Maria Nowotarska Kołodzińska - Grandmother dies in Russia
Maria describes how devoted she was to her grandmother, and how she was present when her grandmother died.
Maria Nowotarska Kołodzińska - Surviving Kazakhstan - sourcing food
Maria describes the different ways in which the children would find sources of food while they were in Kazakhstan.
Maria Nowotarska Kołodzińska - Hospital in Persia
Maria describes her stay in the hospital in Persia and talks about the lady who saved her from despair.
Maria Nowotarska Kołodzińska - English version of Polish song
Maria explains the song in English.
Maria Nowotarska Kołodzińska - Holidays in New Zealand
Maria describes the holidays in New Zealand and the locals were good to the Polish children. She also describes how another child “diddled” her out of half a crown coin …
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Scouts commemorate Warsaw Uprising with special camp fire
Already on the ship to New Zealand, Mrs Kozera the Chief Scout made plans to commemorate the Warsaw Uprising at a special campfire held in Pahiatua soon after the children’s …
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Attending Ukranian Church
Dioniza describes how the school children attended services at the Ukrainian church, until the Catholic church was built and a priest arrived in the village.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Start of War
Dioniza describes what she recalls of the beginning of WWII in her village.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Ukranians search for weapons and murder father
Dioniza describes the brutality with which the Ukrainians terrorized them as they searched for weapons. They took her father away, and they heard a series of shots, but thought that …
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Conditions at the camp
Dioniza describes the work that the adults and the children did at the camp.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Amnesty and finding the Polish Army
Dioniza describes how they learned that they were free to leave, and how they organized the trip south,.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Mother dies and sisters are separated
Dioniza describes when her mother died in the Teheran hospital, and then how she felt when she and her sisters all ended up in different locations.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Ship from Bombay to NZ
Dioniza describes the sea voyage on the ship, General Randall.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Life in the camp then Yalta
Dioniya describes what life was like at the Pahiatua camp, as well as the reaction when they learned about Yalta and that they would not be returning to Poland.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - A saying that helped through hard times
Dioniza reads a saying that she was given at her graduation, and explains how it helped her whenever she faced a challenge.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - Scouting setup at Pahiatua
Dioniza describes the different scouting groups that were set up at Pahiatua camp.
Dioniza (Gradzik) Choros - What scouting meant to them
Dioniza describes all that the children learned from scouting, and how it helped them develop and grow.
Eugenia (Piotuch) Smolnicki - Tried to save bread for her mother
Eugenia describes how she kept wanting to save part of her bread so that she could bring it to her starving mother, but she was so hungry herself that she …
Jan "John" Roy-Wojciechowski - Journey to New Zealand
Krystyna Kołodyńska-Downey -
This is a memoir of Krystyna's time in Kazakhstan and her eventual coming to New Zealand as one of the Polish children who stayed at Pahiatua.
Krystyna Downey - Life in New Zealand
Krystyna was one of the first of the Polish Children from Pahiatua to graduate from University in New Zealand at the age of 20. This is a talk she gave …