Janina Antonina Lewandowska (22 April 1908 – 22 April 1940) was a Polish

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

pilot murdered in the

Katyn massacre The Katyn massacre, "Katyń crime"; russian: link=yes, Катынская резня ''Katynskaya reznya'', "Katyn massacre", or russian: link=no, Катынский расстрел, ''Katynsky rasstrel'', "Katyn execution" was a series of m ...

by Soviet forces.

Early life

Lewandowska (née Dowbor-Muśnicka) was born 22 April 1908, in

Kharkiv Kharkiv ( uk, wikt:Харків, Ха́рків, ), also known as Kharkov (russian: Харькoв, ), is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city and List of hromadas of Ukraine, municipality in Ukraine.Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. Her father,

Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki (Iosif Romanovich while in the Russian military; sometimes also Dowbór-Muśnicki; ; 25 October 1867 – 26 October 1937) was a Russian military officer and Polish general, serving with the Imperial Russian and then Poli ...

, was a successful Polish military general. As a teenager, she joined the Poznań Flying Club and earned her glider and parachutist certificates. At the age of 20, she became the first European woman to parachute from a height of over five kilometers. She learned to fly light aircraft by 1937. Shortly before the war began, she married instructor-pilot Mieczyslaw Lewandowski.

Military career

In August 1939, Lewandowska was drafted for service with the 3rd Military Aviation Regiment stationed near

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...

, Poland. On 22 September, her unit was taken prisoner by Soviet forces. Lewandowska was one of only two officers in the group; both were taken to the POW Camp for Polish Officers in Kozelsk,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. Her fate is uncertain, although it seems likely she died in the

, which occurred in the month of her 32nd birthday.

Commemorations

* At the base of a monument erected in Lusów in 2015 to General

, both of his daughters are also commemorated: "Janina Lewandowska, murdered in 1940 by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in Katyn, and

Agnieszka Dowbor-Muśnicka Agnieszka Dowbor-Muśnicka (7 September 1919 – 20 or 21 June 1940) was active in the Polish resistance against Nazi occupiers in World War II and was murdered in the Palmiry massacre. Life Agnieszka (known by her friends as Gusia) was born on ...

, murdered by the Germans in

Palmiry Palmiry () is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czosnów, within Nowy Dwór County, Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is located at the edge of the Kampinos Forest, approximately south-east of Czosnów, south ...

." * On 19 March 2020, the National Bank of Poland introduced a commemorative silver coin with a face value of 10 zlotys. The coin, called "Katyń-Palmiry 1940," remembers the two murdered sisters. On one side of the coin, Janina appears next to the word "Katyn." The other side features a likeness of Agnieszka and the word "Palmiry."

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewandowska, Janina 1908 births 1940 deaths Military personnel from Kharkiv People from Kharkov Governorate People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Polish World War II pilots Katyn massacre victims Polish Air Force officers Polish aviators Polish military personnel killed in World War II Women aviators Women military aviators

Early life

Military career

Commemorations

See also

References

Sources