European Refugees Find N.Z. Strange

Chronicle (Levin), 23 December 1949, Page 6

European Refugees Find N.Z. Strange

. ' • AUCKLAND, Dec. 21. Auckland' s little community of Poles, Lithuanians, Estonians, Croats, Ukramlans and- other refugees from war-torn and persecuted Europe are liaving tke best Chfistinas they have known. There are thiugs they miss — the snowladen iirs, tlie eclioing carols, the religious colour of the Continental festival. Bui these,.they say, are small loss compared with the joy of celebrating a Christnias in fre^dom. * ; ' The city's sfiare' of the 950 dis-! placed persons who reached the j)o minion earlier 'this year consists largely of women and children. Many are work mg in hospitals, religious houses, schools and orphaqages, learning not only new tasks for head and hands biit ulso struggling for a mastery of strange language, customs aud ideas. New Zealaud is.stili a puzzle to be unrayplled and the ways of our Christmas, observance are a part of„it. : ; Nostalgic for a Fire The fact that Christmas should occur in the heat of midsuminer seemed a basic contradition to every European immigrant who was interviewed yesterday. One suggested with nostalgic hope that it "might be cold enough to light a lire on Christmas Day. " Another, re • membering .Lithuanian, wondered why there \vas,no carol singing on the streets. And did New Zealand grow no fir trees? Why no decorated cribs in the side chapels of the churches? Was there no interest in the religious side of the festival?

An eight-year-old girl from the Baitic was shown a New Zealand pine as the best answer t'o the local Christmas tree problem.' She looked at its spreading majesty. "But this is a big tree," she said at last. . "It should be tiny and .its branehes should .point downwards.Ours," you know, are much more artistic. ' ' However, every new immigrant is iconvinced that freedom regained is more- important than traditions losl. " lt is nmrvellous to be able to spend a Christmas knowing that Ihn a frae m an," a young Croat said. "It is the lirst time in nearly a decade that I've been able to face another year without fear. ' ' Preciselv the same story is told in Auckland in live other languages. ■ Kindness Not Lacking Nor has kindness been lacking. A Governinent official who escorted an iin migrant woman and her small daughter from tlie train at Auckland gave £o to buy a Christmas present for the child. Almost all of it was spent on a doil — the lirst the child had owned. The mother wTas almost tearfully prepared to defend wrhat some might have said was an extravaganee. Another Ukrainian widow and her child working in a suburban orphanage will be guests of honour in a Mount Albert home over Christmas. At ,least one Continental family has left for a holiday camp in the Waitakeres. A Blovakian woman will be receiving a eomplete set of clothing for her child from an Auckland Yugoslav family whom she met briefly at a church l'unction. People who maintain close contaet with the refugees in their new environ mnt said yesterday that very few of the immigrants would lack material things over the Christmas period. The) had been reeeived with the greatest kindness. Unfortunately, friendsbip could not be so easily supplied. With fewr Aucklanders 'capable of speaking languages like Polish, Hungarian or Ukrainian, there was a barrier that could not be removed altogethei" until the neweomers themselves liad gained a conunand of English.