Education a key to Pahiatua Polish children’s lives

Education a key to Pahiatua Polish children’s lives

When Lynette Kingsbury researched the history of Pahiatua’s Polish children for her MA thesis she discovered the power of education had protected and enhanced their culture and identity at the Pahiatua Polish Children’s Camp.

Lynette, a former primary school teacher studied the children’s story for her MA (Education) at the University of Auckland’s Faculty of Education and Social Work.

Her thesis, titled “Expressions of Identity: Education, agency and the experiences of Pahiatua’s Polish children” took two-and-a-half years to research. Lynette carefully photographed dozens of delicate documents in the National Archives in Wellington to piece together the background to the children’s story. She was also able to research numerous biographical details shared by the children when they reached adulthood.

The thesis describes the Polish children’s stories and how their education at the New Zealand camp supported their development and self-esteem.

The 733 Polish children and 105 accompanying guardians were invited to New Zealand by the Fraser government during World War II. Many were orphans or their parents were unable to be found, serving with the army in war-torn Europe.

When they arrived on 1 November 1944, the children had endured years of turmoil at the hands of the Russians following the German and Soviet invasions of Poland in 1939.

Under the agreement formed by the exiled Polish Government in London and the Fraser Government, the children were placed in the care of their accompanying adults in the New Zealand army camp at Pahiatua in the Manawatu, hence the name the Pahiatua Polish children.

There they were raised as Polish children, including their daily schooling which was conducted almost entirely in Polish, with a focus on their native country’s traditions, culture and history, with English taught as a foreign language.

“Their early education at the Polish School in Pahiatua reflected this deep commitment by the Polish adults to ground the children in their Polish identity which had been denied them by the Soviets,” Lynette says.

“In those days it was very rare for a community to be able to educate their children in their own values, language, culture and religion.

“I was looking to see if that was a large part of their success, not to try and assimilate them immediately into a foreign culture and language, but to let them establish themselves for who they are in their own identities.”

On December 5, Lynette will present an adaptation of her thesis, called “Our Little Poland – The Pahiatua Polish School” to the Australian and New Zealand History of Education Society (ANZHES) annual conference in Wellington on 5 December. The conference is being attended by the Polish Ambassador, Mr Zbigniew Gniatkowski, his wife, the Polish Consul and the Polish community.

Lynette now works as an assistant at the Polish Heritage Trust Museum in Auckland, where she continues to research Polish culture and history.

ENDS

© Scoop Media