Jadwiga Piłsudska

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Birth Date:
28.02.1920
Death date:
16.11.2014
Burial date:
21.11.2014
Length of life:
94
Days since birth:
38016
Years since birth:
104
Days since death:
3422
Years since death:
9
Extra names:
Jadwiga Piłsudska
Categories:
Architect, Engineer, Officer, Pilot, WWII participant
Nationality:
 pole
Cemetery:
Warsaw, Old Powązki Cemetery

Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska (born 28 February 1920) is a pilot, who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. She is the one of two daughters of Marshal and Naczelnik Józef Piłsudski.

Jadwiga Piłsudska was born on 20 February 1920, in Warsaw, Poland, the younger daughter of Marshal Józef Piłsudski, Poland's Chief of State (1918–22) and dictator (1926–1935), by the woman who would later become his second wife, Aleksandra.

In 1937 Jadwiga began flying gliders and obtained a pilot's licence. In 1939 she graduated from secondary school and decided to study aircraft engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic.

In September 1939, Poland was invaded by the Nazis, initiating the Second World War, and her family realized that under the circumstances it would be prudent to leave the country immediately. Piłsudska fled with her mother and elder sister, Wanda, to Lithuania and eventually arrived in the United Kingdom. She resumed her studies, in 1940, matriculating at Newnham College, Cambridge University.

Later she acquired her aircraft pilot's license, and in July 1942, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. With the rank of Second Officer (Flying Officer) she flew unarmed military aircraft in the dangerous skies of wartime Britain and was, with Anna Leska and the Lithuanian-Pole Barbara Wojtulanis, one of several Polish women who served as wartime ferry pilots in Britain.

In 1944, she took a leave of absence to continue her studies by enrolling in the Polish School of Architecture at Liverpool University. In 1946 she graduated with an engineering degree in architecture.

In 1944, she also married Lieutenant Andrzej Jaraczewski, an officer in the Polish Navy. She has two children: a son, Krzysztof (in English, Christopher), and a daughter, Joanna.

Due to the Communist takeover in Poland, she remained in England after the War, as a political émigré. She has never accepted British citizenship. She used a Nansen passport, valid for all countries in the world, except Poland.

In 1990, with the collapse of the Communist government, she returned to Poland and now lives in Warsaw.

 

Source: wikipedia.org

Places

Images Title Relation type From To Description Languages
1Sulejówek, dworek "Milusin"Sulejówek, dworek "Milusin"pl

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        Relations

        Relation nameRelation typeBirth DateDeath dateDescription
        1Józef PiłsudskiJózef PiłsudskiFather05.12.186712.05.1935
        2Aleksandra PiłsudskaAleksandra PiłsudskaMother12.12.188231.03.1963
        3Wanda PiłsudskaWanda PiłsudskaSister07.02.191816.01.2001
        4Andrzej JaraczewskiAndrzej JaraczewskiHusband08.11.191618.10.1992
        5Bronisław PiłsudskiBronisław PiłsudskiUncle02.11.186617.05.1918
        6Jan PiłsudskiJan PiłsudskiUncle15.01.187621.12.1950
        7Adam PiłsudskiAdam PiłsudskiUncle25.09.186916.12.1935
        8Marija Bilevičiūtė–PilsudskienėMarija Bilevičiūtė–PilsudskienėGrandfather00.00.184201.09.1884
        9Juzefas Vincentas PilsudskisJuzefas Vincentas PilsudskisGrandfather22.02.183315.04.1902
        10Maria PiłsudskaMaria PiłsudskaGrandmother00.00.186517.08.1921

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