The Sunday Mail
Siphathisiwe Maziwa
In 1939, Poland was attacked by Nazi German from the west and the Soviet Union from the east during an operation known as the September campaign, marking the beginning of World War II.
The invasion resulted in almost half of Polish citizens being captured.
Men, women and children were jailed while some were exiled to Africa.
In 1942, the first group of Polish refugees arrived in East and Southern Africa.
Some found their way to then Southern Rhodesia, now modern-day Zimbabwe.
For a decade, Polish citizens were transferred to African territories including today’s Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Those who had been brought to the then Southern Rhodesia settled near Nyanga National Park between 1942 and 1946.
They created a community of about 700 Poles.
The settlement was made up of 150 brick houses covered with metal roofing sheets and a unique chapel consisting of three large traditionally styled thatched huts located in the main square.
In 1946, the residents were transferred to Kadoma, which was known as Gatooma then.
The houses that were left behind by the Poles are now occupied by Rusape natives.
The graves of the Polish people who used to occupy this settlement are still there.
Last week, the Institute of National Remembrance (INR) — a Polish government agency that looks after the graves — held a ceremony to remember the 700 or so Poles who made Rusape their safe haven during times of turmoil.
At the ceremony, the INR unveiled the renovated Rusape cemetery of the Polish people.
INR president Dr Karol Nawrocki said the organisation was going around different African countries to ensure that memories of war-time victims remain intact.
“As we recall the tragic fate of Poles, … we feel great pride and admiration for them and their perseverance, resourcefulness and entrepreneurship,” said Dr Nawrocki.
He said Rusape people embraced the Poles as their own and co-existed peacefully with them.
“Despite their tragic experience, the loss of their loved ones and being without a place in a world torn by war, Poles regularly organised themselves in order to protect their children.
“There were more than 250 kids in Rusape, and they were Poland’s future.”
Many Poles, Dr Nawrocki said, were unable to return home after the war to and lived out their lives in exile.
“We are very grateful to all the people who helped our compatriots.
“ Today we are able to pass on this good to others in need,” he said, adding that they will make sure the graves will be taken care of.
“For the people of Poland, this is an important day because our ancestors are here and by this act today, we show the public our Polish opinion that the Polish nation and government through the institute, these graves will be taken care of here and throughout other sites in the world.”
Makoni district development coordinator Mr Edwin Mashindi said what the Polish government was doing through INR was an eye-opener.
“What has been done today by the people of Poland is an eye-opener to us Zimbabweans …
“If we make that reverence to those places where our forefathers perished, it speaks really to the spirit of Ubuntu.
“What makes us people is where we came from,” said Mr Mashindi.
Government, however, has an ongoing programme to erect statues and maintain memorial sites of nationalists and liberation fighters to immortalise their supreme sacrifices towards the liberation of Zimbabwe.
The programme is meant to rekindle national identity, pride, dignity and culture.
In Rusape, there are many unmarked graves where nationalists who were fighting for Zimbabwe’s liberation are buried.
In Rusape’s Magamba Extension, there is an area called the Butcher, where liberation war fighters were subjected to summary trials and executions.
“So as a community of Rusape, we have a lot to learn and we have taken a leaf from what the Polish community has done for their ancestors, which has been an eye-opener to us,” Mr Mashindi added.
Mildred Muzzah, a war veteran from Rusape, said: “The Polish people challenged us, they took their time to come here all the way from Poland to remember and look after the graves of their heroes who passed away.”
