Maria Rutkiewicz

Maria Rutkiewicz (22 July 1917 – 27 June 2007) was a Polish communist and editor. During the Nazi occupation of Poland, she was a radio operator with the Polish resistance.

Early years and World War II Rutkiewicz was born in Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus) to Teresa and Mieczysław Kamieniecki in a well-educated, liberal family. Her older siblings were active in a socialist/communist circle and in 1936, she joined the Communist Party of Poland. In 1938, she and another active Party member, Wincenty Jan Rutkiewicz, known as "Wicek", were married. It was a difficult time. Joseph Stalin's Great Purge had eliminated a number of the Polish Communist Party's leaders and in 1939, Hitler invaded the country. Thousands of Polish soldiers were sent to German prisoner of war camps and there was an order to eliminate the Polish intelligentsia, that spelled out who was in danger. The term Polish intelligentsia covers primarily Polish priests, teachers, lecturers, doctors, dentists, veterinary surgeons, officers, executives, businessmen, landowners, writers, journalists, plus all persons who have received a higher or secondary education. With her husband, then a soldier, taken prisoner of war, Rutkiewicz fled to Białystok in Russian-occupied Poland. After Hitler invaded Russia in 1941, she fled to Moscow and was recruited into the initiative group of the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) and trained as a radio operator. She joined a cell of Polish communists led by…Citește mai mult

Postwar years After the war, Rutkiewicz worked for the Central Committee of the PPR/PZPR and the Union of Polish Youth as a secretary, later becoming an editor. She worked at Iskra and Gromady. She was later married to Artur Starewicz, Polish ambassador to the United Kingdom from 1972 to 1978, and lived in London. In 1978, she was featured in a British television series called Women of Courage about four women who risked their lives in standing up to the Nazis. The other women were Mary Lindell, a British woman; Sigrid Helliesen Lund, a Norwegian; and Hiltgunt Zassenhaus, a German. Rutkiewicz died on 27 June 2007, at the age of 89.