A woman who fled Poland from the Nazis has criticised a developer’s plans to bulldoze her home decades later.
Maria Owsianka, 90, was forced to leave her home in Warsaw as a child, but fears she will now have to move to a new estate from her home at Penrhos Polish Village in Gwynedd, north Wales.
She said: “We all came to Penrhos at the end of our lives in the expectation of a safe haven. We did not expect to be forced out of our homes yet again.”
A planning application is due to be considered by Gwynedd Council’s planning committee on October 23 seeking permission to demolish homes, meeting rooms, a hairdressing salon, launderette and staff offices at the village.
Under the proposal, new houses may be constructed, but there is no provision in the bid to replace communal facilities or premises for care staff.
The village, which provides homes for people of Polish, Welsh, or other backgrounds in need of extra care, would be replaced with a housing scheme.
Mrs Owsianka told North Wales Live: “I moved here with my husband five years ago to live closer to my family. We have a lovely terraced bungalow which is perfect for our needs.
“I’m devastated this planning application proposes the demolition of the village. There are people in Penrhos Polish Village who, as children, were evicted from their homes by the Soviets and sent to Siberia.
“I was thrown out of my home aged 11 with what I could carry while the Nazis burned Warsaw to the ground. We all came to Penrhos at the end of our lives in the expectation of a safe haven.”
Penrhos Polish Village in Pwllheli, a market town on the Llŷn Peninsula, was founded in 1949 by the Polish Housing Society Ltd.
It housed exiled Polish airmen and soldiers who remained in Britain after World War Two. The Village is now owned and managed by ClwydAlyn Housing Association (CHA).
Mrs Owsianka accused CHA of not listening, adding: “We hope Gwynedd councillors will listen now.”
She said there is alternative space to build homes on the site of an old barracks, meaning there would be no need to demolish the newer units where people still live.
Mrs Owsianka said: “If we lose these facilities and services, as we will if this development goes ahead, we will have lost all that is good about this place, which was lovingly built up over 70 years.”
Gwynedd Council recently published its vision for the redevelopment of the site, which has been welcomed by some campaigners.
Mrs Owsianka and others believe this has yet to be translated into a “firm plan” with funding yet to be secured for the care home and facilities.
CHA presented its demolition and development plans to residents in early 2021.
ClwydAlyn Housing Association has been approached for comment.
