Position of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region Parliament
Position of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region Parliament
POSITION
REGIONAL PARLIAMENT OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE REGION
of December 18, 2023
on the establishment of 2024 as the Year of Brave Women of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region
The year 2024 will be dedicated to BRAVE WOMEN connected to the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region. The inspiration for this designation comes from the 115th anniversary of the birth of Elżbieta Zawacka, the 120th anniversary of the birth of Helena Grossówna, and the 610th anniversary of Nawojka’s enrollment at the Krakow Academy.
In 1942, when Elżbieta Zawacka, code name “Zo,” crossed the borders of occupied Europe under an assumed name for the hundredth time to deliver reports from the AK (Home Army) Command to the West, she stopped counting her journeys. Yet, the most famous one was still ahead of her, in the winter of 1943 – through Germany, collaborationist France (where she traveled hidden under a pile of coal in a locomotive tender), the snowy Pyrenees with a chase on her heels, Gibraltar – and finally to England. A few months later, she returned to Poland as a parachutist, the only woman in the elite group of “Cichociemni.” She participated in the Warsaw Uprising and, after its fall, worked to rebuild the severed communication lines with London.
Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, another famous courier of the Underground State, described his first meeting with “Zo” as follows: “Of medium height, a blonde with blue eyes, she had something masculine about her. She was strict, serious, a bit rough, and very matter-of-fact. (…) Only upon parting did I feel a warm, strong handshake and hear a light sigh: ‘God willing, you will make it.'”
For someone who lived nearly a century (she passed away in January 2009, just two months before her 100th birthday), the conspiracy period from 1939–1946 was less than one-tenth of her life. Those seven years were relatively short, but exceptionally heroic. The rest of Elżbieta Zawacka’s life was also marked by courage, though of a different kind. Despite the hardships of communism, especially its brutal early Stalinist phase, she did not leave the country, always striving to serve Poland in the best way possible, though this cost her four years in prison.
What strength of spirit and will to live consciously one must have to begin an academic career after being released, at nearly 50 years old, and eventually earn the title of professor with UNESCO recognition, laying the foundation for a completely new field of science – andragogy (adult education). Throughout, even in the darkest post-war times, she preserved the memory of the Polish Underground State, particularly the women who fought in the ranks of the AK. She was one of the initiators of the establishment of the World Association of Home Army Soldiers.
She lived modestly in a small apartment in one of Toruń’s housing blocks. At the same time, using her own funds, when Poland regained independence, she funded two monuments dedicated to Polish women who fought for freedom. “I had a happy life (…) Even those few years in prison… No, that wasn’t important. What matters is what is still to be done,” Elżbieta Zawacka said in 2005.
Helena Grossówna was an undisputed star of pre-war Polish cinema, adored by the public. According to contemporary critics, she was an actress with the most beautiful smile. In the film Piętro wyżej, she famously “had a date at nine” with Eugeniusz Bodo, and with Adolf Dymsza in Paweł i Gaweł, she sang the most famous lullaby, Ach, śpij, kochanie, still hummed today. Born on November 25, 1904, in Toruń, Helena Grossówna, following the path of fellow regional native Pola Negri, was preparing to conquer Hollywood. She had already purchased a ticket for a voyage to America when war broke out.
For the next six years, Helena Grossówna played the greatest, though mostly unknown, role of her life. Officially a waitress in a Warsaw café, she was also a lieutenant in the Home Army, commander of a women’s unit in the Warsaw Uprising, and after its capitulation, a prisoner in a German camp.
Her Home Army past led Polish cinema to forget its greatest star after 1945. She only played a few minor roles in post-war films. Fortunately, thanks to the television series W starym kinie (In the Old Cinema), her pre-war performances became known to younger viewers.
Nawojka, born in the 15th century and the daughter of the mayor of Dobrzyń nad Wisłą, wanted to study. However, since women were forbidden from attending universities at the time (and for nearly 500 years afterward), she made a brave and risky decision to disguise herself as a boy. In 1414, under the name Jakub, she enrolled in the Krakow Academy. She was exposed three years later, just before taking her bachelor’s exams. Thanks to excellent moral and academic references from her professors, she avoided being burned at the stake and was instead sent to a convent, where she eventually became an abbess. Nawojka’s determination and nobility have made her a lasting symbol of courage for young women striving to achieve bold goals.
The selection of these three great Polish women is symbolic of the thousands of other women who lived and continue to live in Kujawy and Pomerania or were connected to our region. Although we may not know many of their names, we honor them through our memory. Among these steadfast “nameless” women are the opposition activists of “Solidarity” who fought for our long-awaited freedom. Women of great spirit include Helena Steibornowa, a national and social activist; Wanda Błeńska, a doctor, Home Army second lieutenant, missionary, and world-renowned leprosy treatment specialist; Marianna Popiełuszko, mother of Blessed Jerzy Popiełuszko, who forgave her son’s executioners; Stefania Tuchołkowa, a journalist and patriot; Wanda Ostaszewska, an intelligence officer for the Home Army who was persecuted after the war by communist authorities; and Felicja Krysiewiczowa, a Bydgoszcz cultural activist and outstanding educator who actively participated in the post-war reconstruction of music education. Her gravestone reads: “Felicja Krysiewicz – artist, social activist, educator, lived for people, for art, for truth.”
TRUTH, FREEDOM, COURAGE…
By establishing 2024 as the “The Year of Brave Women of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Region,” we pay tribute to all these women.