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History Eastern

Polish Orphans of Tengeru

The Dramatic Story of Their Long Journey to Canada 1941-49

by (author) Lynne Taylor

Publisher
Dundurn Press
Initial publish date
Dec 2009
Category
Eastern, Post-Confederation (1867-), Emigration & Immigration
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554880041
    Publish Date
    Dec 2009
    List Price
    $28.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781770705579
    Publish Date
    Dec 2009
    List Price
    $9.99

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Description

Polish Orphans of Tengeru is the story of 123 Polish Catholic Displaced Person (DP) orphans who were brought to Canada from East Africa in 1949 as part of the settlement of the postwar DP crisis. They arrived in East Africa in a mass exodus of Poles out of the gulags of Siberia in 1942 and 1943.

As they were being moved from Tanganyika in 1949, through Italy and Germany to Canada, the situation became an international incident. Warsaw protested that Canada and the International Refugee Organisation, with the active collaboration of the American and British governments, were kidnapping the children to use as slave labour on Canadian farms and in Canadian factories, tearing them from their families in Poland. The incident even reached the floor of the General Assembly of the United Nations, and dragged the Italian, British, and American governments before all was said and done.

About the author

Lynne Taylor is an associate professor in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo.

Lynne Taylor's profile page