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ID: WOJ-000430-W (PK-0002)

Graves of Polish refugees from the USSR in the Catholic cemetery

ID: WOJ-000430-W (PK-0002)

Graves of Polish refugees from the USSR in the Catholic cemetery

As a port city, Karachi was visited in the period 1942-1944 by sea transports with groups of Poles - refugees from the USSR, brought mainly from Isfahan in Iran. A Country Club transit camp was set up near the city, and temporarily (in March-August 1943) a second camp was also established in Malir, a village 7 km from Karachi. Thousands of Poles passed through these camps, who then left for Africa, Mexico, New Zealand, Palestine and Kolhapur in India. Both camps had hospitals, and in more severe cases of illness and accidents, patients were referred to the military hospital in Karachi.

The Gora Qabristan Catholic cemetery in the city contains 58 graves of Poles, situated in three rows. There are 24 in one row, 32 in the second row and 2 in the third row. In 1975, a monument with a bronze plaque with an inscription in Urdu and Polish and the emblem of the People's Republic of Poland was unveiled. The text on the plaque was as follows: "TO THE MEMORY / OF 58 POLES / WHO ON THEIR WAY / TO THEIR HOMELAND DIED / ON PAKISTANI SOIL / 1942-1945 / THE COUNCIL FOR THE PROTECTION OF MONUMENTS / OF STRUGGLE AND MARTYRDOM / OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC / OF POLAND". On either side of this plaque are two marble slabs with the names of the deceased engraved on them. Due to difficulties in maintaining the graves in good condition (the concrete tombstones were deteriorating under the influence of weather conditions), it was planned in the 1970s to exhume the bodies and create a common grave, but this did not materialise and reconstruction of the tombstones from the same material was carried out. In 1995, on the initiative of the Polish Consulate, a general reconstruction of the gravestones was carried out - the ground was hardened and new marble slab gravestones were placed. A marble slab with an altered inscription was placed on the monument in place of the bronze slab. This work was financed by the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Remembrance. In autumn 2005. The Consulate erected a new monument with funds from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. An inscription with more detailed information (in Polish and English) was engraved on the central slab: "TO THE LATE / 58 POLES BURIED IN THIS CEMETERY, / WHO DID NOT LIVE TO RETURN TO THEIR HOMELAND / IN THE YEARS 1942-1945 MORE THAN 30,000 EXILES FROM THE POLISH LANDS / EASTERN, ANNEXED IN 1939. BY THE FORMER SOVIET UNION / DURING WORLD WAR II, FOUND REFUGE IN KARACHI / IN THE COUNTRY CLUB AND MALIR CAMPS". Under the inscriptions, an inscription reads: "Consulate General of Poland in Karachi / November 2005", while at the top is the emblem of the Republic of Poland. On either side of the central panel are two marble slabs with names.

Publikacja:
01.04.2023
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