{"id":55609,"date":"2024-04-24T07:00:58","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T05:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=55609"},"modified":"2026-04-24T00:26:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:26:33","slug":"irena-bobowska-a-young-polish-catholic-woman-in-a-wheelchair-who-defied-the-nazis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2024\/04\/24\/irena-bobowska-a-young-polish-catholic-woman-in-a-wheelchair-who-defied-the-nazis\/","title":{"rendered":"Irena Bobowska, a young Polish Catholic woman in a wheelchair who defied the nazis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Poland is an admirable country whose history is full of incredible examples of heroism, among them that of the young Irena Bobowska.<\/p>\n

Pilecki: the man who unveiled the Holocaust and ended up executed by the communists<\/a><\/rel>
\nPolish Catholics: the great forgotten when talking about the victims of the Holocaust<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Since her childhood in a wheelchair<\/big><\/p>\n

Irena, known as Nenia to her family and friends, was born on September 3, 1920 in Pozna\u0144. Her family was Catholic and very patriotic.<\/strong> Irena was the second of five siblings. She had a brother, Stanis\u0142aw (born 1924) and three sisters: Urszula (1919), Teodora (1922), and Helena (1926). Her mother was Zofia Kraszewska and her father was Teodor Bobowski, an officer in the Polish Army<\/strong>, a veteran of the First World War and the Polish-Soviet War<\/a> and was murdered by the Soviets in the Katyn massacre<\/a> in 1940. Being very young Irena contracted poliomyelitis, which caused her to have to use a wheelchair<\/strong> for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Irena (second from the left) with her mother and siblings (Photo: dziewuchyberlin.org<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Her enlistment in the Polish resistance and the magazine 'Pobudka'<\/big><\/p>\n

Even as a child, Irena showed great talent for drawing and poetry.<\/strong> Despite her disability, she enlisted in the explorers. Irena turned 19 two days after the start of the German invasion of Poland. In November 1939 she joined the Polish resistance<\/strong>, forming part of the Pozna\u0144ska Organizacja Zbrojna (Pozna\u0144 Armed Organization). Between 1939 and 1940 she directed the clandestine magazine \"Pobudka\"<\/strong>, of just a few pages and which printed up to 300 weekly copies, but of which unfortunately no copy survives today. In it, Irena dedicated her literary talent to countering German propaganda<\/strong> and offering military and cultural information to the Poles of Pozna\u0144.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Irena, in her scout uniform, on a church kneeler in the early 1930s (Photo: Gedenkst\u00e4tte Deutscher Widerstand<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Her arrest and the torture to which she was subjected<\/big><\/p>\n

Irena was arrested by the Germans on June 20, 1940.<\/strong> Her younger sister Helena saw how she was arrested and went to tell her family. Irena was taken to Fort VII, then to Wronki Prison and later to Moabit Prison in Berlin. The Germans subjected her to all kinds of physical and mental torture<\/strong>, beating her, taking away her wheelchair and forcing her to crawl on the floor of her cell in order to move around.<\/p>\n

Some beautiful poems that reached Auschwitz<\/big> <\/p>\n

Despite the hardships she suffered, from prison Irena continued writing poems<\/strong>, and some of them managed to get them clandestinely abroad, some of them reaching the Polish prisoners of Auschwitz<\/strong>, where those writings helped to endure the horrors of that extermination camp. On April 23, 1941, on the train that was taking her to Berlin, she wrote this poem titled \"Modlitwa\" (Prayer): <\/strong><\/p>\n

Za wszystkie dobre z Bo\u017cej r\u0119ki wzi\u0119te
\nZa skarby wiary, za pociechy \u015bwi\u0119te
\nZa trudy, prace i trud\u00f3w owoce
\nChwile szcz\u0119\u015bcia i d\u0142ugie niemoce
\nZa spok\u00f3j, walk\u0119
\nZa chwile szcz\u0119\u015bcia i dni \u017ca\u0142oby.<\/p>\n

For all good things taken from God's hand
\nFor the treasures of faith, for holy consolations
\nFor hardships, works and fruits of hardships
\nMoments of happiness and long hardships
\nFor peace and fight
\nFor moments of happiness and days of mourning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Her most famous poem is \"Bo ja si\u0119 ucz\u0119\" (Because I am learning)<\/strong>, which she left in her prison cell and in which she expressed how she endured the torture to which she was being subjected:<\/p>\n

... Bo ja si\u0119 ucz\u0119 najwi\u0119kszej sztuki \u017cycia:
\nU\u015bmiecha\u0107 si\u0119 zawsze i wsz\u0119dzie
\nI bez rozpaczy znosi\u0107 b\u00f3le,
\nI nie \u017ca\u0142owa\u0107 tego co przesz\u0142o,
\nI nie ba\u0107 si\u0119 tego co b\u0119dzie!<\/p>\n

Pozna\u0142am smak g\u0142odu
\nI bezsennych nocy (to by\u0142o dawno)
\nI wiem jak k\u0142uje zimno,
\nGdy w k\u0142\u0119bek chcia\u0142by\u015b skulony,
\nUchroni\u0107 si\u0119 od ch\u0142odu.
\nI wiem co znaczy la\u0107 \u0142zy niemocy
\nW niejeden dzie\u0144 jasny,
\nNiejedn\u0105 noc ciemn\u0105.<\/p>\n

I nauczy\u0142am si\u0119 pop\u0119dza\u0107 my\u015blami
\nCzas, co bezlito\u015bnie lubi si\u0119 d\u0142u\u017cy\u0107
\nI wiem jak ci\u0119\u017cko trzeba walczy\u0107 z sob\u0105,
\nAby nie upa\u015b\u0107 i nie da\u0107 si\u0119 znu\u017cy\u0107
\nNie ko\u0144cz\u0105c\u0105 zda si\u0119 drog\u0105...<\/p>\n

I dalej ucz\u0119 si\u0119 najwi\u0119kszej sztuki \u017cycia:
\nU\u015bmiecha\u0107 si\u0119 zawsze i wsz\u0119dzie
\nI bez rozpaczy znosi\u0107 b\u00f3le,
\nI nie \u017ca\u0142owa\u0107 tego co przesz\u0142o,
\nI nie ba\u0107 si\u0119 tego co b\u0119dzie!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is its English translation<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

... Because I'm learning the greatest art of life:
\nSmile always and everywhere
\nAnd bear the pain without despair,
\nAnd don't regret what happened,
\nAnd don't be afraid of what will happen!<\/p>\n

I got to know the taste of hunger
\nAnd sleepless nights (that was a long time ago)
\nAnd I know how the cold stings
\nWhen you want to curl up in a ball,
\nProtect yourself from the cold.
\nAnd I know what it means to shed tears of helplessness
\nOn many a bright day,
\nMany a dark night.<\/p>\n

And I learned to rush my thoughts
\nTime, which ruthlessly likes to extend
\nAnd I know how hard it is to fight with yourself,
\nSo as not to fall and get tired
\nThe drugs seem endless...<\/p>\n

And I continue to learn the greatest art of life:
\nSmile always and everywhere
\nAnd bear the pain without despair,
\nAnd don't regret what happened,
\nAnd don't be afraid of what will happen!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/div>\n
Irena in her wheelchair in a photo taken in Pozna\u0144 in 1938 (Photo: Gedenkst\u00e4tte Deutscher Widerstand<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Her brave and defiant statement before the court that sentenced her to death<\/big> <\/p>\n

On August 12, 1942, Irena was brought before a military court in Berlin.<\/strong> She was allowed to speak in her defense, but instead of rejecting the accusations brought against her, she recounted during half an hour the abuses committed by the Germans against the Poles<\/strong>, from the time of the partitions of Poland in the 18th century to the occupation of the country by Nazi Germany. Finally, she ended her intervention by saying these words to the court:<\/strong> \"Dzi\u015b wy mnie s\u0105dzicie, ale was b\u0119dzie s\u0105dzi\u0142 kto\u015b wy\u017cszy\"<\/em> (Today you judge me, but someone superior to you will judge).<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
The last existing photo of Irena Bobowska, taken in 1939 (Photo: Wielkopolski Urz\u0105d Wojew\u00f3dzki w Poznaniu<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Her words in the last letter to her mother<\/big> <\/p>\n

Irena was sentenced to be executed by guillotine.<\/strong> A few hours before her execution, Irena wrote a letter to her mother. She was not allowed to write in Polish, so she had to write it in German: \"My dear mother! Today, or rather early tomorrow morning... I will go to death<\/strong>\"<\/em>, her lines began.<\/p>\n

In her letter, Irena said that she had been very lucky in her life:<\/strong> \"all the people were good to me and I received much more than I could give. I think that all the evil of the world and all wars are due to the fact that people have not yet learned to understand each other.<\/strong> I can die in peace, because I know that moment will come, even if I don't see it. Also I can die with pride because I preserved it. my honor and my faith until the end<\/strong>.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
A drawing made by Irena showing her cell in Moabit prison, in Berlin (Image: kulturaupodstaw.pl<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Finally, she added: \"The priest has already been in my cell and will come again with Holy Communion. I am in a good mood and I hope that my courage will accompany me until the end.<\/strong> You will have no reason to be ashamed of me\"<\/em>. Her letter is a testament to Irena's spirited character, her bravery, and her solid principles: \"It doesn't matter what we achieve, but how we fight <\/strong>\"<\/em>, she stated. These were her last words to her mother: \"Stay with God; I go to Him and I believe He will accept me<\/strong>.\"<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Self-portrait made by Irena in prison a few weeks before being executed (Image: Wielkopolski Urz\u0105d Wojew\u00f3dzki w Poznaniu<\/a>).<\/div>\n

Her last attempt to save her companions and her execution<\/big><\/p>\n

Irena was murdered at 4:36 in the morning on September 26, 1942 in the Pl\u00f6tzensee prison in Berlin. She was 22 years old.<\/strong> Before the execution she wrote a letter to the court asking for clemency for her fellow editors of the magazine \"Pobudka\" who were arrested with her, with Irena assuming full responsibility for the publication of the clandestine magazine. The court did not agree to this and that same day Stanis\u0142aw Michalski and Radziw\u00f3j Zakrzewski, members of the \"Pobudka\" team, were executed.<\/strong> Irena's poems and drawings survived because they were preserved by her mother, who died in 1987.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
Information panel on Irena Bobowska Square in Pozna\u0144 (Photo: MOs810<\/a>).<\/div>\n

In 2012, the city of Pozna\u0144 dedicated a square to Irena Bobowska<\/strong>, on the corner of Przybyszewskiego and D\u0105browskiego streets. There, an information panel remembers her story. Today, several Polish female scout groups have Irena Bobowska as their patron. I hope that this article serves to bring the name of Irena Bobowska and her testimony to many English-speaking people<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cze\u015b\u0107 jej pami\u0119ci!<\/font><\/big>
\nHonor to her memory!<\/p>\n

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Bibliography:<\/big><\/p>\n