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On 28th of August 1946, Inka was shot dead

On 28th of August 1946, Danuta Siedzikówna, pseudonym "Inka", was murdered in Gdańsk - a medic in the 4th squadron of the 5th Wilno Brigade of the Home Army, recreated in the Białystok region, in 1946 in the 1st squadron of the Brigade operating in Pomerania, posthumously promoted to second lieutenant of the Polish Army.


Danuta Siedzikówna in the unit, photo: Wikipedia

During the war, Danuta Siedzikówna studied at the Salesian Sisters' school in Różanystok near Dąbrowa Białostocka. In December 1943, together with Sister Wiesława, she joined the Home Army, where she underwent medical training. After the front line passed, from October 1944 she worked as a clerk in the Hajnówka forest district. Together with other employees of the forest district, she was arrested in June 1945 for collaboration with the anti-communist underground by the NKVD-UB group (acting on the orders of the deputy head of the WUBP in Białystok, Eliasz Koton). She was freed from a convoy by a patrol of the Vilnius Home Army of Stanisław Wołonciej "Konus" (subordinate to Zygmunt Szendzielarz "Łupaszko") operating in the area, then she began serving as a medic in the "Konus" unit, and later in the squadrons of Lieutenant Jan Mazur "Piast" and Lieutenant Marian Pluciński "Mścisław". For a short time, her superior was also Lieutenant Leon Beynar "Nowina", "Łupaszko's" deputy, later known as Paweł Jasienica. Danuta Siedzikówna then took the pseudonym "Inka".


At the turn of 1945/1946, provided with documents in the name of Danuta Obuchowicz, she began working in the Miłomłyn forest district in Ostróda county. In early spring 1946, she established contact with Second Lieutenant Zdzisław Badocha "Żelazny", the commander of one of "Łupaszko's" squadrons. After the death of "Żelazny", killed during a raid organized by UB officers on June 28, 1946, she was sent by his successor, 2nd Lt. Olgierd Christa "Leszek", to Gdańsk for medical supplies. There, on the morning of July 20, 1946, in an apartment at 7 Wróblewskiego Street in Wrzeszcz, in one of the contact locations of the 5th Vilnius Brigade, whose addresses were revealed by Regina Żylińska-Mordas, Szendzielarz's liaison who had previously been captured by the secret police and had collaborated with the UB, "Inka" was arrested. She was placed in pavilion V of the prison in Gdańsk as a special prisoner. During the investigation (led by the head of Department III of the WUBP in Gdańsk Jan Wołkow and the head of the Investigation Department of the WUBP Józef Bik), she was beaten and humiliated; despite this, she refused to give testimony incriminating the members of the Vilnius AK brigades. Military prosecutor Wacław Krzyżanowski accused "Inka" of membership in an illegal organization, illegal possession of weapons, participation in attacks on officers of the Citizens' Militia and the Security Service, and inciting their killing. Discrepancies regarding her participation in the clash between the partisans and the Security Service and the Citizens' Militia appeared in the testimonies of the policemen themselves, only some of whom testified that "Inka" shot and gave orders. One of the policemen even admitted that "Inka" gave him first aid when he himself was wounded.


Danuta Siedzikówna was sentenced to death on 3rd of August 1946 by the District Military Court headed by Major Adam Gajewski. Danuta Siedzikówna's defense attorney, Jan Chmielowski, appealed to President Bolesław Bierut for clemency. This document was drafted and signed by the defense attorney, and was partially written in the first person. "Inka" refused to write such a motion herself. On 19th of August Bolesław Bierut did not use the right of pardon. In a secret message to the Mikołajewski sisters from Gdańsk, shortly before her death, "Inka" wrote: Tell my grandmother that I behaved as I should.


The sentence was carried out on 28th of August 1946. Danuta Siedzikówna was shot together with Feliks Selmanowicz, pseudonym "Zagończyk", by the commander of the firing squad, 2nd Lt. Franciszek Sawicki, in the prison on Kurkowa Street in Gdańsk in the presence of military prosecutor Wiktor Suchocki and deputy warden of the prison in Gdańsk Alojzy Nowicki. According to the account of a forced witness to the execution, Father Marian Prusak, "Inka's" last words were: Long live Poland! Long live "Łupaszko"!


source – Wikipedia

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