Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Wednesday led tributes to Traczyk-Stawska, who fought as a teenager in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising and later spent decades preserving the memory of its victims.
“Don’t stand and watch when evil is happening. React immediately, because it is your duty,” Tusk wrote on X, quoting Traczyk-Stawska.
"Farewell, heroine," he added.
At a later news conference, Tusk described her as an enduring example of “responsible patriotism,” recalling that she had urged him to act against wrongdoing regardless of the personal or political cost.
"When you see evil, whatever clothes that evil is wearing, react; don't wait for others," Tusk recalled her telling him.
Traczyk-Stawska was born in Warsaw on April 7, 1927. At 17, she took part in the Warsaw Uprising, the Polish resistance’s 1944 attempt to liberate the capital from Nazi German occupation.
Using the underground names "Atma" and "Pączek," she served as a courier and riflewoman with the Home Army and the Grey Ranks, the wartime underground organization of Polish scouts.
After the uprising was defeated, she was sent to German prisoner-of-war camps.
After the war, she studied psychology at the University of Warsaw and worked until the late 1970s as a teacher in special schools for children with disabilities.
Much of her later life was devoted to preserving the memory of those killed in the uprising. She headed a civic committee responsible for the Warsaw Insurgents Cemetery and campaigned in particular for recognition of the civilian victims of the fighting.
The Chamber of Remembrance beside the cemetery in Warsaw’s Wola district was established at her initiative.
A book of condolences has been opened there following her death.
Photo: PAP/Leszek Szymański
Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski called on residents to visit the chamber and pay tribute to her.
He said Traczyk-Stawska, who disliked being called a hero, had remained determined throughout her life in defending "dignity, solidarity and respect for another person."
Trzaskowski said she had placed particular emphasis on preserving the memory of civilians killed during the uprising.
Traczyk-Stawska also remained active in public debate well into old age, speaking out on human rights, women’s rights, democracy and Poland’s place in Europe.
Lower-house Speaker Włodzimierz Czarzasty said that after fighting fascism during the uprising, she had spent the rest of her life "on the side of the weaker" and in defense of children, people with disabilities, women's rights, democracy and a united Europe.
"She did not allow nationalists to steal patriotism and drown out freedom," he wrote.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said freedom and independence had been among Traczyk-Stawska’s highest values because she knew from experience what their loss could cost.
Upper-house Speaker Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska described her as an authority for generations of Poles, while Justice Minister and Prosecutor-General Waldemar Żurek called her "the conscience of our public debate."
Tusk said her example linked wartime courage with responsibility in peacetime.
"It is a sad day," he said. "She was an exceptional person."
(rt/gs)
Source: IAR/PAP, TVP Info