Halina Marianna Rutkowska

Halina Marianna Rutkowska, née Weyna, aka Urszula (1914-1991) was a Polish national activist and captain of the Home Army.

Life Youth

Halina Weyna was born on 23 November 1914 in Serock, , north of Warsaw. The family had a long agricultural tradition: her father was Hieronim Weyna and her mother Joanna née Kruczyńska. At the age of 6, she began her primary school education in Świecie, then graduated with distinction from the State Faculty School in Bydgoszcz and completed vocational courses to prepare her for working in trade business.

While still in high school, she joined the Women's Military Training (PWK). In 1936, she married Dezydery Rutkowski, a painter, with whom she moved to Bydgoszcz shortly after the union. In their new home located on Gamma Street, to help families affected by the effects of the war. Thanks to her good knowledge of the German language, she could establish contact with the head of the German employment office (Arbeitsamt), which delivered her blank medical certificates. These papers, once filled in, allowed Polish people to avoid local or deported forced labor.

Underground work in Warsaw Upon receiving news from her husband, imprisoned in Stalag VII-A in Bavaria, Rutkowska, together with her sister Wanda Gawlak,

Rutkowska came back to Bydgoszcz in March 1945. Her daughter Genofewa was born in 1949. She was active in many associations in Bydgoszcz (Union of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy, Reserve Officers' Club) and in Warsaw (Union of Warsaw Insurgents). As a veteran of Polish fights during WWII, Halina regularly participated in official meetings and commemoration ceremonies.

She died on 7 July 1991. Urszula was buried at the Nowofarny Cemetery in Bydgoszcz.

Awards Halina Urszula received, among many awards, the main following decorations: Silver Cross of the Virtuti Militari; Cross of Valour; Cross of the Home Army; Warsaw Uprising Cross.

Gallery