Krystyna Krehelska was born on March 12, 1914 in the village of Mazurki in the Eastern Borderlands as the daughter of a doctor and biologist, Janina Bura, and a lieutenant colonel of the reserve, engineer Jan Krahelski. She came from a typical intelligentsia family, so from an early age values such as honor and patriotism were instilled in her, which was also reflected in the works she started creating when she was still a teenager.
Her face was an inspiration in the process of creating the Warsaw Mermaid. Who was Krystyna Krehelska?
During her school days, Krehelska was active in the Polish Scouting Association, leading a group of Cub Scouts for three years. After successfully passing her high school final exams, she began studies at the University of Warsaw, first majoring in geography and then ethnography. In the meantime, she also developed her artistic skills, including: she performed on Polish Radio, singing Polish songs, and also established fruitful cooperation with Bronisław Rutkowski, a composer and popularizer of folk music.
In the meantime, she also had a cameo as . It all started when in 1937, the then mayor of the capital, Stefan Starzyński, came up with the idea of creating a Warsaw Mermaid. The work was entrusted to Professor Ludwika Nitschowa, who needed someone to model herself on while creating the woman’s bust. It was then that Krehelska’s Slavic beauty caught the sculptor’s attention and she decided to offer her cooperation, the effect of which became one of the most important symbols of Warsaw. At that time, no one expected that a few years later the young woman would actually be considered a real hero.
She died saving another soldier. A fragment of a war song was engraved on her tombstone
When World War II broke out on September 1, 1939, Krehelska began working as a nurse. Although for reasons still unknown, she went to her hometown for some time, but eventually returned to Warsaw. First, she was active in the underground in the Union of Armed Struggle, and then joined the Home Army, adopting the pseudonym “Danuta”. She was a liaison and courier, transporting important documents, reports and weapons, and also training girls for sanitary service. Despite unfavorable conditions, she did not stop creating. During this period, she wrote such works as the soldier’s song “Hey boys, bayonet for a gun” and the poems “O war” and “Lullaby”.
As a nurse, Krehelska was always eager to help and ready to save others, even risking her own life. This was also the case on August 2, 1944, when the 1108th platoon of the fourth “Jeleń” squadron, as part of the “Baszta” regiment to which it belonged, attacked the Germans at Polna Street. During the shooting, one of the Polish soldiers was injured, so she went to help him without hesitation. While she was treating his wounds, she was shot three times in the chest. Although she was taken to a nearby insurgent hospital, where she underwent surgery, the injuries turned out to be too extensive and she could not be saved. Krystyna Krehelska died on August 2, 1944. Her friends from the unit buried her in the garden at ul. Polna 36. Only after the end of the war, her body was exhumed and moved to the old cemetery in Służewo, and the first verse of her “Hey boys, bayonet for a gun” was engraved on her tombstone.
Source: Gazeta
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