Sierpińska, née Myszkowska, served as a medical orderly and resistance courier in the “Kiliński” Battalion of Poland’s Home Army, within the 3rd Company of the Grey Ranks - the underground Polish scouting movement involved in anti-Nazi resistance.
After the defeat of the uprising, she was captured by German forces and deported via a transit camp in Ożarów, central Poland, to Stalag 344 Lamsdorf, a German prisoner-of-war camp.
In November 1944, she was transferred to a prisoner-of-war hospital, where she remained until the end of the war. She returned to Warsaw after 1945.
Remembering a 1944 Warsaw Uprising medic and courageous resistance courier
In a 2010 interview for the Warsaw Rising Museum’s Oral History Archive, Sierpińska recalled joining the resistance while still at school.
“Word spread that a Grey Ranks unit was being formed. I signed up immediately. I knew my sister was already in the underground, and my brother as well,” she said.
She noted that her slight build often made her an effective courier. “I was small - just a little girl - which made it safer.”
She never expressed regret about her role in the uprising. “I do not regret taking part in the Warsaw Uprising. I believe it was the right thing to do.”
Sierpińska was one of the women featured in Girls of the Warsaw Uprising by Anna Herbich-Zychowicz, a book documenting women’s experiences during the 63 days of fighting against German occupation.
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Source: PAP/X/@NieZapomnijONas