Maharaja Who Saved Polish Orphans During WWII Honored

Maharaja Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja of Nawanagar, India, sheltered an estimated 600 to 1,000 Polish children during World War II, offering refuge when no other country would. The children, victims of Soviet deportations to Siberian labor camps, arrived in Gujarat in 1942. The maharaja built a camp at Balachadi near his summer palace, complete with a school, library, kitchen, and Catholic church. He attended their cultural and sporting events, dressed as Santa Claus at Christmas, and insisted the Polish flag be hoisted daily. After the war, to prevent forced return to Soviet-controlled Poland, he and others legally adopted the children. The last convoy left in 1946. In 2011, Poland posthumously awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit. A square in Warsaw is named after him. Filmmaker Anu Radha's 2013 documentary 'A Little Poland in India' helped spread the story.