Maria Vetulani de Nisau

Maria Vetulani de Nisau

Maria de Nisau, born as Maria Vetulani (27 November 1898 – 2 September 1944) was a Polish woman soldier, a participant of Polish-Ukrainian War and World War II, combatant for Poland's independence.

Biography

She was a daughter of an engineer Franciszek Vetulani (1856−1921) and Katarzyna Ipohorska-Lenkiewicz (1868−1915). She had a brother, Stanisław, and two sisters: Zofia and Cecylia. The Vetulani family lived in numerous cities, first in Tarnów, later in Kraków, Lwów, Zakopane and back in Tarnów, and in those cities Maria grew up. After graduating from Orzeszkowa Gimnazjum in Tarnów, where she was a scouts member, in 1918 Vetulani bagan medical studies at Jagiellonian University. She was a member of Polish Military Organisation, in years 1918–1919 she fought in a defense of Lwów, wearing as a camouflage male's uniform (woman were not allowed to take part in regular fights).

In 1923 she married left-wing political activist, Bogdan de Nisau. In 1924 there son Witold was born and Vetulani decided not to continue studies at the university. In 1925 Maria with her family settled down in Warsaw, but after two years they moved to the Soviet Union. In 1934 Maria's husband was arrested by Soviets so she flew from the USSR, expecting Bogdan was killed and concerning for her son safety (after the war it was said that Bogdan de Nisau was killed in the Soviet prison almost ten years later, in 1943). She returned to Warsaw, where she worked and took care of Witold.

During the occupation she still lived in Warsaw and she was liaison soldier of the Armia Krajowa. In her apartment at Świętokrzyska Street she organised a contact point and a hiding place for Jewish people. In August 1944 she took part in Warsaw Uprising. In one of the shootings Vetulani received wound and was cured in the hospital at Długa Street. She was killed on September 2, during the German pacification of uprising hospitals. Her son also fought in the uprising, he was wounded and taken by Nazis as a prisoner, but managed to survive. He died in 1998.

Maria Vetulani was twice awarded with the Cross of Valor. One of streets in Tarnów is called after her name.

References

• Barbara Sawczyk, Maria Sąsiadowicz, Ewa Stańczyk (2004). Ocalić od zapomnienia... Patroni tarnowskich ulic. 2. Tarnów: Miejska Biblioteka Publiczna im. Juliusza Słowackiego. ISBN 83-915445-6-7. 
• Janusz Wojtycza (22 May 2003). "Maria Vetulani de Nisau (1898−1944)" (in Polish). pp. 8. http://www.archiwum.wyborcza.pl/Archiwum/1,0,2092069,20030522KR-DLO,Maria_Vetulani__de_Nisau_18981944,.html. 
• "Maria Vetulani de Nisau Bio" (in Polish). Warsaw Uprising Museum. http://www.1944.pl/historia/powstancze-biogramy/Maria_De_Nisau. Retrieved 23 October 2012. 
• Agata Żak (2 November 2012). "Walczyła o wolność Lwowa i Warszawy" (in Polish). http://www.dziennikpolski24.pl/pl/region/region-tarnowski/1247197-walczyla-o-wolnosc-lwowa-i-warszawy.html.