- Danuta Siedzikówna
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Danuta Siedzikówna 
Danuta SiedzikównaBirth name Danuta Siedzikówna Nickname Inka Born 3 September 1928
Olchówka/Guszczewina, PolandDied 28 August 1946 (aged 17)
Gdańsk, PolandAllegiance 
PolandRank Orderly Battles/wars World War II Awards Polonia Restituta 
Memorial Plaque for Danuta Siedzikówna in Gdańsk Basilica
Danuta Siedzikówna (pseudonym: Inka; underground name: Danuta Obuchowicz; born September 3, 1928 – died August 28, 1946, Gdansk) was a medical orderly in the 4th Squadron (created in the Białystok area) of the 5th Wilno Brigade of the Polish Home Army.[1] In 1946 she served with the Brigade's 1st Squadron in Poland's Pomorze (Pomerania) region.
Contents
Early life
Memorial Stone for Danuta Siedzikówna in SopotSiedzikówna was born on 3 September 1928 in the village of Olchówka/Guszczewina, near Narewka, in the Bielsk Podlaski district. Her father, Wacław Siedzik was a forester who had been sent to Siberia under the Tsar for being involved in pro-Polish independence organizations. He came back to Poland in 1923. In 1940 he was arrested by the NKVD and once again deported to Russia. In 1941 he joined Władysław Anders' Polish Army (died in Teheran in 1942). Her mother, Eugenia, née Tymińskia Prus III coat of arms, was a member of the Home Army and was killed by the Gestapo in September 1943. Danuta Siedzikówna grew up with her siblings, Wiesława (1927–2004) and Irena (1931? - 1978), in the forester's lodge near Olchówka (when were exiled Wacław they moved to Narewka), the girls attended grammar school in Narewka until 1939. During the Second World War, until 1943 all three girls studied in the Salesian Sisters School in Różanystok near Dąbrowa Białostocka.[2]
Second World War and after
Memorial for Danuta Siedzikówna in NarewkaAfter their mother was murdered by the Gestapo in Białystok, together with her sister Wiesława, Danuta joined the Home Army in late 1943 or early 1944. As part of the underground army's training she acquired medical skills.[2]
After the Soviets took Białystok from the German Nazis, she started work as a clerk in the forest inspectorate in Hajnówka.[2]
Together with other employees of the inspectorate she was arrested in June 1945 by NKWD and UB for collaboration with the anticommunist underground. She was liberated from a prison transport convoy by a patrol of a Wilno group of ex-Home Army partisans commanded by Stanisław Wołonciej "Konus", a subordinate of Zygmunt Szendzielarz, "Łupaszko", who were operating in the area. "Konus" took the freed prisoners to "Łupaszko"'s camp where some of them, including Danuta, joined his group. Subsequently Siedzikówna served as a medical orderly in the "Konus" troop, and then in the squadron of lieutenant Jan Mazur, "Piast", and that of lieutenant Marian Płuciński, "Mścisław". For a short period of time her superior was also lieutenant Leon Beynar "Nowina", deputy of "Łupaszko", later known as "Paweł Jasienica" - a notable Polish historian and writer. During this time Danuta assumed pseudonym "Inka".[2]
The "Łupaszko" brigade was dissolved in September 1945 and Danuta went back to work in the forest inspectorate in Miłomłyn in Ostróda County under the name "Danuta Obuchowicz". However, the brigade was re-mobilized in response to Communist repressions in January 1946. In the early spring of 1946 Danuta came into contact with second lieutenant Zdzisław Badocha "Żelazny", the commander of one of Łupaszko's squadrons. Afer "Żelazny"'s death, the new commander, second lieutenant Olgierd Christa "Leszek", ordered Danuta to travel to Gdańsk in order to collect medical supplies.
She was arrested by the UB again on 20 July 1946, in Gdańsk. While in prison she was tortured and beaten but refused to give up the information on her contacts in the anti-communist underground and their meeting points.
Trial and death
She was charged with taking an active, violent part in an attack on functionaries of the UB and the Milicja Obywatelska near village Podjazy as part of the Łupaszko unit, despite the fact that she was only a nurse. She was accused of shooting at the policemen and even issuing orders to other partisans. However, the testimony submitted by MO and UB members involved in the fight was contradictory, as some claimed to have seen her shooting and giving orders, while other denied the fact. One (Mieczysław Mazur) even testified that Danuta gave him first aid after he was wounded by other partisans.[2] She was also charged with killing wounded policemen, which was also contradicted during her trial. Because of the conflicting testimony and the absurdity of the charges even the Stalinist court decided that she did not take a direct part in the attack. Despite this finding, and ignoring Danuta's young age (she was only seventeen at the time), the court still sentenced her to death. The president of People's Republic of Poland, Boleslaw Bierut refused clemency (the request was submitted by Danuta's public defender, and she herself refused to sign it). Danuta Siedzikówna was executed (along with Feliks Selmanowicz pseudonym "Zagończyk"), six days before her 18th birthday, on 28 August 1946, in a Gdańsk prison.[3]
Memorial Grave for Danuta Siedzikówna in GdańskThe last minutes of her life are known from the testimony of Marian Prusak, the priest who was called to give "Inka" and "Zagończyk" last rites.[2][3] According to Prusak both prisoners were calm before their execution. Siedzikówna, after taking the Sacrament of Penance, asked Prusak to inform her family of her death and gave him their address. Afterward the two were executed in the basement of the prison, tied to wooden stakes. They both refused blindfolds. When the prosecutor gave the order for the execution squad to fire, both shouted "Long Live Poland!" simultaneously. Danuta was still alive however and the coup de grace was delivered by the present prosecutor, Franciszek Sawicki (the members of the firing squad refused to do so).[2][3]
Later events
Memorial Plaque for AK Soldiers in Gdańsk BasilicaMarian Prusak did deliver the news of Danuta's death to her family although they had already found out through other sources. Unbeknown to him he was being watched by the UB and in 1949 he was charged with "espionage" for revealing the information and spent three and a half years in prison.[3] After the fall of communism in Poland, the main Stalinist prosecutor in Danuta's trial who demanded the death penalty, Wacław Krzyżanowski, was brought up on charges of judicial murder twice (in 1993 and 2001). However, both times he was declared innocent of the charges (Krzyżanowski argued that he was only marginally involved with the case).[3]
Awards
On Independence Day 11 November 2006, Polish President Lech Kaczyński posthumously awarded Danuta Siedzikówna the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta.
Film
In January 2007, a movie about Danuta Siedzikówna last days, "Inka 1946. Ja jedna zginę", featuring actress Karolina Kominek-Skuratowicz in the title role and Natalia Korynckia-Gruz as a producer, was released by Teleplay.
Patronage
- Park im. sanitariuszki Inki in Sopot,
- Grammary School in Podjazy, near Sulęczyno in Kartuzy County in Pomeranian Voivodeship
- Gymnasium no 2 in Ostrołęka in Masovian Voivodeship
- 3 Sokólska Drużyna Wędrownicza ZHP
- 95 Tomaszowska Drużyna Harcerek "SZAROTKA" ZHP belonged to Headquarters Hufiec ZHP in Piotrków Trybunalski
- 1 Ostrołęcka Drużyna Harcerek "Ignis" ZHR
- 37 Gdyńska Drużyna Harcerek "Biedronki" ZHR
- 44 Mazowiecka Drużyna Harcerek "Kasjopea" ZHR in Warszawy
Memorials
- Memorial plaque in the Marien Basilica, Gdańsk
- Memorial in Park imienia Sanitariuszki Inki, Sopot
- Memorial near the parish church, Narewka
- Symbolical grave at the Garrison Cemetery, Gdańsk
See also
- Polonia Restituta
- List of recipients of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Wrongful execution
- Judicial murder
- Cursed soldiers
Sources and references
- link to Polonia Restituta Information
- Prospect about Inka
- Account of Execution given by Reverend Marian Prusak, "Inka's" Confessor
- ^ Leon Kieres, "Odpowiedź na oświadczenie senator Anny Kurskiej, złożone na 38. posiedzeniu Senatu", June 26, 2003, accessed on Hune 4, 2009, [1]
- ^ a b c d e f g Piotr Szubarczyk, "Danuta Siedzikówna – bohaterka spektaklu „Inka 1946”", [2]
- ^ a b c d e Jerzy Morawski, "Lepiej, że ja jedna zginę" (It's better if I'm the only one to die), Rzeczpospolita 3/11/2000, [3]
Categories:- 1928 births
- 1946 deaths
- People from Hajnówka County
- Polish military personnel of World War II
- Knights of the Order of Polonia Restituta
- Women in World War II
- People executed by firing squad
- People executed by the People's Republic of Poland
- Executed Polish women
- Cursed soldiers
- Polish people of World War II
- Prisoners who died in Soviet detention
- Polish people who died in prison custody
- Prisoners who died in People's Republic of Poland detention
- Polish prisoners and detainees
- Polish resistance fighters
- Armia Krajowa members
- Polish female soldiers
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