Forsaken journeys: the 'Polish' experience and identity of the 'Pahiatua children' in New Zealand

Abstract

'Forsaken Journeys' is concerned primarily with two journeys. One journey brought to New Zealand a group of Polish refugees who were among those deported from Eastern Poland to the Soviet Union in 1939-1941. This group of refugees, often referred to in New Zealand as the 'Polish Children', was composed of 734 children and 105 adults. The other journey is that of the anthropologist who moves from an outsider's perspective, with its search for boundaries that would define a Polish community in New Zealand, to an insider's perspective which seeks an understanding of Poles in New Zealand in terms of their experience and identity. This thesis describes their journey from the time of deportation, their invitation to New Zealand, their arrival in New Zealand, the circumstances of their accommodation and education in a special camp set up for them at Pahiatua, and their settlement in New Zealand in the post-war period. They are treated not as an isolated group, but placed in the context of all post-war Polish immigration to New Zealand. A wide perspective of the significance of the Polish journey is sought. The thesis has an interpretive focus and the experience and identity of the group is placed in the context of their own understanding of their exile. The deportations from Eastern Poland were one episode in the centuries-long Polish-Russian conflict, and this thesis looks at the burden of history in Polish-Russian relations with particular reference to Poland's eastern lands, from where these people came. A primary focus of this thesis is the Polish Children's contribution to the maintenance and formation of Polish identity in New Zealand, in terms of the symbolic significance of their experience as Poles in exile in New Zealand after World War II, and the meaning of the post-war settlement for Poles who maintain a Polish national identity in exile. Pahiatua Camp was in operation for four and a half years. During this period its character changed from an establishment based on Polish ideas and a Polish syllabus, to one based on New Zealand ideas and a New Zealand syllabus. The changes in the Camp structure are discussed in relation to the war-time political alliances which made it possible and the Polish cultural background of those who were responsible for the Children. Polish identity is discussed in terms of the symbols through which it is communicated and expressed. In New Zealand today, the key markers of Polish identity are language and religion, and the symbols of these two aspects of identity are considered in terms of the life of Pahiatua Camp, the Children's education, and a more general Polish historical context. In conclusion, the identity of Poles in New Zealand is considered in terms of its mythological and historical dimension, and its relationship to their understanding of themselves as 'survivors'.