On 21 June 2023, journalists Charles Makakala from Tanzania and Adrian Pęter (PAP) met with IPN Office of International Cooperation representatives as part of a study visit to Poland. The guests were introduced to the activities of the IPN with particular emphasis on the Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom project by the Director Agnieszka Jędrzak and Mateusz Marek, Ph.D., who is the author of the exhibition content, and received materials on the African aspects of the project. Mr. Makakala was interested in the relationship between the Poles from General Anders' army who ended up in the Tengeru camp and the local population. The discussion focused on traces of Polish refugees in Africa and the reasons for the liquidation of the camp in Tanzania. An interesting issue were Polish-Tanzanian connections after World War II. Mr. Makalala counts on the IPN historians to provide solid background information for his research.
During World War II, settlements for Polish refugees were established in Tengeru, near Arusha, through which some 5,000 Poles passed between 1942 and 1950. Polish deportees from Siberia who managed to get out of Soviet gulags and places of exile and then left the USSR with the Anders Army were sent to the camp. Women, children and men unfit for military service were sent to transit camps, then set off on further journey, including to East Africa. More than 18,000 Poles were resettled from their temporary location in Iran, then India.
Mr. Makalala, based in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is an engineer and writer. His publications focus on human relations, conflicts and infrastructure developments in Africa.
***
The inauguration of the IPN "Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom" project in Africa took place in April 2022. The exhibition was presented in Pretoria’s Freedom Park in the Republic of South Africa. READ MORE
Since 3 May 2022, the South African National War Museum is hosting the "Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom” exhibition. READ MORE
Read more about the "Trails of Hope. The Odyssey of Freedom" project.