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Photographs of the Displaced Persons Camp at Pahīatua

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Description: In 1951 and early 1952 Jack and Beverley Holland were young teachers at the Pahīatua Camp. They were present during the period that the Displaced Persons (DPs) arrived from the three 1951 sailings of the International Refugee Organisation (IRO) ship the Goya. Displaced Persons also arrived at the camp in early 1952. Most of these had sailed to Australia on IRO registered ships and then travelled onwards to New Zealand by ship or in some cases, by plane. The people were displaced from their homes and countries by World War Two and the civil wars that followed that. They came from Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. Up to 5000 Displaced persons settled in New Zealand.

The DPs came to New Zealand under a skilled migrant programme, not a humanitarian aid programme. The purpose was to aid New Zealand’s economic growth following World War Two. At that time New Zealand had an assimilation policy. The plan was that the DPs would spend 6 weeks in the camp to learn English and New Zealand law and customs, and then be placed in jobs. There was some allowance for those difficult to place in jobs, to stay on in the camp for up to one year. Women with children were often in this category. Many refuges left for jobs in remote places in New Zealand such as forestry or hydroelectric dam construction with a very rudimentary knowledge of English. It was up to them to continue their English learning if they were able.

The Holland family have kindly allowed for digital copies of the photograph album and letters Jack and Beverley wrote to their parents describing camp life to be deposited on Manawatū Heritage.

A description of life in the Pahīatua Camp for the DPs can be found in the book "Untold Stories – World War Two Displaced Persons who settled in Palmerston North."