The A23 road running from Arusha in Tanzania to Mombasa in Kenya deviates somewhat from the European standards of an international road.
\nThe not-very-wide asphalt strip is often intersected by speed bumps, and around the route are shoddily built wooden or brick houses covered with sheet metal, where you can buy almost anything. The shoulder and street are occupied by cars that, mostly in accordance with the laws of physics, should have long since retired. The whole picture is completed by people in colorful clothes who seem as if they have never heard of traffic regulations.<\/p>\n
In this setting, in the town of Tangeru, there is an unusual billboard \u2013 unusual because the inscription on it is in a language that none of the locals know, and it reads: \"Cemetery of Polish Exiles.\" How did it happen that 6,000 kilometers from Poland's borders there is a signpost to a place that probably few people in Poland have heard of? <\/p>\n
In September, a large part of the territory of the Second Polish Republic came under Soviet occupation.
\nMany Poles were exiled or imprisoned in remote parts of Russia; their fate could only change after the start of the German-Russian war and the formation of the Polish Army, commanded by General W\u0142adys\u0142aw Anders.<\/p>\n
After diplomatic relations with Russia were severed in 1942, the Polish Army, numbering over 41,000 soldiers, was withdrawn to Iraq. Along with the army, 74,000 civilians, mainly women, children, and the elderly, were rescued. Those who left Russia with Anders' army were settled in specially prepared settlements and camps in Iraq, Iran, Palestine, Libya, India, Mexico, and Africa.
\nAbout 18,000 Poles were sent to East Africa, which was a British colony.
\nThe largest Polish settlement in Africa was the one in Tangeru village, Tanzania \u2013 it numbered about 5,000 people. The settlers in Tangeru ran a specialized farm. Schools and kindergartens operated, artistic and sports groups, a theater, a sports field, a hospital, a clinic, a church, and a synagogue were established. A scouting troop was formed.
\nAfter the war, a small part of the refugees returned to Poland, while most chose to emigrate: to Australia, the USA, and Great Britain.
\nAbout 1,000 people remained in Africa permanently. A memento left by the Poles is the State Agricultural Institute, which originated from the farm created by Polish settlers.
\nThere is also a cemetery where those for whom the hospitable shores of Africa remained their final resting place are buried. <\/p>\n
More information can be found in the books: \u201cFrom the Siberian Frosts to the African Sun\u201d edited by Hubert Chudzio, and \u201cPolish Orphans of Tangeru\u201d by Lynne Taylor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The A23 road running from Arusha in Tanzania to Mombasa...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[604],"tags":[858,800,743,859],"class_list":["post-19236","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ooh-around-the-world","tag-arusha","tag-billboard-en-2","tag-observations-from-a-vacation","tag-polish-cemetery-in-africa"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n