1.5 million Ukrainian refugees currently live in Poland as a result of Russia’s invasion almost a year ago. Many rely on support from humanitarian organisations and volunteers. We spent an evening with a charity helping people in southern Poland. Read more
In Poland, where the devastation of the Second World War and 45 years of Moscow-imposed Communist rule still pervades the collective memory, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine often felt too close for comfort.There remains a regular flow of refugees and aid across the Polish-Ukrainian border. In main train stations, information points in Ukrainian offer advice to newly arrived refugees.
Poland’s government held an emergency national security meeting, put its army on alert and considered whether to invoke Article 4 of NATO’s treaty, which calls for a meeting of NATO allies in the event that the security of one ally is under threat. An outpouring of grassroots humanitarian support from Polish citizens to help and host the arrival of three million Ukrainian refugees – mostly women and children – within the first month of the war will remain an abiding memory of 2022 for many in Poland.
Two days before Christmas I visited the town of Tarnowskie Góry in Silesia, southern Poland – the country’s coal-mining heartland. As increasing numbers of Ukrainian refugees began to arrive in Sarah’s home town, she and another local volunteer, Pawel Sienko, decided to set up ‘Szaliki’ in April. Other volunteers soon flocked to the cause.
Mariusz Gasior, a 47-year-old museum curator, is another local volunteer. He tells me that he sees it as his duty to help the refugees.
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