Polish WWII resistance fighter Urszula Tauer dies at 105

Urszula Tauer, a former officer of Poland's clandestine Home Army (AK) and a veteran of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, has died at the age of 105, officials have announced.

Urszula Tauer (pictured) was an officer of Poland's clandestine Home Army (AK) during World War II. She was one of the last surviving fighters in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi Germans.

Photo courtesy of Mazowiecki Urząd Wojewódzki

Known by the wartime codename "Ala," Tauer served during the German occupation as a courier and liaison officer for the Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ), which later became the Home Army, the main Polish resistance movement during World War II.

Her command of German enabled her to carry out courier missions inside Nazi Germany, including trips to Berlin.

Tauer later fought in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, the failed 63-day insurgency launched by the Home Army against German occupation forces.

She was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit to National Defence and the Knight's Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order, one of Poland's highest state honours.

In April, she celebrated her 105th birthday and was promoted to colonel by Poland's defence minister.

The Warsaw Rising Museum, which aims to preserve the legacy of the uprising, said in a tribute that Tauer was "now at eternal rest" alongside her comrades-in-arms.

"May she rest in peace," the museum added.

The World Association of Home Army Soldiers described Tauer as a steadfast guardian of the memory of the Warsaw Uprising and the values of the Home Army.

"Throughout her life, she bore witness to patriotism, courage and fidelity to the highest ideals," the organization said, adding that she was among the last surviving members of the wartime generation that fought for a free and independent Poland.

The Warsaw Uprising, launched on August 1, 1944, was an attempt by the Polish underground resistance to liberate the capital before the arrival of Soviet forces.

It was crushed by Nazi Germany after 63 days of fighting, leaving much of Warsaw in ruins and an estimated 18,000 resistance fighters and about 200,000 civilians dead.

The uprising is seen as one of the most heroic and tragic chapters of Poland's World War II history and the largest military operation mounted by an underground resistance movement in German-occupied Europe.

(gs)

Source: PAP