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The purpose of this project is to collect all of the profiles of displaced persons or Holocaust Survivors, who were residents of the Delamere Park Displaced Persons Camp. This camp was located in Delamere Park, United Kingdom.
History of the camp
The modern day appearance of Delamere Park is far removed from its past setting as one of the largest displaced persons camps in the North West of England. Delamere House itself and its surrounding parkland had been deserted for nearly a year when in 1939 the Second World War broke when Hitler's troops invaded Poland. In Britain as part of the war effort huge areas of land from several country estates were requisitioned by the War Office in order to build airfields and army camps necessary for the war effort. By 1941 Delamere Park was transformed into a vast army camp consisting of Laing and Nissen huts which housed around 15,000 American troops.
With the end of the war the Ministry of Defense (MOD) were faced with a new problem, that of Polish forces that fought alongside the British throughout the war, not only to free Poland but also Europe from Nazi domination. Sadly the Yalta Conference did not give Poland its freedom, on the contrary Poland now found itself under communist control. The Polish forces felt betrayed and unwilling to go back to communist dominated Poland. The now disused camps found a new lease of life as accommodation for the Polish troops and their families.
Under the Polish Resettlement Act the first Polish troops arrived at Delamere from Italy in the summer of 1946. They were General Anders' 2 Corps Command Group. Little is known that throughout the campaign, through Persia, the Middle East and Italy the 2 Corps artillery supply mascot was Wojtek an orphaned baby bear. Although Wojtek did not come to Delamere camp, many of the soldiers arriving there knew him and had stories about him.. Wojtek's story can be found in books and on the internet.
Over the next few months the camp was filling up with women and children. Many families were reunited after years of separation arriving with no more than the clothes on their backs and a few meagre possessions. The huts had to be shared by several families so, to have some privacy, they were partitioned off with army Blankets. All sanitary facilities were shared in central ablution blocks
Although Delamere was classified as a Polish Displaced Persons' camp, it was not run by the National Assistance Board. When the MOD left, the camp came under the jurisdiction of the local authority and with the shortage of houses it also became home to bombed out British families.
Later on the Ministry of Housing and the Local Authority modernised the huts into two bedroom accommodation with a sitting room, kitchen, running water and bathroom so the living conditions for the Poles improved. The two communities co-existed side by side with little integration between them. Devoted to their culture, language and religious ideals the Poles kept themselves to themselves carrying on with their deep rooted traditions.