PM Modi To Bond With Indian Poles Over Legacy Of Maharajas Of Jamnagar, Kolhapur

During his historic visit, PM Modi is scheduled to visit these memorials that commemorate the very special episodes of Jamnagar and Kolhapur.

As Poland rolled out the red carpet for Prime Minister Narendra Modi today, hundreds of 'Indian Poles' are commemorating a historic facet of India-Poland relations which has been the bedrock of people-to-people ties between the two countries since the Second World War.

"One of the unique bonds between our countries relates to the time in the 1940s, during World War II, when more than 6,000 Polish women and children found refuge in two princely states in India, Jamnagar and Kolhapur. As you may be aware, Jam Sahib of Nawanagar had provided shelter to more than 1,000 Polish children, and others were offered refuge in Kolhapur," Tanmaya Lal, Secretary (West) at the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said earlier this week while announcing PM Modi's August 21-22 visit, the first by an Indian Prime Minister to Poland in the past 45 years.

While Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja, the Jam Sahib of Nawanagar who is known in Poland as the 'Good Maharaja', gave refuge to over 1,000 Polish children in the famous Balachadi camp, the royal family of Kolhapur provided safe haven to more than 5,000 Polish women and children in the equally-famous Valivade camp.