She captivated with her beauty, acted alongside Bodo and Dymsza. 2026 will be the Year of Helena Grossówna in Toruń
Before she became one of the greatest pre-war stars of Polish cinema, she was a trainee and later a sales assistant in a men’s fashion shop in Toruń, and she began her career as a dancer. The Toruń City Council has declared 2026 the Year of Helena Grossówna.
“The Toruń City Council declares the year 2026 the Year of Helena Grossówna as an expression of appreciation for her artistic achievements and patriotic attitude, as well as a reminder of the value of her accomplishments for the development of Polish culture and film, and for the promotion of the city of Toruń,” reads the resolution adopted by the councillors.
“She was an actress in the American style, extraordinarily versatile. She danced superbly, sang beautifully, and proved herself equally well in drama and comedy,” says Prof. Krzysztof Trojanowski, a film scholar from Nicolaus Copernicus University.
One of the most popular Polish actresses of the pre-war period was born in 1904 in Toruń, where she spent her childhood and early youth. When she was 15, she began working as a trainee in a men’s clothing store. “But I dreamed of dancing, becoming an actress, singing. After about three years I became a sales assistant: I could already earn my own living and help my mother,” Helena Grossówna recalled.
She began her artistic career as a dancer—in 1926 she graduated from the Toruń ballet school. At the same time, she made her stage debut at the Municipal Theatre in Toruń, appearing as an extra in the operetta The Csárdás Princess. It was in the shop that she met her future husband, Jan Gierszal—a businessman and art patron who was also the manager of the estate of Pola Negri, the great star of silent cinema, near Paris. Grossówna left for Paris, where she refined her ballet technique under the guidance of Matylda Krzesińska and Bronislava Nijinska. In the film The Doctor’s Secret, shot there, she appeared in the opening scene, speaking the first Polish words ever recorded on film.
After returning to Poland, she performed on stages in Bydgoszcz and Poznań, but the turning point in her career came with her move to the capital, where she made her big-screen debut. Her film career lasted only four years, but it was exceptionally prolific. She appeared in 17 productions alongside such pre-war stars as Eugeniusz Bodo and Adolf Dymsza. Upstairs, Paweł and Gaweł, Forgotten Melody, A Mother’s Heart, and Queen of the Suburbs are just some of the films in which she appeared. From these films come popular songs that are still well known today, such as “Ach, Sleep, My Darling,” “You Will Never Forget Me,” and “I Had a Date with Her at Nine.” Her screen performances, beauty, and natural charm made Grossówna a major star. She was called “the most beautiful smile of Warsaw,” “a cookie with pepper,” and often “Helenka from Toruń.” Together with Bodo and Dymsza, she was to sail to America in January 1940 to conquer Hollywood—she had even purchased a ticket for the voyage. However, the outbreak of World War II brought her career to a halt. During the German occupation, she actively participated in the resistance movement, serving in the Home Army under the pseudonym “Bystra.” She took part in the Warsaw Uprising, commanding the women’s battalion “Sokół.”
Her Home Army past closed the door to continuing her career in communist Poland, and after the war she appeared only in episodic roles in a few films. Among others, she appeared alongside brothers Lech and Jarosław Kaczyński in The Two Who Stole the Moon (1962), playing the mother of the twins Jacek and Placek. She died in 1994 in Warsaw.
A roundabout at the intersection of Łokietka, Kościuszki, and Chrobry Streets in Toruń bears the name of Helena Grossówna. Thanks to the regional self-government, her historic family home was restored and relocated from PCK Street to Wola Zamkowa. In cooperation with the Marshal’s Office—the operator of the Kujawy Pomorze Film Fund—in November this year a book by journalist and popularizer of history Marek Teler, Helena Grossówna. Be an Optimist, was published. Earlier, the Marshal’s Office released a comic book titled Helena Grossówna. Never Lose Hope.
Department of Promotion
22 December 2025