Where Is Poland? | Fighters

Chapter 6

Fighters

The history of women’s involvement in patriotic conspiracy and armed conflict dates back to the uprisings of 1830 and 1863. Thewomensoldiersandcommanders of those days became national symbols. Thus, Poland saw the rise of a matriarchy of a sort, with women taking over roles which were previously the sole domain of men.

Photograph of Anna Pustowojtówna, ca 1870. Source: Polona.pl

Incurable conspirators

'Polish women are eternal, unyielding and incurable conspirators,' wrote the Russian journalist and publicist Nikolai Vasilyevich Berg around the time of the January Uprising (1893).

Polish women had played an active role in independence campaigns since the November Uprising (1830). In the early days they mainly performed such tasks as were socially acceptable for their gender at the time: organising charity and fundraising campaigns, distributing pamphlets and taking care of the wounded. By the time of the Spring of Nations, women were stepping beyond those roles; for example, one of the original Enthusiasts, Bibianna Moraczewska, played an active part in organising the uprising in the Wielkopolska region.

Many patriotic demonstrations in the runup to the January Uprising were brutally quashed; underground women’s groups known as 'Piątki' [Fives] were formed in response. They provided support for protesters held by the authorities and their families. The informal groups quickly evolved into a network covering all three partitions: in Congress Poland and the Grand Duchy of Posen they operated wholly underground, with semi-clandestine operations as part of the Polish Women’s Committee running in Galicia. After the outbreak of the uprising, many women joined the armed conflict.

Mirroring the role that had been played by Emilia Plater as one of the symbols of the November Uprising, one of the heroines of the January Uprising was Anna Henryka Pustowojtówna, adjutant to Commander Marian Langiewicz. Many other women whose names were not preserved by history also took up arms. In her book published on the seventieth anniversary of the uprising, Maria Bruchnalska called them 'silent heroines'. She wrote that in their day they were widely regarded as 'rather eccentric individuals, demolishing the usual order of the world'.

Poland was shaken by the brutal murder of pregnant insurrecrtionist Maria Piotrowiczowa by Cossacks when her small unit would not surrender at the Battle of Dobra in the early days of the uprising. Following the tragedy, leaders of the uprising forbade women from taking part in armed conflict, but that didn’t deter those who wanted to fight: women would cut off their hair and dress in men’s uniforms, then head to the front.

Women’s involvement in patriotic underground activities did not diminish at the turn of the century. Those who until now worked in underground education frequently moved into radical activities directly attacking oppressive regimes.

An assassination attempt against the Governor-General of Warsaw Georgi Skalon (1906) was carried out by Wanda Krahelska, Zofia Owczarkówna and Albertyna Helbertówna. The Combat Organization of the Polish Socialist Party had 478 women members. They took part in assassination attempts and expropriation of government-held property for party purposes; they smuggled weapons and illegal publications.

The smugglers were often known as dromedaries. Aleksandra Piłsudska noted that the fashion for voluminous coats and cloaks was their ally:

We soon became so practiced that even when we carried 49 pounds of ammunition or banned materials we moved freely, arousing no suspicions.

“Libertas,” Commitee for Equal Rights of Women, postcard, 1913. Photo: Polona.pl

Women rule

The national uprisings advanced women’s emancipation. They brought a peculiar situation where the huge numbers of men killed in action, imprisoned, exiled to Siberia or stripped off the right to work meant women took over roles which were previously unavailable to them.

Paulina Kuczalska wrote in 1903:

All periods of brisk development of societies, or major political upheavals, bring women to the fore. Passive slave-women always take on active roles in turmoil, then a renewed era of order puts them back in the tranquillity of their home; that is, they are able to reap the benefits of a commonly reached goal.

Women were, however, growing increasingly conscious of their rights. They believed that because they had done their utmost to support the national cause, just like the men, they had already earned the privilege of equal rights. Thus, as they saw it, it was not equality they were fighting for now, but rather the right to enjoy political rights with no gender differences.