124. Birthday Anniversary of Zofia Kossak-Szczucka

She was born in Kośmin in 1889. Her childhood and youth were spent in the Lublin and Wołyn area. In the years 1912-13, she studied at the Warsaw School of Fine Arts, and then continued her studies in Geneva.

In 1915, she married Stefan Szczucki, administrator of the Nowosielica estate near Skowródek in the Wołyn area, where her sons, Juliusz and Tadeusz, were born. Stefan Szczucki died in 1921. Zofia settled in Górki Wielkie and, in 1925, she married again - to Zygmunt Szatkowski. Shortly thereafter, a son (Witold) was born and, in 1928, a daughter (Anna).

In 1936, she was awarded the Gold Laurel of the Polish Literary Academy, as well as the Gold Cross of Merit and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polish Renewal.

Kossak-Szczuckiej’s best-known works are Crusaders (Krzyżowcy) which has been translated into many languages, Conflagration (Pożoga) – her memoirs published in 1922, as well as historical stories such as Beatum scelus (1924) and Legnickie pole. In the 1930’s, she had several articles published in Prosto z mostu and Kultura, where she wrote that the Jews were the enemies of the Polish nation and that the Jewish issue was not one of religion, but one of race.

During World War II, living at that time in Warsaw, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, was active in the underground. She worked on magazines such as Polska Żyje, Znak andBiuletyn Informacyjny. In the summer of 1941, she co-founded the Polish Revival Front (Front Odrodzenia Polski), a secret Catholic organisation, a successor to the pre-War Catholic Action (Akcja Katolicka).

Probably, around the middle of 1941, she began helping Jews. It is not known exactly how many of them she helped personally and under what circumstances. In August 1942, she wrote the pamphlet Protest, in which she called upon Catholics to protest against the extermination of Jews. In September 1942, Zofia Kossak-Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska established the Committee to Aid Jews (Komitet Pomocy Żydom) which, in Dedember of the same year, was transformed into the Council to Aid Jews (Żegota).

In 1943, she was arrested and put into Pawiak prison, and then into Auschwitz.She tells of her camp experiences her book From the Abyss (Z otchłani). In April 1944, she was again put into Pawiak prison. She was sentenced to death, but the Government-in-Exile paid a ransom and she was released from prison in July 1944. Shortly thereafter, she took part in the Warsaw Uprising. In 1945, she arrived at the Polish Red Cross in London. She remained in exile for twelve years, continuing her work as a writer. In 1957, she returned to Górki Wielkie.

She died in 1968 in Bielsko-Biała. In 1982, she was posthumously honoured with the title of Righteous Among the Nations.