Matuszewska, Ewa “Mewa”.

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Matuszewska, Ewa “Mewa” born 07-09-1919, in Warschau , Polen, the daughter of Ignacy (colonel of the Polish Army, first head of the Second Department of the General Staff, Polish ambassador to Hungary, Minister of Finance) and Stanisława born Kuszelewska (writer and translator of belles-lettres). Ewa Matuszewska was the adopted daughter of Brigadier General Ludomił Antoni Korab  Rayski Brigadier General, pilot engineer of the Polish Army, air commander in the years 1926-1939, knight of the Order of Virtuti Militari.

After the death of General Wladislaw Eugeniusz Sikorski    Rayski was accepted into the Polish Air Force and became commander of the State Fire Brigade in the Middle East. In February 1944 the rehabilitation process began. A measure of his involvement in Polish affairs were his voluntary flights (as co-pilot) with the 1586th Special Purpose Squadron with airdrops for the Warsaw Uprising (five flights) and combat flights as part of the 318th Squadron .In exile he was chairman of the Association of Polish Pilots in Great Britain. He supported himself by working as a draftsman.Full exoneration of the charges took place on 02-04-1977, aged 84 and nine days before his death.

Ewa was a scout and deputy of the Warsaw Female Scout Team of the Warsaw Scout Organization, as well as a sportswoman and glider pilot  . In 1937 Ewa graduated from the State Junior High School. Juliusz Slowacki. In 1938 she began studying at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Warsaw ; from 1939 she continued her studies in secret classes. In September, during the defense of Warsaw, she worked with her mother at the dressing station of the Children’s Hospital . She also completed nursing training and a specialist course in rescuing seriously wounded people. During the German occupation she belonged to the underground sanitary service in Szare Szeregi ; later she served in the battalion “Parasol” , where, among other things, took part in the preparation of the action against SS Rottenführer Alfred Milke (executed on  05-10-1943)  These two beautiful boys are Eugeniusz Poszeptyński ‘Ssak’ and Ryszard Serafinowicz ‘King’. Moments of joy were short, however. ‘Ssak’ was killed in a daring attempt to execute SS-Rottenführer Alfred Milke in 1943. ‘King’ survived the war and was the man behind Poland TV show “Wielka Gra”.

Death and burial ground of Matuszewska, Ewa “Mewa”.

  

The “Radosław” group of Kedyw of the Home Army Headquarters. “Seagull”, was heroic until the last moment of his short, only twenty-five-year existence. When after the attack on the outpost the commander, Corporal Witold Wett (nicknamed “Dzik”) was seriously mutilated, Ewa broke through under enemy fire to get medicine. It is not known whether she had a deeper bond with the young man. She certainly risked a lot for him, but would she not do the same to save other people? Given the little information that remains about this “calm, smiling and patient” woman, it can be assumed that she would do this for anyone. Wounded because they trusted her blindly. Rightly so, because it was for them and Corporal “Dzika” that she dedicated her life. On September 26-09-1944, when the Nazis surrounded the outpost, “Mewa” disobeyed the order of cadet corporal Antoni Łukawski (code name “Ładzki”), in which he called for a retreat. Since it was impossible to evacuate the most seriously wounded, Ewa, age 25, said: “I am a nurse – it is my duty to stay here – with the wounded.” The Nazis showed no mercy, brutally murdering defenseless people and a beautiful nurse with a “Red Cross” bracelet on her arm.

During the Warsaw Uprising she was the head of the sanitary service of the “Baszta” regiment. She was also deputy lieutenant. K. Grzybowski “Misiewicz”, doctor of the O-2 company of the “Olza” battalion in the same group. Wounded during the uprising [6] . On September 26, 1944 she, age 25, was shot by the Germans in the building at Aleja Niepodległości 117/119, which they entered that day. The patients in this building, 360 patients and staff  died with them  .

In 1944 she was awarded the Silver Cross of Merit with Swords and the Cross of Valor , as well as posthumously the Silver Cross of the Order of Virtuti Militari (by order of the Commander of the Home Army No. 512 of 02-10-1944. No. 12930).

On 13-02-2020, the President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda posthumously promoted Ewa Matuszewska to the rank of second lieutenant  .

CommemorationA memorial plaque on the family home at ul. Idzikowskiego 25 in Warsaw, unveiled on 27-09-2014. A memorial plaque  on the Stanisław Broniewski “Orsza” Square on Puławska Street in Warsaw, unveiled in October 2010.

Matuszewska, Ewa “Mewa” is buried at the Powązki military cemetery, square A-24-9-.Povazkowska 43/45 01-797 Warsauw.

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