An exhibit about Poland during the Second World War and survivors who immigrated to Canada, including the Sarnia area, is sharing their stories at stops around the community.
An exhibit about Poland during the Second World War and survivors who immigrated to Canada, including the Sarnia area, is sharing their stories at stops around the community.
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So far, Trails of Hope: Odyssey of Freedom has been to Lambton Mall, Queen of Peace Catholic church and the Lambton County administration building in Wyoming, said Krystyna Stalmach.
The 21-panel exhibit created by Poland’s Institute of National Remembrance came to Canada two years ago, and was brought to the Sarnia area by Branch 14 of the Polish Alliance of Canada, the Catholic Women’s League and a Polish book club, she said.
“This one was specifically done for Canada, so it has a lot of points of interest for Canadians, not only Polish people,” Stalmach said when the exhibit visited the county buildings this week.
During a stop at Lambton Mall earlier this month, more than 450 people viewed the display before it moved on to the Sarnia church, Stalmach said.
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There are plans to also take it to city high schools, she said.
“It’s telling the stories of Polish soldiers and civilians from 1939 to 1947,” she said.
Most Polish immigrants who came to the Sarnia area after the war were soldiers who had fought in Italy alongside Allied forces, Stalmach said.
After Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Russian occupied half of the country under a secret deal with Germany and many residents in the Russian-held territories were imprisoned in the East.
Those who survived were able to leave after Germany invaded Russia and made their way to what was then Persia, eventually fighting alongside the Allies.
Fear of persecution in Russian-controlled Poland after the war “pushed victims to search for a safe place to live” and many “found new lives here,” Stalmach said.
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Initially, some former Polish soldiers arrived in Lambton to work on farms and many who followed found jobs at the former Holmes Foundry, Stalmach said.
“They were very, very successful immigrants” and in the 1950s they built the church and the Polish Club on Exmouth Street, she said. “As soon as newcomers had a place to meet and a place to pray, social and cultural life blossomed.”
More than 61,000 Polish immigrants arrived in Canada between 1946 and 1956 and while the number settling in Sarnia isn’t known, there are 3,000 Lambton residents with Polish roots, according to the latest census, she said.
“That’s quite a bit,” Stalmach said. “This is why we think it’s very important to prepare events like this, because maybe not everyone knows the history.”
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