14 September 2019 13:58 IST

A commemorative pillar for these families who lived in Valivade between 1942 and 1948 will be unveiled on September 14.

When Poland was caught between Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Josef Stalin’s Russia during the Second World War, a stream of refugees from Poland made their way to Valivade village in Kolhapur district.

A commemorative pillar for these families who lived in Valivade between 1942 and 1948 will be unveiled on September 14. Several members of a 29-member Polish delegation recall their ‘mini Poland’, with its own church, schools and even a cinema.



Ludmila Jakutowicz's mother brought her a Kolhapuri bangle in the Christmas of 1947. She hasn't removed since then, thus keeping alive her memories of Kolhapur and her bond with India.

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Umesh Kashikar is one of the five children of the late Wanda Nowicka. Wanda married Vasant Kashikar and lived on in Kolhapur even after her countrymen went back to other countries in 1948.

Krystana was born in the Valivade camp. She now lives in Wroclaw, Poland.

Dennis Wypijewska was a teenager when he was in India. He remembers the time he spent here to be joyous. He remembers going to Chandoli and Panhala.