photo - CPSA
The late Indian prince has been awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit by President Bronislaw Komorowski, following a campaign led by the Centre for Poland-Asia Studies (CSPA).
Krzysztof Iwanek, the moving spirit behind CSPA's action, thanked all those who had backed the campaign, including thenews.pl, in a statement on the centre's official web site.
"We would like to express our deep gratitude to the president for presenting this award," he summarised.
Besides the medal, a square in Warsaw will also be named in honour of the Indian monarch, thanks to CSPA's efforts.
However, as Krzysztof Iwanek revealed, it will be titled in reference to "the good maharaja", with supplementary material included on a plaque, owing to Poles' difficulties in pronouncing the prince's full name.
Born in 1895, Jam Sri Digvijaysinhji Ranjitsinhji Jadeja was Maharaja of Nawanagar from 1933 to 1947.
During that era, the principality of Nawanagar was technically independent of British rule in India, but in effect, the so-called princely states were obliged to defer to the British.
The Maharaja of Nawanagar was educated at an English public school and he became a member of Churchill's Imperial War Cabinet.
He was a rallying figure in solving the plight of Poles who had been deported by Stalin to the depths of the Soviet Union
following Russia's invasion of Poland in September 1939.
Several hundred thousand Poles, including children, had suffered this fate after Germany and Russia divided up Poland in 1939.
Following an amnesty in 1941, Poland and Russia became technical allies in the fight against Nazi Germany.
The Maharaja of Nawanagar was the first Indian to offer to help Polish children who had been deported to Siberia, Kazakhstan and elsewhere.
As many as 500 orphans ultimately found refuge at specially prepared premises by the maharaja's summer palace at Balachadi, on the coast of Nawanagar.
Speaking in November 1942, the maharaja expressed his hopes that in "the beautiful hills beside the seashore, the children will be able to recover their health and to forget the ordeal they went through." (nh/pg)