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Title: Dom Polskich Dzieci records
Date (inclusive): 1942-1949
Collection Number: 75068
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material:
Polish
Physical Description:
2 manuscript boxes
(0.8 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Correspondence, telegrams, notes, memoranda, clippings, accounts, lists, protocols, reports, inventories, and published materials
relating to the evacuation of the war orphans from Russia to Oudtshoorn, the establishment and operation of the Home, and
the care and education of the orphans.
Creator:
Dom Polskich Dzieci (Oudtshoorn, South Africa)
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1975.
[Identification of item], Dom Polskich Dzieci records, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
In 1942, Polish military authorities in the USSR informed their government in London of the presence of large numbers of orphaned
and/or deported Polish children in Russia. The London Government, acting through Consul General Dr. Min. Stanislaw Lepkowski,
secured permission from the government of the Union of South Africa to transport 500 of the children to that country. In 1943,
after they had been evacuated to Iran, the children were brought to South Africa. The Polish Children's Home (Dom Polskich
Dzieci) was organized in Oudtshoorn in 1943 for their temporary accommodation, care, and education. Under the supervision
of the South African Department of Social Welfare, as well as of Polish consular and ministry representatives, it reamiend
in operation until the summer of 1947.
The directors of the Polish Children's Home -- also known as the Polish Orphanage of St. Andrew Boboli (Polski Sierociniec
pod wezwaniem Sw. Andrzeja Boboli) and, later, as the Polish Children's Home "Southern Cross" (Dom Polskich Dzieci "Krzyz
Poludnia") -- were Father Franciszek Kubienski (March 13, 1943 - November 29, 1943), L. J. Barr (November 29, 1943 - June
23, 1944), Stanislaw Tarnowicz (June 23, 1944 - January 31, 1945), and Dr. Zygmunt Skowronski (January 31, 1945 - July 18,
1947).
The archives of the Polish Children's Home at Oudtshoorn were sent to Dr. Lepkowski in Pretoria in 1947. They eventually came
into the possession of Mr. Tadeusz Kawalec, a former Polish consular official who had participated in the work of the Home,
and were donated by him to the Hoover Institution in 1975.
Scope and Content of Collection
Correspondence, telegrams, notes, memoranda, clippings, accounts, lists, protocols, reports, inventories, and published materials
relating to the evacuation of the war orphans from Russia to Oudtshoorn, the establishment and operation of the home, and
the care and education of the orphans.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees
World War, 1939-1945 -- Poland
Refugees
International relief
World War, 1939-1945 -- Civilian relief
World War, 1939-1945 -- South Africa
Polish people -- South Africa