Jak dokonać niemożliwego? Kilka słów o gen. Elżbiecie Zawackiej – cichociemnej
Achieving the Impossible: A Few Remarks on General Elżbieta Zawacka, One of the “Silent-Unseen”

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses the military service of General Elżbieta Zawacka, a Polish woman who became famous for her service in Polish resistance during the Second World War. Zawacka was born and raised in Toruń. She received military training in Poland during the inter-war period, and in 1939 participated in the defence of Lviv and joined the Polish secret army. She was involved in secret service, communication, women’s military service, and underground education. Of the thousands of special actions that she performed, the most daring, riskiest and crucial for the Polish Army was her 1941 secret mission from Warsaw to London, i.e. to the then Polish Government and Polish Army Headquarters in Exile. As a person fully aware of the situation in occupied Poland, she trained soldiers of the Polish special troops formed in England and Scotland, named “Silent-Unseen” (Polish: Cichociemni). She was transported by plane with one of these units to occupied Poland and jumped down with a parachute. After the war, Zawacka was actively involved in Poland’s anti-Communist conspiracy. She got arrested by the communists and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released after four years as a result of the amnesty for political prisoners. Later, Zawacka came back to work as a teacher and academic, working as a mathematician and social pedagogue. She took part in numerous activities of the “Solidarity” trade union. After the fall of communism in Poland, she became a professor in humanities and received the rank of emeritus Brigadier General. She died at the age of nearly 100 on 10 January 2009 in Toruń, where she was buried. For her commitment, Zawacka was awarded several medals and honours, including the Virtuti Militari (twice), the Cross of Valour (four times), and the Home Army Cross. In 1995, President Lech Wałęsa awarded her with the Order of the White Eagle, Poland’s most prominent distinction.

• Details
• Contents