Jadwiga Piłsudska

Piłsudski coat of arms

Plt Off Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska (born February 20, 1920, in Warsaw, Poland) is a daughter of Józef Piłsudski and an aviator who during World War II served as a pilot in the Air Transport Auxiliary.

Life

Jadwiga Piłsudska was born on February 20, 1920, in Warsaw, Poland, a daughter of Józef Piłsudski, Poland's Chief of State, and Aleksandra Piłsudska. In 1937 she began flying a sailplane and obtained her pilot's license. In 1939 she passed her matura and planned to study aircraft engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic.

In September 1939, when Poland was invaded at the opening of World War II, she evacuated with her mother and sister, Wanda Piłsudska, to the United Kingdom. There in 1940 she matriculated at Cambridge University.

In July 1942 she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary as a ferry pilot in the rank of Pilot Officer. She received an airplane pilot's license and began service in airplane ferrying. In 1944 she took a leave to continue studies in the Polish School of Architecture at Liverpool University. In 1946 she graduated with an engineering degree in architecture.

In 1944 she married Lt. Andrzej Jaraczewski, a Polish Navy officer. After the war, she remained in England as a political emigré. She returned to Poland in 1990. She has two children: a son, Krzysztof (in English, Christopher), and a daughter, Joanna. She lives in Warsaw.

Honors

She has been honored with a Bronze Cross of Merit with Swords and the Commander's Cross of the Polonia Restituta.

See also

• Piłsudski family
• Piłsudski coat of arms