Jadwiga Piłsudska

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Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska
Born Jadwiga Piłsudska
(1920-02-29) February 29, 1920
Warsaw, Poland
Nationality Polish
Other names Jadwiga Jaraczewska
Education Wanda Szachtmajer Female High School
Alma mater Newnham College, Cambridge
Polish University Abroad
Occupation architect
Employer Office of Urban Planning (London County Council)
Spouse(s) Andrzej Jaraczewski
Children Krzysztof Józef Jaraczeski
Joanna Maria Onyszkiewicz
Parents Józef Piłsudski (father)
Aleksandra Szczerbińska (mother)
Relatives Wanda Piłsudska (sister)
Military career
Allegiance  Poland
 United Kingdom
Service/branch Polish Air Forces
RAF: Air Transport Auxiliary
Years of service 1942-1944
Rank Second Officer (Flying Officer)
Unit 1st Ferry Pool, White Waltham
Awards

Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska (born 20 February 1920) is a pilot, who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. She is the one of two daughters of Marshal and Naczelnik Józef Piłsudski.

Life

Marshal Piłsudski with daughter

Jadwiga Piłsudska was born on 20 February 1920, in Warsaw, Poland, the younger daughter of Marshal Józef Piłsudski, Poland's Chief of State (1918–22) and dictator (1926–1935), by the woman who would later become his second wife, Aleksandra.

In 1937 Jadwiga began flying gliders and obtained a pilot's licence. In 1939 she graduated from secondary school and decided to study aircraft engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic.

In September 1939, Poland was invaded by the Nazis, initiating the Second World War, and her family realized that under the circumstances it would be prudent to leave the country immediately. Piłsudska fled with her mother and elder sister, Wanda, to Lithuania and eventually arrived in the United Kingdom. She resumed her studies, in 1940, matriculating at Newnham College, Cambridge University.

Later she acquired her aircraft pilot's license, and in July 1942, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. With the rank of Second Officer[1] (Flying Officer) she flew unarmed military aircraft in the dangerous skies of wartime Britain and was, with Anna Leska and the Lithuanian-Pole Barbara Wojtulanis, one of several Polish women who served as wartime ferry pilots in Britain.

In 1944, she took a leave of absence to continue her studies by enrolling in the Polish School of Architecture at Liverpool University. In 1946 she graduated with an engineering degree in architecture.

In 1944, she also married Lieutenant Andrzej Jaraczewski, an officer in the Polish Navy. She has two children: a son, Krzysztof (in English, Christopher), and a daughter, Joanna.

Due to the Communist takeover in Poland, she remained in England after the War, as a political émigré. She has never accepted British citizenship. She used a Nansen passport, valid for all countries in the world, except Poland.[2]

In 1990, with the collapse of the Communist government, she returned to Poland and now lives in Warsaw.

Honours

Piłsudski coat of arms

She has been honoured with a Bronze Cross of Merit with Swords and the Commander's Cross of the Polonia Restituta.

See also

References

  1. ↑ T. J. Krzystek, Personel Polskich Sił Powietrznych w Wielkiej Brytanii w latach 1940-1947 łącznie z Pomocniczą Lotniczą Służbą Kobiet (PLSK-WAFF), Agencja Lotnicza ALTAIR - Krajowa Rada Lotnicza, Warszawa 2007
  2. ↑ A. Romanowski, Piękne wczoraj, "Apokryf", No 13 (in "Tygodnik Powszechny, No 45/1998)
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