Wanda Rewieńska-Pawełkowa (22 November 1897 in Kupriańsk in the Kharkov Governorate – 21 November 1942 in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

) was a Polish geographer, achieved the rank of Scoutmaster in the Polish Scouting Association, and became a resistance fighter during World War II. She was murdered by Nazi occupying forces.

Biography

Wanda Rewieńska was the daughter of Aleksander Rewieński, a railway worker, and Stefania Stulczyńska. After attending high school in

, Lithuania, she passed her high school final exams in 1916 in Petrograd (now called

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

), Russia. In 1917–1918 she studied at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the Higher Women's Courses in

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. During this period, she became active in the underground

Polish Scouting and Guiding Association The Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (, ZHP) is the coeducational Poland, Polish Scouting organization recognized by the World Organization of the Scout Movement and the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. It was founded in ...

movement, organized secret instructor courses near Kiev, and was a member of the Polish Scouting Command in Ruthenia and Russia (based in

Geographer

In November 1918, she moved 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 ...

, Poland, and soon married physician Alojzy Pawełek, whom she had met in Kiev. At the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw (, ) is a public university, public research university in Warsaw, Poland. Established on November 19, 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country, offering 37 different fields of study as well ...

, she continued her studies in mathematics and physics, but was interrupted due to illness. Later she graduated in geography at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences of the

Stefan Batory University Vilnius University (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Vilniaus universitetas'') is a Public university, public research university, which is the first and largest university in Lithuania, as well as one of the oldest and most prominent higher e ...

in Vilnius (1929, master's thesis: ''Vilnius Isochrony''). In Warsaw, she continued her scouting activities. She headed the Scout Supplies Committee and cooperated with the ''Harcerz'' magazine. After moving back to Vilnius, she was active in the Vilnius Association of Polish Youth Associations. In 1928 she received the highest possible rank of scoutmaster. After her husband's sudden death in 1930, she focused on her professional work. She took part in international geographical congresses in Toulouse, France (1932), and Warsaw (1937). She taught as an assistant professor and then as an adjunct professor at the Department of Geography at the University of Vilnius. In 1934, she defended her doctorate (thesis: ''Bereza Kartuska, Selected materials from the anthropogeography of the town''), and in 1939 she worked on her

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 ...

thesis titled: ''Cities and towns in northeastern Poland, Topographic location, layout, physiognomy''. In the years 1937–1939, Rewieńska's work was published in the monthly Scout magazine ''Na Przełaj''. She did not have time to lecture at the University of Vilnius due to the outbreak of

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 ...

Freedom fighter

With the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

in 1939, Rewieńska became involved in Polish resistance activities, including: lending an apartment to fugitives and organizing false documents for Polish officers and people of Jewish nationality. She was finally arrested by the Germans in April 1942, imprisoned in a

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 ...

prison and then in the

Lukiškės Prison Lukiškės Prison (; or simply ''Łukiszki''; ) was a prison in the center of Vilnius, Lithuania, near the Lukiškės Square. Construction Background Until the late 19th century the main form of punishment in Russian-held part of partitio ...

in collective cell no. 31. According to Jackowski, "After being captured she knew what awaited her, but she went around giving words of consolation and support to her fellow female prisoners till the very end." On 21 November 1942, she was transported from the prison to a town outside Vilnius and was murdered in a mass execution by Lithuanian collaborators of the Germans at

Ponary Ponary is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Miłakowo, within Ostróda County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately south of Miłakowo, north of Ostróda, and north-west of the regional cap ...

where many thousands of people were killed over the course of the War.

Selected publications

As a scientist, Rewieńska published works mainly under her maiden name, Wanda Rewieńska. Her publications concerned settlement geography, communication geography, anthropogeography and physical geography, including: Area and population density of urban communes in Poland (1935), Topographic location of urban settlements in north-eastern Poland (1937), Distribution of cities and towns in north-eastern Poland (1938) Vilnius railway junction in the light of numbers. Passenger traffic (1935), Suburban traffic at the Vilnius railway station (1936).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rewienska, Wanda 1897 births 1942 deaths Polish geographers Polish women scientists 20th-century Polish scientists 20th-century Polish educators 20th-century Polish women scientists 20th-century Polish women educators People executed by Nazi Germany occupation forces Polish people who died in the Holocaust Vilnius University alumni