Krystyna Krahelska
Krystyna Krahelska "Danuta" (24 March 1914 - 2 August 1944) was a Polish poet, ethnographer, member of the Home Army, and a participant in the Warsaw Uprising.
Life
She was born in a family estate in Mazurki, by the river Shchara near Baranovichi in Belarus. Her family was a typical family of intellectuals. Her father, John Krahelskiego, was an engineer then later an HR officer, and the governor of Polesye from 1926 to 1932. Her mother was Janina Bury, a biologist. She was the niece of Wanda Krahelska-Filipowiczow (one of the participants in the assassination of the Russian Governor General Skałona) and the cousin of her husband Halina Krahelska.
She joined the Polish Scouting Association in 1928, and from 1929 to 1932 led a band of scouts. In 1931, she participated in the composition of the Polish delegation in the Scouts Rally Slavic Prague. In 1932 she graduated from junior high school, Romuald Traugutta in Brest-on-the-Bug (Brześć nad Bugiem) [1].
From October 1932, she studied at the University of Warsaw, studying geography, history and ethnography at the Faculty of Humanities. During that time, she was a ward of Cezaria Jędrzejewiczowa. She performed songs on Polish Radio in Vilnius and Warsaw. In May 1939, she passed her final examination. From 1936 to 1937, she posed for Louise Nitschowa, sculptor of one of the statues of the Warsaw Mermaid.
In September 1939, Warsaw was attacked by Nazi Germany. During the occupation, she lived in Warsaw and worked at the National Institute of Agricultural Cultivation [1]. She was a messenger and courier for special tasks into Nowogródczyzna. From 1943 to 1944 she transported weapons, trained in medicine and she worked as a nurse in the local hospital in Włodawa. As a nurse, she trained girls for medical service [1].
From May 1943, again in Warsaw and during the Warsaw Uprising, she was assigned as a nurse in 1108 platoon (Lieutenant Commander. Karol Wroblewski ps. "Crows") in the 3rd squadron of the 1st Squadron, "Deer" 7th Cavalry Regiment Lublin AK under the pseudonym of "Danuta" [2]. On August 1, when conducted by a platoon from the street, she was attack on the building of the House of Press Street, Marszałkowska 3/5 (including the editorial office and printing the "New Warsaw Courier"). She was rescuing a wounded colleague when she was shot three times in the chest. She was operated on at the insurgent's hospital at Polna 34, but as a result of her wounds, she died on the morning of August 2 [2][3].
She was buried in the garden house at ul. Polna 36. After the war her ashes were transferred to the cemetery on Służewie Street Renety.
Posthumously, she was promoted to the rank of Army sergeant and awarded several medals.
Life
She wrote poems and songs for most of her life. The most famous of her poems was "Hey boys bayonet on the gun," which she wrote in January 1943 for soldiers, "Towers." It became the most popular song of Fighting Polish soldier and the Warsaw Uprising. The text was first published in the underground magazine "Be Ready" (November 20, 1943 No. 21), and reprinted several times in the insurgent press. In addition, it was published in two underground anthologies Song Underground (1944) and songbook B.Ch (October 1944), and in many war anthologies.
During the occupation, two of her poems were known and widely sung: the song "Lullaby" (written in 1941-1942; alternate title: "Lullaby of buried weapons") and "Kujawiak" (also known as "Kujawiak conspiratorial", "Kujawiak partisan") and the lines: "Poland", "Prayer" and "poem of Tobruk."
After the war, two collections of her poems and songs were published, including "Sad River" and "Poems".
Her texts have been used by Aga Zaryan in "Beauty dies."
