Jadwiga Szeptycka

Jadwiga Szeptycka (16 March 1883 – 27 September 1939) was a Polish published archeologist and ethnographer, writer and social activist. She was murdered by Soviet NKVD agents at her home in Poland after it was invaded by Soviet forces at the beginning of the Second World War.

Life and work Jadwiga Beatryksa Maria Szeptycka, known as Inka to her friends, was born in 1883 as Jadzia Szembekówna, on the family estate of Siemianice in the Kępiński poviat. She was the daughter of the landowner Count Piotr Szembek and Maria née Fredrów (daughter of Jan Aleksander and granddaughter of Aleksander Fredro). Inka received a thorough home education. As a teenager, while collaborating with her sister, Zofia, she organized the Association of Polish Children and a secret school, for which Inka taught Polish history and language. The school operated for several years (1898–1904) in Siemianice and nearby towns.

Archeologist Working with her sister Zofia in 1897, Inka began archaeological research in a cemetery from the Roman period in her native village. Scientific supervision over these works was performed by the curator of the Poznań Society of Friends of Sciences, Bolesław Erzepki. The results of the research were published in the Report on archaeological searches carried out in recent years in Siemianice (Kępiński poviat) ("Roczniki PTPN" 1902).

Selected works Szeptycka, J. (1902) Report on archaeological searches carried out in recent years in Siemianice (Kępiński poviat) ("Roczniki PTPN"). Szeptycka, J. (1906) Contributions to the Ethnography of Wielkopolska (MAAE 8,) Szeptycka, J. (1928). Report on explorations in Tarnowica, in the district of Yavorov (Lviv province) in the municipality of Bruchnal (owned by Count Leon Szeptycki). Przegląd Archeologiczny, 3(3), 213-215. Szeptycka, J. (1934). Contribution to the ethnography of the Jaworowski poviat (presented at the meeting of the Ethnographic Commission of PAU)