde|first=Anandita|authorlink=|date=17 April 2016|publisher=The Better India, Vikara Media Pvt Ltd|location=Bangalore|page=|language=|trans-title=|isbn=|volume=}}</ref> A Polish cemetery is also in Vilavade, home to 78 people who died there.<ref name=":0" />

== See also ==
* [[India–Poland relations]]

== References ==
<references />

== Further reading ==
* [https://kresy-siberia.org/indie/?page_id=7&g=24 Kresy Siberia Virtual Museum – Polish refugees in Valivade, everyday life in photographs]

{{coord missing|India}}

[[Category:Poland in World War II]]
[[Category:India in World War II]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials in India]]

{{India-struct-stub}}

Memorial Pillar (Valivade) - Revision history

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