Elżbieta Zawacka
Elżbieta Zawacka (born March 19, 1909 in Thorn ; † January 10, 2009 there ) was a Polish underground fighter , mathematician , educator, professor and activist. For her services in the resistance, she was promoted to Brigadier General in 2006 .
Life
Young years
Elżbieta Zawacka grew up bilingual in the then Prussian Thorn. In 1918, after Poland regained independence, she became a Polish citizen . She studied mathematics at Poznan University and then worked as a high school teacher. At the same time, she worked as a trainer for the female auxiliary troops Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet .
resistance
During the German occupation of Poland, Zawacka worked in the main command of the Home Army ( Armia Krajowa ), department for foreign contacts. As a courier and envoy for the Commander-in-Chief of AK, she traveled several times to the Polish government- in- exile in London . She was the only female parachutist in the Armia Krajowa. Under one of her many identities, Zo , she became a legend during the war. She also worked as a trainer for the Polish Cichociemni special forces in Great Britain, where they were prepared for their deployment in the occupied homeland, and organized trips for other couriers between Poland and Great Britain (including Jan Nowak-Jeziorański ). As a resistance fighter, she took part in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944 and after its suppression went to Krakow , where she continued her work in the underground.
After 1945
In 1951 she was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment for high treason and espionage in the Communist People's Republic of Poland , but was released in 1955 after an amnesty.
After her release, she worked at the University of Gdańsk and the University of Toruń , where she became a professor of education in 1972 after her habilitation . Under pressure from the authorities, she retired early in 1978 and was expelled from the university. She then dedicated herself to promoting the memory of women in the resistance and in 1990 co-founded the archive and museum of the Home Army in Pomerania, based in Thorn. She died in her hometown shortly before her 100th birthday.
Awards
Elżbieta Zawacka has been honored several times with the highest Polish medals, including:
- Order Polonia Restituta - Officer's Cross (1990)
- Order of Polonia Restituta - Commander with Star (1993)
- Order of the White Eagle (1995)
References
literature
- Bernhard Chiari, Jerzy Kochanowski (ed.): The Polish Home Army. History and myth of the Armia Krajowa since the Second World War ( contributions to military history. Vol. 57). Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56715-2 .
Web links
- Literature by and about Elżbieta Zawacka in the catalog of the German National Library
- Personal Information
- Obituary (in English)
- Archives in Toruń ( memorial of September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (in Polish)
Footnotes
- ↑ Recognition of status as a soldier by the Polish government
- ↑ Elżbieta Zawacka at the Warsaw Uprising Museum (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zawacka, Elżbieta |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Zo; Zelma |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Polish resistance fighter, mathematician, pedagogue, brigadier general, professor emeritus and museum founder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 19, 1909 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Thorn |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 10, 2009 |
| Place of death | Thorn |