In a brief and touching ceremony on Saturday, Poland's Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz unveiled a Memorial Pillar to remember the thousands of persecuted Polish refugees who escaped to India during World War II and were given shelter in the erstwhile kingdoms of Kolhapur and Jamnagar in the then Bombay Province.

The Memorial Pillar has come up at tiny Valivade village near modern-day Kolhapur town, where over 5,000 Poles lived, integrated, and worked for several years before returning to their country.