One of the settlements created for Polish civilian refugees who left the USSR in 1942 with General Anders' Army was the refugee camp in Rusape, intended for over 700 people. The refugees lived in 72 brick houses covered with sheet metal. A chapel was built in the middle of the settlement using 3 African huts connected by cloisters. There was a comprehensive school and a School of Economic Adaptation for girls, and scout troops were formed. A tailor's workshop and a theatre room were established. The estate functioned until 1946, when its residents were relocated to Gatooma.
In the local British cemetery there is a small section of Polish graves. The site was not identified for a long time; it was only after 2015 that the necropolis was found by attaché Witold Majewski. They found 13 Polish graves that were very dilapidated and overgrown with dense vegetation. Some of the grave crosses were shattered, but a central monument in the form of a cross remained. On the pedestal of the cross was a Polish emblem and a bilingual Polish-English inscription, of which only the Polish fragment has survived: "To the memory of Polish refugees who died in Rusape".
The team of the Centre for the Documentation of Displacement, Expulsion and Resettlement at the Pedagogical University of Krakow and a group of participants in the "Scout Africa" campaign visited the cemetery twice to restore it. In 2018, the cemetery section was cleared of invasive vegetation, while in 2019, restoration was carried out with financial support from the Institute of National Remembrance. The tombstones were restored, the inscriptions containing the data of those buried were renewed, broken crosses were glued together, and the main monument was restored along with a bilingual inscription. The cemetery was fenced with a wall.
Information about the Rusape settlement and cemetery can be found in the publication "Zmarli Polacy w drodze do Ojczyzny. Polskie cmentarze w Afryce Wschodniej i Południowej 1942-1952" by Hubert Chudzio and Marcin Solarz, Kraków 2020 and on the website: https://polskiecmentarzewafryce.up.krakow.pl/.

Compiled by R. Piątek / MKiDN, VI 2025

Regina Piątek (MKiDN)