OUR COMMUNITY
e v o l y r o t s
More than 300,000 migrants passed through the Bonegilla Migrant Centre between 1947 and 1971.
spans the decades Mickal and Maria Czapla overcame the odds when they fell in love in the aftermath of World War Two more than 70 years ago.
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Mickal, a Polish national, and Maria, a Russian, were among the millions displaced by war in Europe who found themselves under the protection of the Americans in an internment camp in Stuttgart, Germany. Determined to stay together, the pair changed Maria’s surname to a Polish one. Mickal taught Maria enough Polish to convince authorities to allow her to travel to Australia instead of returning to a bleak future in Russia.
