Maria Rogowska-Falska, also known as Maryna Falska (2 February 1877,

Dubno Dubno ( uk, Ду́бно) is a city and municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Dubno Raion (district). The city is located on intersection of two major Eu ...

– 7 September 1944,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

) – was a Polish teacher, pedagogue, activist.

Biography

She was born Maria Rogowska into a noble family in Dubno on 2 February 1877. She spend her early years in Warsaw and

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of canti ...

, where she was studying pedagogy and achieved a teaching diploma. After studies she was involved in independence activities of PPS along with her brothers, she was spreading culture and social knowledge among laborers. She was using her alias ‘Hilda’ and was arrested on several occasions for illegal PPS’ printing works at the time. She was imprisoned with

Józef Piłsudski ), Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire (now Lithuania) , death_date = , death_place = Warsaw, Poland , constituency = , party = None (formerly PPS) , spouse = , children = Wan ...

. In 1905 she was arrested, incarcerated and exiled in Deep

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. She married well-known doctor and social activist Leon Falski, whom she possibly had met in London, where both of them had been hiding from Okhrana. Back in Poland they had a baby-girl and moved to Volozhyn,

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, where Leon started to work as a country doctor, treating Poles, Jews and Lithuanians. In 1912 he died in Volozhyn curing typhoid fever during its outbreak. Maria left for her friends in Moscow, where her daughter died at the age of 2. From 1917 to 1918, when she was running boarding house for Polish teenagers and children in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, she met

Janusz Korczak Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit (22 July 1878 or 1879 – 7 August 1942), was a Polish Jewish educator, children's author and pedagogue known as ''Pan Doktor'' ("Mr. Doctor") or ''Stary Doktor'' ("Old Doctor"). After spending ma ...

and implemented his methodology of educational community, based on creation of an emotional bond and a sense of belonging together. In 1918 she came back to Poland and started work on behalf of Ministry of Health as an inspector of children's homes. In 1919 Maryna Falska along with Janusz Korczak and Maria Powysocka created exemplary orphanage and boarding school Our Home ("Nasz Dom") in

Pruszków Pruszków ( yi, ‏פּרושקאָוו) is a city in east-central Poland, situated in the Masovian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in Warszawa Voivodeship (1975–1998). Pruszków is the capital of Pruszków County, located along t ...

. Mostly children of laborers who had died during the war were placed in the orphanage. But in time, also social orphans found their home there, because Falska helped all the children in need. Since 1921 the orphanage was under the care of "Our Home" Association; from 1927 to 1929 a plot was bought by its contributions and a new facility was built in

Bielany Bielany () is a district in Warsaw located in the north-western part of the city. Initially a part of Żoliborz, Bielany has been an independent district since 1994. Bielany borders Żoliborz to the south-east, and Bemowo to the south-west. Its ...

District, Warsaw. The Association was under

Aleksandra Piłsudska Aleksandra Piłsudska ( Szczerbińska; 12 December 1882 – 31 March 1963) was a Polish socialist and independence activist, member of Polish Socialist Party and Polish Military Organisation, the second wife of Józef Piłsudski. Life and caree ...

’s patronage. Maryna Falska described institutional forms of work carried out by her institution in "Szkic informacyjny o "Naszym Domu"”. She managed to hide several Jewish children after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, i. a. daughter of Salomon Fiszgrund. She also reconnected with Janusz Korczak and offered him help to escape the

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

(however Korczak rejected her proposition). In January 1943, she hide a manuscript of Korczak's diary- passed on by Igor Newerly's wife after arresting the writer by Germans- in special secret compartment in Our House’ building in Bielany. She died of a sudden heart attack on 7 September 1944, when Germans forced the evacuation of the orphanage to a transit camp in Pruszków. According to an alternative version given by Antoni Chojdyński - pupil of Our Home and Warsaw Uprising insurgent - she committed suicide by

cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of ...

poisoning.

Decorations and awards

In recognition of all her work she was decorated with the Gold Cross of Merit, she was also posthumously honored with the Officer's Cross of Polonia Restitutia by the

Polish Council of State The Council of State of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Rada Państwa) was introduced by the Small Constitution of 1947 as an organ of executive power. The Council of State consisted of the President of the Republic of Poland as chairman, the Marsh ...

in 1947. On 14 April 1985 Maria Rogowska-Falska was honored with the title

Righteous Among the Nations Righteous Among the Nations ( he, חֲסִידֵי אֻמּוֹת הָעוֹלָם, ; "righteous (plural) of the world's nations") is an honorific used by the State of Israel to describe non-Jews who risked their lives during the Holocaust to sav ...

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rogowska-Falska, Maria 1877 births 1944 deaths People from Bielsk County Polish educators Polish activists Polish Righteous Among the Nations Recipients of the Gold Cross of Merit (Poland) Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta 20th-century Polish women Burials at Powązki Cemetery