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Danuta SOCHA - 'Rad', 'Zakopianska' The craft of warfare was always considered, and some
may still believe it today, to be the privilege of men. Women, youth
and the elderly played only a passive role - they were usually the civilian
casualties in an armed conflict. The occupation of Poland by the barbaric
Hitlerites and Soviets during the Second World War, and after the defeat
of Nazi Germany by the Soviets, brought women and youth doubtful, although
honourable, equality of rights in this matter. Hundreds of thousands
of Polish women and youth took active part in the struggle.
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Danuta Socha was born on August 17, 1927 in Rzemien, Mielec district, to a family of an estates' tenant and an ex-legionary. A few years after she was born the Socha family moved to the town of Krakowiec, near Jaworowo in Eastern Little Poland (Malopolska). That is where the war found her. She had just completed grade five of elementary school at the School of Notre Dame Sisters in Lvov. Chaotic mass migration during the first few months of the war also included the Socha family. After a period of dispersion, due to an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Hungarian border undertaken by her father and brother, the family began a "new" life on their grandfather's farm in Ulanowek, near Jaroslaw. There, Danuta finished the general school and also, under cover of a farming school (Germans only allowed the existence of vocational schools on the occupied territories), began the first class of grammar school. The Socha family moved again, this time to Blazowa in the Voivodship of Rzeszow, where she continued her studies in an Underground grammar school. It condensed a four-year programme into two years. In 1942 she undertook conspiratorial activity in the Home Army (Armia Krajowa, AK) under the pseudonym "Rad". Armed with binoculars and prior knowledge of the different types of German airplanes, she recorded their flights for the use of the Underground. She underwent communication, medical, and military training, which came in especially handy during the Operation "Burza" (Tempest), which was the liberation of Eastern Poland from under the Nazi occupation even before the Soviet invasion. Then, courier "Rad" and her friend, Olga Kruczek had an adventure that could have easily cost them their lives. One day, before daybreak they decided to go, by bike, to Blazowa, which was supposed to have been taken over by Soviets. They were to take part in the funeral of members of the local AK outpost, who had died in a skirmish with Germans. On the way, they were stopped by a small military detachment, which was moving towards Blazowa. Both couriers, Danuta and Olga took off their white-red armbands as a precautionary measure, but after identifying the vehicles as Soviet, Danuta put hers back on. However, the detachment proved to be a German penal unit on its way to pacify the local villages. After a short interrogation, during which Danuta was able to get rid of a small pistol hidden in her handbag, both women were put on a tank. Hanging on to the tank's barrel, they were transported to Blazowa. The white-red armband on Danuta's sleeve was enough condemning evidence for the Germans. They placed her under a church wall and handed her a black scarf with an order to tie it around her eyes. She refused to execute this order, which did not hinder further preparations for her execution. It was stopped at the last moment by a higher-ranking officer, who just happened to walk by. Both couriers were taken for further interrogation. Neither of them admitted to anything, saying that the Soviets had ordered them to put on the armbands after confiscating their identity documents. The oncoming Soviet offensive forced the Germans to stop their attempts to pacify Blazowa and to retreat. They also took both women with them with the intention to interrogate them in Rzeszow. They spent part of the way on a truck full of ammunition and gasoline under Soviet fire. Taking advantage of a momentary commotion, caused by the enemy fire, both women were able to escape and returned to Blazowa on foot. As a trained nurse, Danuta was sent to work in a field hospital near Wilczak. She still remembers the hospitality and support of the locals for the wounded and the hospital personnel. She also got to know better her future husband, Stanislaw Jakubczyk - "Chrobry". He was a commander of the AK detachment safeguarding the hospital. In 1944, after the second Soviet invasion of Poland, Danuta went to Rzeszow to continue her education in Polish secondary school. Shortly after, her sister was arrested by the UB, Danuta drops out of school to take care of her sister's three-month-old child. Her father was also arrested and in January 1945 sent away to Soviet Russia. When after a few months her sister was released from prison, it was still out of the question for Danuta to go back to school, at least for some time. The communists, supported by their Soviet adherent, intensified the fight with the patriotic Underground and Danuta was given an order to lay low. On March 23, 1945 her brother Zbyszek - "Tur", died in a skirmish with the UB (Urzad Bezpieczenstwa - secret police to fight the enemies of the communist regime) near Tryncza. He was a member in an Underground army unit under the command of Jan Toth - "Mewa", operating in the region of Lezajsk and Sieniawa. Danuta returned to Rzeszow, where she was able to continue her studies and complete secondary education in 1946. From this period, one episode is especially vivid in her memory. During summer holidays, after exit examinations, she went as a Polish Red Cross (Polski Czerwony Krzyz [PCK]) instructor to a youth camp at Czudec. During this time an Underground army detachment under Mjr. Hieronim Dekutowski - "Zapora", was passing through the area. Danuta presented "Zapora" with her scapular, at his asking. She had almost forgotten about that completely in the torrent of events, however in 1955 after she was released from prison, her friend gave her a small metal gorget. It was from "Zapora" with thanks for the scapular. During all this time she was also working as a courier in the AK's Rzeszow Inspectorate, and after AK's disbandment she was delegated to work in the Association of Freedom and Independence (Zrzeszenie Wolnosc i Niezawislosc, WiN). There she took the pseudonym "Zakopianska". In the same year she entered the Physical Education College in Krakow, with the intent to transfer to a medical school later. Together with a friend, Siasia Kowalczyk, they lived in a flat rented by the organization. Their assignment was to type up reports prepared by their superior, Stefan Sienko - "Wiktor". Stefan Sienko, AK ex-soldier with a reputation beyond reproach during the Nazi occupation, held important offices in the WiN. He was in fact a traitor and an agent provocateur of the UB, guilty of causing suffering and martyr's death of many people, whose only "fault" was patriotism. "Zakopianska" and her friend, almost by a miracle, escaped being arrested in Sienko's apartment in which the UB, with the knowledge of the latter, organized a so called "kociol" - a place to collect many people by an ambush. Lead by her presentiment of danger "Zakopianska" dropped out of college and under the pretence of the necessity to remove her appendix, went to Gliwice and then Lodz, where she entered the Rural Farming College. In late 1947 she was "found" again by the WiN and resumed her work as the courier transporting organizational materials almost throughout the entire country. She specifically remembers one of those missions. In January 1948 she was sent to Jelenia Gora with WiN's briefing materials. Her pick up contact was set on a street in Jelenia Gora at a very specific time, so she had to be there on time. Because the train she had to catch from Gliwice (to Jelenia Gora) was overcrowded, without much thought, she stepped on the steps of some carriage and by holding on to the rails she intended to get to her point of destination. The train was going full speed when she was pulled inside by passengers in that car. To much of her surprise, she found out that the car was not crammed, some passengers were in uniforms and some in civilian clothes, and they seemed to know each other. It became evident, but only to her, that she - a WiN courier coyly holding on to a stuffed briefcase on her lap, was travelling with the UB agents going on an operation to Jelenia Gora. Due to treason committed by Stefan Sienko, the whole headquarters of the WiN was arrested. There was a shower of capital sentences, often multiple (for example Mieczyslaw Kawalec, the President of V WiN Headquarters, received four consecutive death sentences). The UB also caught many lesser WiN members, especially hunting down female couriers. "Zakopianska" was arrested on February 7, 1948 at a train station in Zakopane, where she brought briefing documents. By a strange twist of faith the policemen did not find these materials during the search. This could possibly be because the jacket where the materials were hidden was hung on a coat hanger, which the officers had forgotten to search. Likewise they did not find the money that was hidden in the top of her knee-high boots. When, after the initial interrogation in the local UB station, she was escorted to an isolated room, they returned her jacket in the pockets of which, to her great joy, she found the compromising documents. She was left alone in the room so she laid on a bed, covered herself with the jacket and was able to swallow some of the papers. In spite of a guard present she succeeded in throwing the rest of them into the toilet unnoticed. During the next few days she was transported in stages to Warsaw together with Zbigniew Bernatowicz - "Zdzicha", who was also arrested. After a few days of investigation in the Ministry of Public Security prison on Koszykowa Street, she was moved to the investigation prison on Rakowiecka Street. There "her" interrogation officer was Roman Laszkiewicz, a.k.a. The White Executioner of Mokotow. Even today she remembers vividly the confrontation with her superior, Mieczyslaw Kawalec. Before he was taken away from the cross-examination room, he had only enough time to inform her of the treason and remind her about the necessity to keep the oath. Then came months of inquiry with daily interrogations, physical and mental tortures, and insults to human and woman's dignity. In the investigation they used a thick bundle of Sienko's testimony. "Zakopianska" only confirmed what the UB already knew from a traitor's evidence, but refused to give her own testimony. However, under pressure of the inquiry and tortures, and a promise of a few days rest, she "agreed" to testify. She gave names and addresses of people who died or those who escaped to the West. Still, the UB caught on to this tactic pretty quickly and went back to the old methods. Nevertheless, "Zakopianska" got a whole three days of rest, which helped her to withstand until the end of the inquiry. On September 17, 1948 WiN courier, Danuta Socha - "Zakopianska" was sentenced by the Regional Military Court in Warsaw (Case No. Sr.985/48) to nine years of imprisonment. She was also forfeit of citizen and honorary rights for three years and loss of possessions. She was released from prison (Fordon) on August 25, 1955 on parole due to poor health. However, she was prohibited to disclose details of the investigation and her stay in prison. In 1958, after a period of recuperation and graduating
with excellent grades from a nursing school in Krakow, she took a position
as a boardinghouse's dormitory mistress and nursing ethics instructor at
that school. She also kept up her correspondence with "Chrobry" who, after
escaping to the West, lived in Canada. He then asked for her hand, and
in 1959 she left Poland to join her fiance. • The following military decorations are a testimony
to her merits in fight for Poland's independence: Cross of Valour,
Army Cross (thrice awarded), Silver Cross of Merit with Swords, Home Army
Cross and Association of Freedom and Independence Cross. These are
only the most important. MIEDZY NAMI - August, 1996 Danuta Socha-Jakubczyk passed away on October 10, 2008 in Hamilton, Ontario Translation: Agnieszka K. Marszalek
Last modified November 20, 2010 5:45 PM |
