Adamowicz Irena

Adamowicz, Irena Irena Adamowicz, a devout Catholic and daughter of Polish nobles, was a graduate of the University of Warsaw with a degree in social work. Until the outbreak of World War II, she held a leading position with the Polish Scouts in Warsaw. In the course of her activities, she developed close and friendly relations with the Hashomer Hatzair movement and participated in its educational and social enterprises. During the occupation, she no only maintained contact with the Jewish youth movements but actually strengthened the relationship. Adamowicz placed herself at the disposal of th Jewish underground and served as a liaison among the ghettos of Warsaw, Vilna, Bialystok, Kaunas, and Siauliai. Meeting surreptitiously with the underground leaders, Adamowicz passed on information about the situation in the ghettos and for many months she supplied arms to the Warsaw ghetto. In June 1942, Adamowicz set out for Vilna in the service of the Hashomer Hatzair, to inform the leaders of the Jewish underground about the onset of the mass destruction of the Jews in the Generalgouvernement and to apprise them of the youth movements’ plans. She entered the sealed Vilna ghetto with great difficulty and, after completing the mission, was asked to deliver the bitter news to the Jews of Kaunas and Siauliai so that they, too, could form resistance groups in the cities of Lithuania. Adamowicz agreed to undertake this mission and, at mortal danger, completed it with great devotion and loyalty. She considered it her supreme duty in life, and most publications on Jewish armed resistance in Warsaw, Vilna, and Bialystok refer to her in glowing terms. After the war, Adamowicz maintained her relationship with the remnants of the Zionist pioneering youth movements in Poland, which were preparing Jews to immigrate to Israel, and with her friends in the movements. In 1958, Adamowicz came to Israel for an extended visit as the guest of the Hakibbutz Ha’artzi movement. OnJanuary 14, 1985, Yad Vashem recognized Irena Adamowicz as Righteous Among the Nations.