Maria Kwaśniewska
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Maria Jadwiga Kwaśniewska-Maleszewska, née Kwaśniewska, (15 August 1913 – 17 October 2007) was a Polish athlete who competed mainly in the
javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...
. During World War II, she was part of the Polish resistance movement.


Personal life

Kwaśniewska married three times throughout her life. Her first marriage was in 1937 to a swimmer, but divorced only a few months later. She married for a second time after the liberation of Poland, to engineer Julian Koźmiński. Her final marriage was to Polish national basketball team coach , who died in 1983. Kwaśniewska died on 17 October 2007 in Warsaw, Poland at age 94.


1936 Berlin Olympics

Kwaśniewska competed for Poland in the
1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...
held in Berlin, Germany, where she won the bronze medal in the Javelin throw. Her throw of 41.8 metres was behind German athletes Othilie Fleischer and
Luise Krüger Luise Krüger (January 11, 1915 – June 13, 2001) was a female, German athlete, who competed mainly in the javelin. She won the bronze medal for her native country at the 1934 Women's World Games in London and the silver medal at the ...
, who threw 45.18 and 43.29 metres respectively.
Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
invited the three medal-winners to his box to congratulate them. Hitler said "I congratulate the little Polish woman", to which Kwaśniewska responded "I don't feel any smaller than you". German media later reported that he had congratulated Poland rather than the athlete.


World War II

At the outbreak of World War II, Kwaśniewska was living in Genoa, Italy, where she was preparing for the 1940 Olympic Games in Finland. When she heard of Germany's invasion of Poland, she decided to return to Warsaw, where she became an ambulance driver, transporting injured soldiers to hospitals. In 1944, she went to Transit Camp 121, where she showed the guards her photo with Hitler. Not wanting to question someone who personally knew Hitler, they let her into the camp. She began leading prisoners out of the barracks, and when the guards did not question her, she let out groups of prisoners. The people she saved included
Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina Ewa Szelburg-Zarembina (10 April 1899 – 28 September 1986) was a Polish novelist, poet and screenplay writer who was born in Bronowice and died in Warsaw. Biography Best known as author of numerous works for children, between 1922 and 1979 s ...
and
Stanisław Dygat Stanisław Ludwik Dygat (5 December 1914, Warsaw – 29 January 1978, Warsaw) was a Polish writer. His most famous novel, "Jezioro Bodeńskie" ("Lake Constance"), was written during World War II and published in 1946. All of his works are partly a ...
.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwasniewska, Maria 1913 births 2007 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1936 Summer Olympics Burials at Powązki Cemetery Polish female javelin throwers Olympic athletes for Poland Olympic bronze medalists for Poland Athletes from Łódź Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Olympic Order Polish women in World War II resistance 20th-century Polish sportswomen