Helena Polaczkówna (1881–1942) was a Polish historian, archivist, sigillologist, and authority in the field of

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, Imperial, royal and noble ranks, rank and genealo ...

. She became a war resistor during

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 ...

. She was arrested by German occupiers in Lviv for allowing secret activities to take place in her apartment and was murdered in the

Majdanek concentration camp Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

near

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 ...

, Poland, in 1942.Ciara, Stefan. "Helena Polaczkówna (1881–1942)–Custodian of the Bernardine Archives in L’viv." ''Вісник Львівського університету. Сер.: Книгознавство, бібліотекознавство та інформаційні технології'' 6 (2011): 250-258.

Biography

Helena Polaczkówna was born 24 February 1881 in Lviv (now western Ukraine). Her father, Adam, took part in the Polish revolt called 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 ...

and spent years in exile in France where he completed medical studies. The remaining family stayed in Lviv where Helena and her older sister

Maria Polaczkówna Maria Polaczkówna (1878–1944) was a Polish historian, Heraldry , heraldist, archivist and member of the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish resistance. Polaczkówna died at Ochota massacre#Zieleniak camp, Zieleniak camp during ...

, took on private tutoring assignments to earn enough money to afford their education. In 1910, she contracted tuberculosis and suffered respiratory distress and a weak voice for the rest of her life. Despite their modest beginnings, the sisters each went on to earn a PhD. Helena graduated in history from the Faculty of Philosophy at the

University of Lviv The Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (named after Ivan Franko, ) is a state-sponsored university in Lviv, Ukraine. Since 1940 the university is named after Ukrainian poet Ivan Franko. The university is the oldest institution of highe ...

. While still a student in 1907, she worked as a trainee at the National Archives of Municipal and Land Register, commonly known as the Bernadine Archives. (After her 1910 illness, she returned there again as a trainee and on 26 July 1917, she was hired permanently to work in the Archives and remained employed there until 1939.) Helena graduated in history from the Faculty of Philosophy at the

. She earned her doctorate in 1909 with a dissertation titled: “''De Lumbres, the French Ambassador and His Diplomatic Mission to Poland in the Times of the Potop (Flood) 1656–1660''” (supervised by A.-M. Balzer). She earned her post-doctoral

habilitation Habilitation is the highest university degree, or the procedure by which it is achieved, in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and some other European and non-English-speaking countries. The candidate fulfills a university's set criteria of excelle ...

at the

University of Poznań A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Univ ...

, which enabled her to become an associate professor of auxiliary sciences of history at the University of Lviv, curator of the Land Archives and member of the Lviv Scientific Society. She is credited with co-creating contemporary Polish heraldic terminology, especially the language of blazoning coats of arms. On 8 March 1925, she was elected vice-president of the Polish Heraldic Society in Lviv. From 1917–1939, she held positions of increasing responsibility until she was custodian of the Bernardine Archive in Lviv. With the beginning of World War II, she was transferred to the

Ossolineum Ossoliński National Institute (, ZNiO), or the Ossolineum is a Polish cultural Foundation (non-profit), foundation, publishing house, archival institute and a research centre of national significance founded in 1817 in Lwów (now Lviv). Located ...

, which was transformed in 1939–1941 into a branch of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Capture

During World War II, Helena and her older sister Maria lived together in Lviv at 29 Listopada Street. During the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

of the city, the two sisters became involved in educational, charitable and conspiratorial activities. Their apartment became a contact point for secret couriers and messengers of the Information and Propaganda Bureau of

Home Army The Home Army (, ; 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) established in the ...

Headquarters, a system of asylum and safe places where illegal publications could be produced. Reportedly, it was through careless coconspirators that 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 ...

identified the building and arrested Helena on 27 April 1942. She was taken to the Majdanek concentration camp where she was tortured and "finally murdered" in the Autumn of 1942. Her sister Maria fled to Warsaw and participated in the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, on 5 August 1944. Maria was arrested on the street and jailed in a basement on Filtrowej Street. She was last seen alive on 12 August.

Selected works

She published widely in the field of heraldry: * Akta Biblioteki Ordynacji Krasińskich w Warszawie za rok 1920 * Geneza herbów polskich w herbarzu flamandzkim * Księga bracka świętego Krzysztofa na Arlbergu w Tyrolu * Księga radziecka miasta Drohobycza 1542-1563 * De l'utilité d'une collaboration internationale pour la publication des Armoriaux du Moyen-Âge * Materyały do heraldyki polskiej * Najstarsza księga sądowa wsi Trześniowa 1419-1609 * Prace sekcji nauk pomocniczych, archiwów i organizacji pracy historycznej na VII-ym Międzynarodowym Kongresie Nauk Historycznych w Warszawie * Studium przygotowawcze we Francji do badań nad historią średniowiecza * Szlachta na Siewierzu Biskupim w latach 1442-1790: z mapą rozsiedlenia Siewierza i z trzema tablicami w tekście * Uwagi o porządkowaniu prywatnych archiwów familijnych

Memberships

* Lviv Scientific Society (1920) * Polish Historical Society * Historical Committee of the Polish Academy of Skills * Polish, Austrian, French and Swiss heraldic societies

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polaczkowna, Helena 1881 births 1942 deaths Home Army members Polish women in World War II resistance Polish historians Polish women historians University of Lviv alumni Majdanek concentration camp