Maria Polaczkówna

Maria Polaczkówna (1878–1944) was a Polish historian, geographer, archivist and member of the Polish resistance. Polaczkówna's father took part in the Polish revolt called the January Uprising and spent years an exile in France where he completed medical studies. In his absence, his family lived a very modest life. Polaczkówna and her younger sister Helena Polaczkówna, took on tutoring assignments to earn enough money to afford their education. Despite their modest beginnings, the sisters rose through the academic ranks with each earning a PhD. After some years in Przemyśl, she returned to L’viv, where she taught history and geography at local schools until she retired in 1938. She was the author or co-author of geography textbooks and of a valuable monograph “Wahania klimatyczne w Polsce w wiekach średnich” (Climatic Fluctuations in Medieval Poland, L’viv, 1925).

Capture

During World War II, Maria and her younger sister Helena Polaczkówna lived together in L’viv (now in Ukraine) at 29 Listopada Street (now Jevhena Konovaltsya Street). During the German occupation, Maria and Helena, became involved in educational, charitable and conspiratorial activities. The apartment shared by sisters became a contact point for secret couriers and messengers of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of Home Army Headquarters, a system of asylum and safe places where illegal publications could be edited. Reportedly, it was through the carelessness of some co-workers that the Gestapo identified the building and arrested Helena on 27 April 1942. She was tortured and finally murdered in Autumn 1942.

Polaczkówna, Maria. “Wahania klimatyczne w Polsce w wiekach średnich” (Climatic Fluctuations in Medieval Poland, L’viv, 1925).