The children were granted passage to New Zealand by the war-time Prime Minister, Peter Fraser.
The Polish Consulate at the time, who knew Mr Fraser's wife Janet, spoke to her of their plight. Mrs Fraser then suggested to her husband they open the country to the children.
Over the years, the population has grown to about 7000, with many prominent people amongst the population.
Amongst that group was Stefan Lepionka, whose parents were both refugees.
At 17 he set up one of the country's first fresh orange juice company's, Stefan's Orange Juice, and went on to help friends Marc Ellis and Simon Neal set up Charlie's juice company.
The company sold in 2011 to Japanese beverage company Asahi Group for $130 million.
Mr Lepionka is now investing in an intellectual property company which is licensing a new beverage packaging product.
The contribution of the Polish refugees and their families was "amazing in so many ways", he said.
"There's a lot of high-end specialist doctors who have come out from the Polish families, top ranking in this country and off shore."
Former Honorary Polish Consul for New Zealand and Polish refugee John Roy-Wojciechowski said only about 36 Polish children returned to their homeland after fighting ended, because they had families there, he said.
"The rest of us, they started to teach us English, they started to teach us rugby, they started to turn us into New Zealanders.
"And we became New Zealanders, we became first-class New Zealand citizens with huge contributions economically and in other ways."
Mr Roy-Wojciechowski became prominent in the business world, founding Mainzeal and meat exporting company Mair Astley.
He also created the Polish Heritage Museum in Auckland 10 years ago.
"I wanted to share with New Zealand the rich heritage of Poland, its literature and all the other things that we have contributed to the western world and we're sharing it with new Zealanders.
"And I'm proud to be a New Zealander, I and many others like myself, the Polish children we called ourselves, we gave a lot."
Many "children of the children" were prominent in medicine and law, accounting, he said. "It was an experiment that the New Zealand Government took on and it paid off because we became the largest group that's done very well for New Zealand."
Polish Ambassador Zbigniew Gniatkowski said the refugees played a "very important role in this multi-cultural nation". He understood that 340 of the original refugees were still alive.
Polish Association of New Zealand chairwoman Tereska Lepionka-Carroll, sister of Stefan, said many refugees arrived with just their name.
"That's it, they didn't even have their own shoes, they didn't even have their own clothes." However, once settled, the group worked hard to make a success of their situation, she said.
"You'll find that a lot of Poles have freehold homes, a lot of Poles worked really, really hard to lay those roots down and those platforms today are still there.
"That's why we have today still a Polish school, still a Polish church, still a Polish community that are really strong because of those roots that were laid down 70 years ago.
"These are staunch, staunch proud Poles who have survived as children in Siberian gulags."
Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully visited Poland earlier this year. "I met with Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski who expressed Poland's appreciation for the welcome extended to the refugees."
A resolution was adopted recently in the Polish Parliament acknowledging New Zealand's role in rescuing the children.
"Your kindness and hospitality shown to the Poles will remain forever in our memory," the resolution said.
- APNZ
