Teresa Łubieńska, née Skarżyńska (

Russian Poland Congress Poland, Congress Kingdom of Poland, or Russian Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It w ...

, 18 April 1884 – London, 25 May 1957), was a social activist, Resistance fighter – lieutenant in the

Polish Underground Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) esta ...

– and survivor of two

Nazi concentration camps From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps, (officially) or (more commonly). The Nazi concentration camps are distinguished from other types of Nazi camps such as forced-labor camps, as well as concen ...

. After

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 ...

, she settled in England, where she worked on behalf of Nazi-German camp survivors. In May 1957, she was the victim of an unprovoked and fatal stabbing at London's

Gloucester Road tube station Gloucester Road is a London Underground station in Kensington, west London. The station entrance is located close to the junction of Gloucester Road and Cromwell Road. Close by are the Cromwell Hospital and Baden-Powell House. The station is ...

. The assailant was never traced.

Biography

Born into a noble Polish family in South-eastern Poland, she was the daughter of Władysław Skarżyński and his wife, Dorota Gołębiowska. Teresa was educated at

Jazłowiec College Jazłowiec (uk: Язловець, romanized: Yazlovets) was a Polish language Catholic lyceum founded in 1863 by the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary ("Niepokalanki" in Polish), expressly for th ...

, an élite Catholic boarding school for girls, run by the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, in Jazłowiec in the Podole region. In 1902 she married Edward Łubieński (1871–1919), a member of a once powerful clan and went to live on the family estate in Łaszów. They had a son, Stanisław, born in 1906 followed by a daughter, Izabela, born in 1910. There, Teresa became an active member of the

Polish Red Cross Polish Red Cross ( pl, Polski Czerwony Krzyż, abbr. PCK) is the Polish member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Its 19th-century roots may be found in the Russian and Austrian Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwea ...

and continued supporting the

14th Regiment of Jazlowiec Uhlans 14th Jazłowiec Uhlan Regiment (, 14 puł) was a cavalry unit of the Polish Army in the Second Polish Republic, also a unit of Polish Armed Forces in the West and the Home Army. During the interbellum, the regiment garrisoned Lwów. It was named aft ...

, an association dating from her school days. She was widowed in 1919. Her son attended a military academy and passed out as a cavalry officer, later killed in the

September campaign The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after ...

of 1939. Early during the

German occupation of Poland in World War II German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

Teresa moved to

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 ...

and lived at no. 6 Sierpnia Street. During the occupation, she organised assistance for the civilian population of the capital. Her flat was also the venue of clandestine meetings of the Polish resistance cells. In 1942, she was betrayed to the Nazi authorities, arrested and taken to the

Pawiak prison Pawiak () was a prison built in 1835 in Warsaw, Congress Poland. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by Imperial Russia to deportation to Siberia. During the World War II German occupation of ...

for interrogation. From there, she was sent to

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and later moved to

Ravensbrück concentration camp Ravensbrück () was a German concentration camp exclusively for women from 1939 to 1945, located in northern Germany, north of Berlin at a site near the village of Ravensbrück (part of Fürstenberg/Havel). The camp memorial's estimated figure o ...

where her death sentence was commuted owing to the timely intervention of the

Swedish Red Cross The Swedish Red Cross (Swedish: ''Svenska Röda Korset'') is a Swedish humanitarian organisation and a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Founded in 1865, its purpose is to prevent and alleviate human suffering where ...

. After liberation, Łubieńska came to the United Kingdom along with thousands of other

displaced person Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...

s from German camps. She settled in London where she resumed her work on behalf of war-time prisoners and sought compensation for them. Łubieńska was a close friend of

British agent,

Krystyna Skarbek Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...

, also known as 'Christine Granville', who was murdered by a stalker and whose funeral she attended at

Kensal Green Cemetery Kensal Green Cemetery is a cemetery in the Kensal Green area of Queens Park in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. Inspired by Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, it was founded by the barrister George Frederic ...

in June 1952.

Fatal attack

Teresa Łubieńska was stabbed five times on the evening of 24 May 1957 on the eastbound

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a deep-level London Underground line running from the north to the west of London. It has two branches, which split at Acton Town, and serves 53 stations. The line serves Heathrow Airport, and some of its stations are n ...

platform at Gloucester Road, in an unprovoked attack on her way home from dinner with friends in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

. Until the previous stop at

Earl's Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

, she had been in the company of a Polish army chaplain, Fr. K. Krzyżanowski (himself a survivor of

Dachau concentration camp , , commandant = List of commandants , known for = , location = Upper Bavaria, Southern Germany , built by = Germany , operated by = ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) , original use = Political prison , construction ...

). A few days before her death, she had told friends that she had been to the police to tell them that she felt threatened and that her life could be at risk. The

Police The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and t ...

subsequently carried out 18,000 interviews in the course of their murder investigations. Her death remains a mystery. Teresa Łubieńska died in St Mary Abbots Hospital,

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

in the night of 25 May 1957. She was buried at

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Estab ...

in London. In 2021, the case was the subject of Episode 6 of

Railway Murders ''Railway Murders'' is a documentary series narrated by Nicholas Day. It debuted in May 2021 on Yesterday. In September 2021 it was broadcast on ZDFinfo. Regular contributors include Donald Rumbelow, Judith Rowbotham and Alan Moss. Episode ...

References

External links

* http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/video/picture-of-countess-teresa-lubienska-stabbed-at-news-footage/193-57-08 * http://www.polishnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&catid=93:history (historical background to Countess Lubienska's war-time connections) * http://www.ulanijazlowieccy.pl/index.php?categoryid=47 {{DEFAULTSORT:Łubieńska Teresa 1884 births 1957 deaths 1957 murders in the United Kingdom Polish countesses Nobility from Warsaw Ravensbrück concentration camp survivors Auschwitz concentration camp survivors Polish resistance members of World War II Polish women in World War II resistance Assassinations in the United Kingdom Polish people murdered abroad Polish emigrants to the United Kingdom People murdered in London Deaths by stabbing in London Burials at Brompton Cemetery Unsolved murders in the United Kingdom Home Army officers Polish women activists Violence against women in London Female murder victims 1950s murders in London 20th-century Polish nobility