The final stage of activities at the largest Polish cemetery in East and Southern Africa

Tanzania. Kondoa/Tengeru 2024 project. The final stage of our activities is the documentation work and description of conservation recommendations for the objects in the largest Polish cemetery in East and Southern Africa, namely in Tengeru under Mount Meru. More than 150 Polish citizens of Catholic, Orthodox and Mosaic faiths rest here. A Polish settlement functioned here between 1942 and 1952, and was home to almost 5 000 of our compatriots, the Siberians. A cemetery and a church built by the Poles remain to this day. The latter now serves the local population. A UKEN scientific mission was here 15 years ago. A plaque, which survives to this day, informs of the work in 2009. In the pavilion – the chapel – of the museum, there is an exhibition prepared by our UKEN Documentation Centre for Displaced Persons, Expulsions and Resettlement and the Polish Embassy in Dar es Saalam. The necropolis has been looked after for many years by Mr Simon, to whom we handed over a publication written by Prof Hubert Chudzio and Dr Mariusz Solarz on Polish necropolises in Africa. It was a very busy and beautiful time in Tanzania. We managed to do more than we intended. A more extensive report on this work will be coming soon!
The project is realised in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Dar es Salaam and the Foundation ‘The past does not return, but does not die’. Subsidised by funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Cultural Promotion Fund.