How an Indian Maharaja defied the British to save hundreds of Polish orphans
In short: In 1942, a ruler in Gujarat performed an extraordinary act of defiance. Without official British authorization, Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja opened his realm to displaced Polish children fleeing Soviet labor camps. He provided food and medical care for hundreds of orphans, many of whom had survived the brutal Siberian camps.
The crisis began with the 1939 invasion of Poland, followed by a Soviet invasion from the east. Following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Soviet forces relocated roughly 320,000 to 500,000 Polish intellectuals into Siberian and Kazakhstani labour camps. Many families were torn apart, leaving children as young as two years old orphaned and malnourished.
By 1941, the geopolitical landscape shifted when Germany invaded the Soviet Union, turning Moscow into an uneasy ally. This allowed for the evacuation of Polish refugees through Iran to India. Local administrators resisted the British Foreign Office's plan to relocate these refugees to British India, citing fiscal pressures and India's existing wartime food scarcity, which caused nearly three million deaths in Bengal from 1943 to 1944.
Acting on his own initiative, Digvijaysinhji held a position as India's delegate within the British Imperial War Cabinet. He established the Polish Children's Camp in Balachadi, providing food, medical care for diseases like typhus and tuberculosis, and education. Welcoming the arrivals himself, he famously told the youths that they had become Nawanagaris and that he, as Bapu, served as their father alongside all Nawanagar's citizens.
The Maharaja's decision was a significant personal risk; as a ruler whose authority relied on recognition by the British Crown, defying official policy could have jeopardized his standing. Ultimately, he is credited with saving approximately 740 to 1,000 children. His legacy lives on in Poland, where he is known as the 'Good Maharaja' and is honored in Warsaw.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: This Indian Maharaja Saved Hundreds of Polish Orphans During World War II, Offering Them Refuge When No One Else Would
- Also: Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja
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