Refugees and evacuees in India during WW2
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During the War of 1939-45, the Government of India set up an organisation in India, at the request of the United Kingdom Government, to care for civilian personnel from Poland, the Baltic States, Greece, Malta and other countries who had been sent to India from their home countries because of hosilities. Camps were built and large staffs recruited to deal with the many thousands of evacuees... As the war progressed, those evacuees were joined by refugees from Burma, Malaya, Hong Kong and elsewhere... For some period after the termination of hostilities, some of the camps were also used by civilian internees, released from other countries in the Far East, while waiting to return home. The process of winding up was naturally slow, and the camps were not closed finally until 1950.[1]
There are also references to refugees who were Yugoslavs, Free French, British subjects from all over Middle East,[2] and from Singapore.[3]
Records
British Library
- Relief of Distress: World War II Refugees and Evacuees, Ex-Internees and Distressed Europeans in India IOR/L/AG/40 No date
- Polish Refugee Camp files, mainly of the Government of India IOR/L/AG/40/1/167-182 No date
- Evacuee files, maintained at the British Evacuee Camp, Coimbatore IOR/L/AG/40/1/183-191 and
- Six boxes of correspondence about individuals, mainly Maltese, maintained at Coimbatore Camp IOR/L/AG/40/1/192-197 No date
University of Cambridge
- The Barlow (HANB) Papers (H.A.N. Barlow, O.B.E.) include the following catalogue references (Box 3)
- 3.164, 12.1.1941. Takes over new section - including the reception and accommodation of evacuees and refugees.
- 3.182. 18.5.1941. His immediate superior, Mr. Frampton, in Bombay arranging reception for evacuees from Iraq.
- 3.188. 29.6.1941. Refugees to India include Greeks, Yugoslavs, Maltese, Free French, British subjects from all over Middle East. [4]
Camps
- The Polish Refugees’ Camp was at Valivade in Kolhapur State, Bombay Presidency
- The Polish Children’s Camp was at Balachadi, near Jamnagar on the Kathiawar Peninsula, Bombay Presidency At the University of Cambridge
- For further information about these two camps see Polish Refugees in India 1942-1948
- Anglo-Burmese refugees were accommodated in Nainital,[5] and in an evacuee camp at Saharanpur[6]
- Maltese refugees were accommodated at Satara[7]
- Maltese -Balkan refugees were accommodated at a camp at Sewar, near Bharatpur, which was later moved to Coimbatore [5].
- British Evacuee Camp, Coimbatore
References
- ↑ Relief of Distress: World War II Refugees and Evacuees, Ex-Internees and Distressed Europeans in India IOR/L/AG/40
- ↑ Barlow Papers at the University of Cambridge
- ↑ O
- ↑ List of Papers, letter B scroll down to the Barlow Papers. Centre of South Asian Studies, University of Cambridge
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Page 167 The Second Homeland: Polish Refugees in India by Anuradha Battacharjee
- ↑ Email information sent to User:Maureene in 2012. Percival Norman Metcalfe left Rangoon when the Japanese invaded Burma, and eventually ended up in the Evacuee Camp in Seharanpore (sic] (about 65 miles north of Delhi). He died there in 1944.
- ↑ Page 114 The Second Homeland: Polish Refugees in India by Anuradha Battacharjee