Here’s to 200 years!
They have already lived through a century filled with joys and hardships. Vice-Marshal Aneta Jędrzejewska and Regional Councillor Katarzyna Stranz-Kaja extended their best wishes to the centenarian residents of the region and presented them with the Marshal’s Unitas Durat Palatinatus Cuiaviano-Pomeraniensis Medal.
Still full of energy, Maria Mozgiel has a remarkable life story. She was born on 10 August 1926 in Warka on the Pilica River. She was the only daughter of Władysław and Zofia Kozłowski and had three brothers. She married at the age of 17 to avoid being deported for forced labour.
Leonard Zieliński, originally from Bydgoszcz, arrived in Warka in a transport of residents deported from their home towns in Kujawy and Pomorze. After the turmoil of the war, the couple settled first in Bydgoszcz and later in Kowalewo Pomorskie. They also lived in Toruń. – Of all the cities I have lived in, Toruń is my favourite – the centenarian admits.
A family trip to the United States brought a major change to her life. She liked the country so much that she decided to settle there permanently. After divorcing her husband, she returned across the Atlantic and took a job as a cleaner on a university campus in Boston. While living in the United States, she married for a second time, to Edward Mozgiel. After twenty years overseas, she returned to Poland at the age of 80.
Today, she helps care for her nineteen-year-old great-grandson, who has cerebral palsy. She is happiest when she sees a smile on his face. – That is the greatest reward for me – says the centenarian.
Zofia Eugenia Remez (née Biernacka) is also a cheerful and kind-hearted person. She was born on 12 August 1926 in Jabłonowo Pomorskie. Her parents, Marianna and Jan Biernacki, had six children. Her 93-year-old sister is still alive today.
For the whole family, the war years were a time of constant displacement. Their forced journey took them as far as Volhynia, before they were eventually able to return safely to the Bydgoszcz area. Mrs Remez’s parents worked at the Bydgoszcz Emilianowo railway station, where Bogdan Remez – her future husband – was also employed. A graduate of the Railway Technical School in Bydgoszcz, he worked in Emilianowo as a train dispatcher. They married in 1946 and had four children – one son and three daughters.
Mrs Remez, who has been a widow for 17 years, has five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren. After her husband’s death, she lived alone. She is now cared for by her daughter in Bydgoszcz. In her younger years, she tended the garden around her home. She enjoyed reading and watching good films. Always generous and ready to help, she supported others whenever they asked. For many years she has been known for her cheerful and kind nature – qualities she retains to this day.
One-hundred-year-old Jadwiga Wróblewska is enjoying a peaceful autumn of life surrounded by the care of her family. She was born on 16 August 1926 in Lubin, Lipno County. Her parents, Stanisław and Stanisława Ciećwierz, ran a farm. She had three brothers – Jan, Józef and Ignacy – and two sisters, Anastazja and Barbara.
At the age of 16, she was forced to work on a horticultural farm owned by a local German. After the occupying authorities expelled her family from their home, they moved in with Mrs Wróblewska’s grandmother. They remained there until the end of the war, waiting for news of her father, who never returned home. Called up for military service in 1939, he died on the Western Front in circumstances that remain unknown to the family.
In 1948, Mrs Wróblewska married Jan Wróblewski, a bricklayer. They had seven children – three daughters and four sons. Mr Wróblewski worked in his profession while also helping his wife run the family farm. Life in the Wróblewski household was far from affluent. – When our parents bought marmalade, it was a real treat for us – recalls their daughter.
After many years of hard work, Mrs Wróblewska remains cheerful, conscientious and deeply religious. To this day, she willingly prays the rosary, reads religious publications and watches programmes devoted to religious topics. She has 20 grandchildren and 38 great-grandchildren.
Families of residents of the region who will soon celebrate their 100th birthday, as well as those who are already over 100, are encouraged to contact us by phone at +48 56 62 18 344 or by e-mail at stulatkowie@kujawsko-pomorskie.pl.
More information is available in the Peers of Independent Poland section.
Press Office of the Marshal’s Office
19 August 2026
