Dubbed ‘Little Poland’, a camp outside Pahīatua was home to over 700 Polish children displaced by the Second World War. The young refugees, mostly orphans who had survived the harsh conditions of camps in Siberia, arrived in 1944. Although it was expected that they would later return to Poland, most stayed on and made new lives in New Zealand.
Listen to a Roadside Story about Pahīatua and the camp. Roadside Stories is a series of audio guides to places around New Zealand.
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