Motions — Polish Children—60th Anniversary

I move, That this House commemorate the 60th anniversary of the arrival of 733 Polish children and 100 of their guardians to New Zealand on 1 November 1944; recognise the contribution the Polish community has made to New Zealand life; and reaffirm its desire for the continuation of friendly and cooperative relations between New Zealand and the Republic of Poland.

The refugee children and adults arrived in New Zealand in November 1944 after enduring quite remarkable hardships: first the invasion, and then deportation to Soviet labour camps. They came to New Zealand at the invitation of Labour’s wartime Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Peter Fraser. We welcome the contribution that this community and its children have made to New Zealand, and the richness and diversity that they have given to our society. Yesterday’s refugees have become today’s New Zealanders, while retaining a strong pride in their culture and origins. I know that other parties will join with me in welcoming the commemoration of this occasion.

National is pleased to associate itself with this motion. The story of those children and their subsequent contribution to New Zealand is truly inspiring. The history of the Nazi invasion of Poland in September 1939 is well known, as is the horror of the Second World War that it unleashed. But what is less well understood is what those catastrophic events did to the lives of ordinary families and innocent children living in Poland at the time. It is hard to imagine the hardship and suffering they had to endure, with fathers deported to prison camps in northern Siberia, where so many died; and women and children deported to labour camps elsewhere in Siberia, which was so harsh and cruel that by the time those 733 children arrived in New Zealand, 425 of them were orphans. Yet, 11 years later, many had passed School Certificate, many more were apprentices, some had passed university entrance and were nurses and teachers, and a few had even graduated from university. To the New Zealand families descended from those Polish refugees today, including the family of our own deputy leader, Gerry Brownlee, I say that their families’ triumph over cruelty and disaster is an inspiration to us all, and we salute them.

New Zealand First totally endorses the Minister’s comments and sentiments in regard to those young Polish people who came here so many years ago.

The Green Party joins with the other parties in congratulating those former refugees and the Polish community as a whole on the tremendous contribution they have made to our country. It also congratulates the New Zealand Government of the time on accepting that first important batch of refugees. We have taken many refugees since, but it was a challenge then—as it is a challenge now—to get our whole community to fully accept people from a quite different cultural background, and to understand fully that they have fled persecution and need a new home. Many of the Polish refugees whom we are commemorating today, as has been pointed out, were driven from their home following the division of Poland between Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia, and they suffered dreadfully in Stalin’s labour camps. Just as we opened our hearts and our homes to Polish refugees 60 years ago, it is important that we open our hearts and our homes today to many of those who have suffered harassment and torture at the hands of repressive Governments, be they in Iran, Burma, Somalia, or Algeria.

The ACT party also rises to support this motion, and to remember 733 frightened and distressed children who travelled right around the world to arrive in Wellington and then went on to Pahiatua, after suffering horrors that no one should have to suffer, let alone little children. We note the magnanimous nature of New Zealanders who accepted those children and looked after them, and how we should always keep hope alive. Those children made their homes in New Zealand, became, as has been observed by Parliament, upstanding citizens, and have added to the New Zealand way of life and to the Polish community, which we all know and appreciate.

It is a story of hope and triumph. It is interesting that there were 733 children, with 100 adults, and our annual quota is now just 750. But we should not forget all those who did not make it. Between 1939 and 1941, 1.6 million Poles were shifted out of Poland to concentration camps, mostly in Siberia and Kazakhstan, many of whom were never heard of again. We should reflect on the terrible suffering that the Polish people have been through over the years, and wish them every success for the future.

I rise on behalf of United Future to support the motion and to endorse the comments that others have made. War is at its most cruel when it deals with the innocent, and the most innocent in all crises and conflicts are the children. Many of the images we have of wartime are of children being evacuated to the English countryside, to Canada, to other places. But there can be few more poignant tales than the evacuation of the 733 Polish children to New Zealand 60 years ago. While we can say that 733 is a number that equates roughly to our total refugee quota today, it is not a large number. Yet in those 60 years the influence of those children and their families in New Zealand has been such that just about every single one of us can recall some form of interaction—be it family or otherwise—with those Polish refugees from 1944. So I salute them and their achievements. I salute the New Zealand Government of the time for its wisdom and compassion in making that move, and I congratulate all those refugees, their families, their descendants, and those close to them, on the huge contribution they have made, and continue to make, to New Zealand today.

I wonder whether I might be permitted, from my role as Speaker, to make one very brief comment. My late father was the district child welfare officer at the time, and Pahiatua was part of his brief. I can remember a lot of the things that he did in that area. I can remember young children coming to our place and being given one of their first meals in New Zealand, at our place, and I think it is a wonderful thing we are doing today.

Motion agreed to.