Born: October 10, 1912, Smiele, Russia
Died: August 23, 2006, Zielona Góra, Poland
Buried: Zielona Góra, Poland – Old Cemetery, Wrocławska St. – section 28, row 1, grave 47
Family: nee Olszańska; parents – father Stanisław Olszański, mother Jadwiga (nee Kulesza); husband Tadeusz Poliszewski
medals: Polish – Army Medal, Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, 1 Armored Division Cross, Badge of the 1st Podhale Rifle Brigade; Norwegian – Ankenes Narwik Beisfiord Badge; British – France and Germany Star (no. 63/46), Defence Medal, War Medal 1939/1945; Dutch – Honorary Citizenship of the City of Breda
Prewar fates:
Her father’s family was expelled from Poland for participating in the January Uprising of 1863 without the right to return to the Polish territories occupied by the Russians. During the years of the Bolshevik revolution, her parents were murdered in Orenburg, where they lived. A neighbor took care of three orphaned siblings. After her disappearance, the children lived in terrible poverty until they managed to join the last transport of Polish orphans returning from Russia to Poland. After three years, in 1924, the Olszańskis, separated in various orphanages, were found by their grandmother, Maria Kulesza.
12-year-old Halina quickly caught up with her studies and after successfully passing the exam, she was admitted to the Krzemieniec Secondary School. She graduated in 1934. She took up educational work in the Polish Army – teaching illiterate people, training non-commissioned officers, working in soldiers’ libraries, community centers and theaters. In 1934, she married Tadeusz Poliszewski, an officer of the 6th Armored Battalion in Lviv.
Fates during the war:
After the outbreak of World War II, at the request of the military authorities, together with other families of professional soldiers of the Polish Army, Halina crossed the Polish-Hungarian border and found herself in the military internment camp in Zabegene. However, on October 28, 1939, she got to France and started working at the Polish Station Mission in Lyon, receiving and caring for Polish soldiers – escapees from internment camps in Hungary and Romania, and at the Polish Red Cross. After the fall of France, Halina evacuated with the Polish army to Great Britain on June 25, 1940, on board the ship MS Sobieski from the port of Saint-Jean-de-Luz to Portmouth.
In the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade (in which her husband also served), she became the artistic director of the “With Song and Dance Through Poland” group in the armored theater and propaganda section. In July 1941, she completed sanitary training in Edinburgh. On November 1, 1941, at the request of the Teachers’ Union, she started teaching at the Polish War Hospital No. 1 in Scotland.
On April 1, 1942, she was transferred to the Podhale Rifles Battalion of the 1st Armored Division for educational work. Then she was appointed to the Polish Women’s Auxiliary Military Service (PWSK), where she received appropriate training. In July 1944, she was appointed to the 1st PWSK Officer Course at the Infantry and Motorized Cavalry Cadet School in North Berwich, Scotland. Immediately after the course, she was assigned to the Field Team of the 1st Armored Division, already fighting on the European continent as the manager of field libraries and a field canteen driver (she volunteered for the latter function).
On April 19, 1945, by order of the PWSK Main Headquarters, she was posted as a commandant to the 3rd PWSK Company at the Armored and Technical Weapons Training Center in Catterwick Camp, Yorkshire, England. On July 15, 1946, she was transferred to the headquarters of the Polish Training and Deployment Corps in Witley Camp and commanded the 52nd ATS/PRS Coy company. After the company was liquidated on February 15, 1948, she was transferred to the Record Office as the head of the department for verifying officer ranks and years of service of the War Compensation and Disability Pensions Section. Demobilized with the rank of lieutenant in March 1949.
Post-war fate:
After demobilization, Halina Poliszewska was employed by the Committee for the Education of Poles in Great Britain as a manager of out-of-school education. After two years, she focused on social work, creating the Polish Women’s Union. In the years 1952-1957, she was the administrative and economic superior of a boarding school for Polish orphans run by the Committee for the Education of Poles in Great Britain. Then, until 1990, she worked in an export-import company. Very socially active in Polish social and independence organizations in Great Britain. For 25 years she worked socially in the Women’s Soldiers’ Circle of the Polish Armed Forces as a secretary and editor of the “Komunikat Informacyjny” bulletin published by the Circle. On November 10, 1990, she was promoted to the rank of captain.
After the fall of communism, she returned to Poland in October 1999 and settled in Zielona Góra. She actively cooperated with the General Elżbieta Zawacka Foundation to document the fate of Polish women soldiers. She died in 2006 in Zielona Góra.
author: Aneta Hoffmann
source: archive of the General Elżbieta Zawacka Foundation