Pelagia Scheffczyk

Pelagia Scheffczyk (born March 8, 1915 in Bottrop , † October 5, 1943 in Plötzensee prison , Berlin ) was a Polish invoice clerk, employee in the Polish intelligence service and a victim of the Nazi war justice system.

Life and activity

Scheffczyk was the daughter of the miner Robert Scheffczyk and his wife Emilie. In 1919 the family moved to Oberhausen. After her father's death, Emilie Scheffczyk and her children moved to Katowice in 1921 . Pelagia Scheffczyk attended elementary school and business school there.

Since March 1936 Scheffczyk was employed by a Katowice workers' association. After retraining, she worked from July 1940 as an invoice clerk in the Hermann Bindler company, which produced and sold office supplies. Here she met the merchant Sigmund Wiczak, a leading member of the Polish Stragan intelligence department , which was operated by the illegal Polish secret organization Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Task Force ). Stragan's task in the German-occupied countries was to collect secret news about the war, especially the German plans and activities, and to pass them on to the Polish emigre government under Sikorski in London . Wiczak recruited Scheffczyk to work for the Stragan, for which she worked as a courier for the next two years. This activity took the form of carrying messages that she received from agents of Stragan to her liaison in Katowice, who forwarded them to London on secret channels.

Scheffczyk was arrested on December 1, 1942. She was charged with war espionage before the 3rd Senate of the People's Court . In the verdict of August 20, 1943, she was found guilty and sentenced to death. The execution was carried out in Berlin-Plötzensee prison.

Today a stumbling stone in front of Ernst-Ender-Straße 19 in Bottrop reminds of Scheffczyk.

Web links

• Entry on Pelagia Scheffczyk at the Stolpersteine