On 31 October 1944, 733 children and 102 adults arrived in Wellington on the USS General Randall. They were then taken by train on 1 November 1944 to Pahiatua, to the “Polish Camp” where they remained for the duration of the war.
When the Second World War ended, they were unable to return to Poland which was behind the iron curtain.
This was the first refugee resettlement programme that New Zealand Red Cross participated in.
Red Cross nurses welcomed the Polish refugees to Wellington and helped them board the train.
Krystine Tomaszyk was one of the children on the USS General Randall and remembers what it was like arriving in New Zealand.
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