teacher
Jadwiga Murzynowska was born on September 12, 1892 in Nieborów. She received a thorough education, obtaining a doctorate. In the 1930s, she moved to Będzin, where she started working at the Wanda Replińska Private Gymnasium for Girls, located at ul. Kosciuszko. She was the headmaster of a school attended by students from various social groups. Many of them came from Jewish families living in Będzin. Abraham Gertner led classes in Judaism for them. In 1933, a school unit for the Military Training of Women was founded by Zofia Homajer in the gymnasium.
In addition to carrying out the educational mission, the facility managed by Dr. Jadwiga Murzynowska also took care of instilling in its students attachment to the homeland. This is evidenced by the entry in the class chronicle in the school year 1933–1934 by the student Danuta Chropaczówna: The gray, beloved leader in a blue uniform has passed away. He went away, so as not to come back, he is gone forever. We will not see Grandpa again! The victorious eagle has left its nest! We will no longer see a good worried face in the Belvedere window. We will never see a gray head bent over the desk until late at night. The Commandant will no longer watch over us. He is now lying in the coffin … A brave chest pinned up with orders, and in his hands, which often took the sword in defense of the Motherland, he is now holding a picture of Our Lady of Ostra Brama, blackened in battle, whom he loved above all else. In the hands of friends, the March was transferred to a cannon-trailer. J. Piłsudski receives the last parade in this land.
After the outbreak of World War II and the entry of Wehrmacht troops, the school was closed. Its equipment was destroyed and looted. Jadwiga Murzynowska, along with other teachers from Będzin, started organizing secret teaching.
The activities carried out by the Gestapo, aimed at compiling lists of people who posed a potential threat to the Third Reich, made it possible to conduct a wave of arrests of representatives of the Polish elite in the spring of 1940, including, in particular, teachers. Murzynowska Jadwiga, born on September 12, 1892 in Nieborów, by profession a teacher, marital status: single, nationality: Polish, religion: Roman Catholic, residing in Będzin at ul. Koszarowa 2/24. On May 22, 1940, she was arrested in the course of actions against the Polish intelligentsia and transferred on May 23, 1940 to the concentration camp for women in Ravensbrück – it was recorded in the files of the Katowice Gestapo. The basis for the detention was an order of the Reich Security Office (German Reichssicherheitshauptamt – – RSHA) in Berlin No. IV D 2-480 / 40, imposing the so-called protective detention. In the German documentation, attention is drawn to the statement justifying the decision to detain and imprison in the camp: Ist fanatische Polin – she is a fanatical Polish woman.
Jadwiga Murzynowska stayed in the German concentration camp in Ravensbrück until January 16, 1945. After returning to Będzin, she was among the founders of the Municipal Public Library. She was also involved in the activities of the Polish Teachers’ Union Center in Będzin, being a member of its board. In the years 1945–1950 she was the chairman of the Secondary Education Department of the Poviat Division of the PNA. Jadwiga Murzynowska died childless in Będzin on January 9, 1970.