Mrs. Krystyna Joanna Orlowski

Wife, mother, freedom fighter, writer and fiercely proud Polish Canadian passed away peacefully in her 84th year at Northumberland Hills Hospital.

Predeceased by Stanislaw, her husband of 54 years, she will be fondly remembered by her three daughters - Alexandra Kucharczyk of Toronto, her husband Roman Kucharczyk and daughters Joanna and Lidia; Irena Orlowski of Port Hope, her husband John Davidson and son Janek Lowe and Helena Orlowski of Kingsthorne, England, daughters Aniela and Majka and son Stefan. Krystyna is survived by her sisters - Ania and Basia of Warsaw and by her oldest friend, school chum and fellow writer, Konrad Studnicki of Ottawa.

Born September 6, 1926 in Warsaw, capital of the re-born Polish nation, Krystyna was the daughter of Jan Przyborowski, Civil Engineer, and Helena Kurowska. In her childhood was known as a brave little girl, “a little Cossack” and was well educated in her duties to God, to country and to family – this sense of obligation remained with her to the end.

As with so many millions of others, her life was smashed and re-shaped by World War ll. In her own words -

“I remember the last time I celebrated Remembrance Day in Poland – the year was 1938.

I remember the Germans dropping bombs on Warsaw – 5 days before my thirteenth birthday.

Without declaring war, the German armies entered my country from the south, the west and the north.

I remember the Russian army entering my country from the east …

I remember food shortages, rationing, and hunger.

Schools were closed; so schools went underground.

I remember people being arrested, being put in prison, being sent to concentration camps, being killed in front of us on the streets of Warsaw.

I remember the danger we faced of being stopped and arrested at any time.

Only a teenager, I joined the underground army to fight for the freedom of our country.

I remember when the streetcar I was on was stopped by German soldiers and all of us were ordered to get off …. I approached one of the soldiers and told him that I was late getting home, that my Mother was waiting for me – he let me get back on the streetcar – I was the only one who was allowed to leave [likely the only one to survive] and I was carrying illegal newspapers in my backpack.

I remember all the hardships, all the shortages, all the difficulties of surviving from day to day.

I remember August 1st, 1944 the beginning of the Warsaw Uprising. We fought for two months against the Germans. Unfortunately, without enough ammunition and arms, we were finally defeated. Luckily I survived ...

I remember the day we were marched out of Warsaw to begin the journey to Germany to the prisoner of war camps – October 7th, 1944

I remember life in the camp – we suffered many deprivations.

I remember receiving a Red Cross package and among the goods we received were balls of yarn, but no knitting needles. Many of us did not have socks or mittens and it was winter.

I remember night after night braving the soldiers on patrol to go to the fence to break off some wire to fashion a couple of pairs of knitting needles.

I remember April 12th, 1945.the day we were liberated by the Polish Armored Division together with the Canadian forces –

They had been fighting in Holland and when they heard from the locals that there were Polish women from the Warsaw Uprising in a camp just across the border in Germany, they came to rescue us.

Three weeks later, the war ended and we were finally free!

I was thirteen when the war began and eighteen when the war ended.”

But I was not free to return to my country that had come under the domination of Russia and Communism.

I had sacrificed my youth and had lost my country in the fight for freedom.

I remember ……… (Toronto, Canada, November 2009)

In 1945, as a liberated combatant, Krystyna joined the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. Following the war she attended College in Leicester, England where she married fellow exile Stan in 1949. In 1952 at the height of the Cold War they emigrated to Canada.

Like so many of our mothers and grandmothers, her focus was raising a family and supporting her husband in all his endeavors. Stan finished his career as Chief Architect for The Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Ontario and was a powerful presence in the Polish World Scouting movement and the Polish Canadian Congress. Krystyna’s support took the tangible form of editing every paper of Stan’s and assisting in every presentation.

In the sixties and seventies Krystyna translated written materials for the University and other professionals, wrote short articles for a variety of publications, was a reporter for a local Polish newspaper, Zwiazkowiec, and managed the office for The Polish Millennium Fund which published “1000 years of Christianity in Poland”. Up to last year she continued to be published in a prestigious Polish Historical Journal in Paris.

Throughout her life she was a leader and supporter of Scouting and Girl Guides. She was the organizer and leader of the first Polish Senior Girl Guides Instructors Troop in Toronto. As a parent she was known for the fierce support of her daughters and daughters’ friends, who struggled with the post war education system in Toronto, ill prepared for the influx of immigrant families.

In 1961 the Orlowski’s built their retreat on their beloved Wadsworth Lake in the Madawaska Highlands. Summers were a mixture of boating, friends, scout camps interspersed with periodic visits to family in Poland.

A celebration of Krystyna’s life will be held at St Stanislaus Roman Catholic Church, 12 Denison St. in Toronto (near Queen and Bathurst) at 11:00 am on Tuesday August 17, interment at Mount Pleasant cemetery to follow. The family will receive visitors at the Trull Funeral Home, 2704 Yonge Street (5 blocks north of Lawrence) in Toronto 2-4 and 7-9 on Monday August 16, prayers at 3:00p.m.

The family would appreciate donations in Krystyna’s name to the Northumberland Hills Hospital, 1000 DePalma Dr., Cobourg, ON, K9A 5W6