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HODGEMOOR POLISH CAMP
Buckinghamshire |
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As you walk through Hodgemoor Wood,
just off the A355 Amersham to Beaconsfield road, you
would be forgiven for thinking that this lovely wooded area has
not changed in centuries. Then suddenly you come across a monument standing
in a clearing not far from the car park, you read the inscription only to
find that less then 60 years ago this area looked totally different. It is
now hard to imagine that this spot was once full of temporary buildings,
barracks and nissen huts and home to hundreds of Polish servicemen and
their families. Once you look around you can find evidence of broken
concerete slabs and brickwork buried beneath the vegetation and fallen
leaves. Hodgemoor was one of many camps that were scattered throughout the UK after WW2
and supported a bustling and vibrant community of men, women and children. The camp became like a Polish village with a church and
resident priest Fr. Józef Madeja, an infant school, shop and post office and
an entertainment hall used for dances, film shows, meetings and
national day celebrations. When the camp eventually closed in
1962 the Polish
inhabitants moved out as far afield as the States and Canada, others settled
locally, but they all have memories of the camp and stories of how they came
to be there. |
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.AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR POLISH SOLDIERS OF THE
CARPATHIAN DIVISION ARRIVED HERE FROM ITALY AND WITH THEIR FAMILIES
LIVED IN THE CAMP ON THIS SITE UNTIL 1962 POLAND WAS NOT FREE FOR THEM
TO RETURN. THERE ARE STILL MANY POLISH FAMILIES IN THE AREA. |
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INFORMATION AND PHOTOS SENT IN BY BOŻENA KOZUBSKA |
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FROM
the MEMOIRS of ZOFIA KOZUBSKA - MY MOTHER |
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Poland 1940. Rumours of dispossession had
been circulating for some time, yet when the NKVD came
storming into our home on February 10th 1940 at 5:15am, it was an
unmitigated shock. We were yanked out of our home and into
unforgiving, freezing temperatures. Holding me as a five-month old baby, my Parents
were placed on sleighs together with our hastily packed baggage
and driven to the railway station in Sarny - a small town on the
border of the Ukraine. There, cattle wagons awaited us - and
packed into them like sardines, we spent the next FIVE WEEKS
zigzagging northeast into the depths of Siberia. We alighted in
posiolek Darovatka, a labour camp,
where we spent two years as slave labourers, fighting each day
for survival, staving off starvation. |
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After Poland's Enemy no. 1 attacked Poland's
Enemy no. 2, (and not necessarily in that order), we were released
under "amnesty". Once again cattle wagons took us across the
USSR, and in Gusara my Father
joined the Polish Army under Gen. Anders who fought the Germans
with the Allied Command rather than alongside those who not only
imprisoned us but enslaved Poland. We were separated then from
my Father who went on to fight the battles of Monte Cassino,
Ancona, and Bologna among others while we,
now provisioned by the Polish Army, continued on our odyssey
without him. In Kermine, my
Mother in her capacity as a teacher, was charged with the
responsibility of transporting orphans and we made our way
through Iran, Pakistan, and India finally settling in South
Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) first in Rusape and later in Gatooma.
In the meantime, my Father, Jerzy Kozubski, having lost track of us, applied to the Red Cross and after
several months, located us in Africa. |
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Bożena Kozubska
age 8 |
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Zofia Kozubska with her
class. in Rusapi Africa I am the little girl in the middle
with may mom |
My First Holy Communion
in Garooma Africa. with Fr. Siemaszko |
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In 1948, my Mother and I sailed to
England on board the Carnarvon Castle, arriving weeks later in
Southampton. We were taken to a transit camp, it could have been
Daglingworth in Gloucestershire, but I am not sure. There we were reunited with my Father
after six long years of separation. We left
together for Hodgemoor Resettlement Camp where he was
stationed. |
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"My darling Jureczku, we've been aboard a full
day. We are surrounded by comfort and are enjoying it immensely,
Somewhere in the first days of May we will be in place (will
arrive in England as expected Southampton) My finger is healing
but I have lost feeling in it and cannot use it. |
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Love and
kisses Zośka
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This is our ship. |
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Dated 13th April 1948 |
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I don't remember much of the Camp
because no sooner did we arrive there, than my Parents placed me in
Holy Cross Convent prep school in Gerrards Cross so that I could
become fluent in English and get the best education. Four years
later, we emigrated to the United States where I now, after years of
strife and vagabond existence, reside happily with my husband of 50 years, and with my Children and
Grandchildren. |
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Bożena
with her mother and Father in Hodgemoor camp, a happy familey
reunited |
Bożena in Hodgemoor
camp. |
Judging by the buildings,
conditions in the camp were basic, but it was home. |
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Polish pride was all ways expressed in children wearing their
national costumes, learning Polish songs and dances and taking
part in national events. |
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Bożena
is in all three photos if you can name other people please
let me know. |
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School Photo. |
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Back row:- In the middle is Fr. Józef
Madeja. with Tadzio Pilecki to the right and Kazik Kowalski on
the left. |
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Second row sitting:- Bożena
Kozubska |
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| Thank you to Bożena for her
memories and photos. |
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| If you have photos and memories of Hodgemoor
and would like to share them please contact me on:-
northwickparkpolisdpcamp@yahoo.co.uk |
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