Anna Henryka Pustowójtówna (1838 in

Stare Wierzchowiska Stare Wierzchowiska is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Bełżyce, within Lublin County, Lublin Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in the southeastern part ...

– 1881 in

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) was a Polish activist and soldier, famed for her participation in the

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

. She was the daughter of a Polish noblewoman, Marianna Kossakowska, and of a Russian officer, Teofil Pustaya, of Hungarian origin. He later became a general. After convent schooling in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, she attended a

finishing school A finishing school focuses on teaching young women social graces and upper-class cultural rites as a preparation for entry into society. The name reflects the fact that it follows ordinary school and is intended to complete a young woman's ...

in Pulawy. Despite her mixed parentage, she thought of herself as a Pole. Already in her early twenties she was arrested in 1861 for

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active and professed refusal of a citizenship, citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders, or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be cal ...

(singing religious hymns in public). She was sentenced to detention in an Orthodox convent in Russia, but she escaped. She made her way to

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, where she joined Polish partisans who were forming into units. She became an activist in the Polish independence movement and fought in the

as adjutant to Commander Marian Langiewicz. She disguised herself as a male soldier and went by the alias "Michał Smok". She was captured and imprisoned by the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** Austria-Hungary ** Austria ...

authorities and upon release she moved first to

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

, then

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and finally France, where she worked as a nurse in the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

of 1870. In 1873 she married a physician, Dr. Loewenhardt, whom she had known during the Uprising in Poland. They had four children. After the death of her sister-in-law, she took over the care of the two orphaned children. She died in her sleep in Paris.

References

External links

"A Catalogue of Female Cross-Dressers", last accessed February 9, 2006
* Article i

(Russian). 1838 births 1881 deaths Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery Female wartime cross-dressers Women in 19th-century warfare Women in European warfare Polish female soldiers Polish soldiers Polish nationalists Polish participants of the January Uprising {{Poland-mil-bio-stub