Maria Znojewska, codename Alina, Warsaw Uprising Nurse and Courier, Has Died

On Monday, February 23, Maria Znojewska, codename Alina, a participant in the Warsaw Uprising, died in Kalisz at the age of 104. According to information from Głos Wielkopolski, which provided the most precise date of death, she passed away at her place of residence. Maria Znojewska was born in Warsaw in 1922, although one source gives the year 1923. At the outbreak of World War II, she was therefore 17 years old. Her youth was spent combining paid work at the Haberbusch and Schiele brewery with continuing her education through secret teaching at the Commercial School. Before the war, Maria Znojewska was already involved in the scouting movement. According to Super Express, she joined the Women's Military Alert in 1937, when she was only 14 or 15 years old. She received training at the Tomasz Zan Gymnasium in Pruszków and at summer camps. Her instructor was her cousin, Irena Majewska-Bojnarowska. This early activity prepared her for the role she was to play during the occupation.During the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, Znojewska served as a nurse and courier. She performed dangerous duties, carrying messages and providing aid to the wounded. During the fighting, she was shot, which did not stop her from continuing her service. After the fall of the uprising, like thousands of Varsovians, she was expelled from the ruined city. Her postwar fate led her to Kalisz over the decades, where she spent the final stage of her life, surrounded by care and respect as a living monument to history. Articles differ in several biographical details. RMF24 gives her age as 103, while Głos Wielkopolski, citing her birth year as 1922, reports 104 years. Super Express indicates 1923 as her birth year. Furthermore, while two sources describe her work at the Haberbusch and Schiele brewery, a third mentions the United Breweries. These discrepancies are typical for accounts of people of such advanced age, where documentation can be incomplete. Regardless of these details, all sources consistently paint a portrait of a woman of extraordinary courage and dedication. „„Cześć Jej pamięci!”” — Super Express Editorial Team – one of the newspapers paid tribute in these words. 104 — Years of Maria Znojewska's lifeHer death is a symbolic closing of a chapter of history. One of the last direct participants of the 1944 events has passed away, a woman whose life spanned an entire century of Poland's struggles for independence and freedom. Numerous condolences and thanks for her service appear on social media and in comments under the news. Maria Znojewska will be remembered as Alina – the nurse and courier who, as a teenager, stood to fight in defense of the capital.