Agnieszka Dowbor-Muśnicka (7 September 1919 – 20 or 21 June 1940) was active in the Polish resistance against

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

occupiers in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and was murdered in the

Palmiry massacre The Palmiry massacre was a series of mass executions carried out by Nazi Germany, Nazi German forces, during World War II, near the village of Palmiry in the Kampinos Forest northwest of Warsaw. Massacres Between December 1939 and July 1941 mor ...

Life

Agnieszka (known by her friends as Gusia) was born on 7 September 1919 in Lusowo, Poland. Her father was

Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki (Iosif Romanovich while in the Russian military; sometimes also Dowbór-Muśnicki; ; 25 October 1867 – 26 October 1937) was a Polish general, serving with the Imperial Russian and then Polish armies. He was also the m ...

(1867–1937), a well-known Polish military general; her mother died when she was a very young child. With her sister and two brothers, she was taught at home and then attended local schools. She especially enjoyed looking after farm matters on the family estate so she decided to attend the State School of Horticulture in

Poznań Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...

, Poland.

When she was 21, German forces occupied Poland and Agnieszka fled to

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

becoming an active member of the Polish resistance and joining an organization called "the Wolves." While underground, she used her nickname Gusia to hide her real identity because the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

was already looking for her because she was the daughter of the famous general and member of the

intelligentsia The intelligentsia is a status class composed of the university-educated people of a society who engage in the complex mental labours by which they critique, shape, and lead in the politics, policies, and culture of their society; as such, the i ...

. At that time, all intellectuals were targeted by Nazi occupiers trying to murder anyone who could lead resistance efforts. Agnieszka reported to the group leader, a former Polish Olympic athlete

Janusz Kusociński Janusz Tadeusz Kusociński (15 January 1907 – 21 June 1940) was a Polish Sport of athletics, athlete, winner in the 10,000 meters event at the 1932 Summer Olympics. Biography Born in Warsaw into the family of a railroad worker, Janusz Kuso ...

, but she was arrested on 25 April 1940 and imprisoned in 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 ...

near

along with other activists of the Wolves center. She was tortured in the prison and then trucked to the

Palmiry Palmiry () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czosnów, within Nowy Dwór County, Masovian Voivodeship, Nowy Dwór County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is located at the edge of the Kampinos Forest, approxima ...

forest where the prisoners, including Kusociński, were murdered. Her body was thrown into a ditch several meters deep and lost for many years, but in 2017, her remains were unearthed and identified. Agnieszka and her sister, Janina Lewandowska (1908-1940), are remembered together at the family tomb in Lusowo. Janina had served as a pilot and lieutenant in the Polish air corps and was murdered on her 32nd birthday during the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre was a series of mass killings under Communist regimes, mass executions of nearly 22,000 Polish people, Polish military officer, military and police officers, border guards, and intelligentsia prisoners of war carried out by t ...

by forces of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Commemorations

* At the base of a monument erected in 2015 to General

in Lusowo, both of his daughters are also remembered: "Janina Lewandowska, murdered in 1940 by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

in Katyn, and Agnieszka Dowbor-Muśnicka, murdered by the Germans in Palmiry." * On 19 March 2020, the National Bank of Poland introduced a commemorative silver coin with a face value of 10 zlotys. The coin, called "Katyń-Palmiry 1940," commemorates the two murdered sisters. On one side of the coin, Janina's image appears next to the word "Katyn." On the other side, a likeness of Agnieszka and the word "Palmiry" are featured with a quote that was engraved by a prisoner in a Warsaw cell:

It is easy to talk about Poland. It's harder to work for her. It's even harder to die. And the hardest thing is to suffer.

Life

Commemorations

References

See also