Jadwiga Piłsudska

Jadwiga Piłsudska
Coat of arms	Piłsudski
Family	Piłsudski
Spouse	Andrzej Jaraczewski
Issue	Krzysztof Jaraczewski Joanna Jaraczewska
Father	Józef Piłsudski
Mother	Aleksandra Szczerbińska
Occupation	aviator architect

Jadwiga Piłsudska-Jaraczewska (born February 20, 1920, in Warsaw, Poland) is a pilot, who served in the Air Transport Auxiliary during the Second World War. She is a daughter of Marshal and Naczelnik Józef Piłsudski.

Life

Marshal Piłsudski with daughter

Jadwiga Piłsudska was born on February 20, 1920, in Warsaw, Poland, the younger daughter of Marshal Józef Piłsudski, Poland's Chief of State (1918–22) and dictator (1926-1935), by his second wife, Aleksandra.

In 1937 Jadwiga began flying gliders and obtained a pilot's licence. In 1939 she graduated from secondary school and decided to study aircraft engineering at the Warsaw Polytechnic.

In September 1939, Poland was invaded by the Nazis, initiating the Second World War, and her family realized that under the circumstances it would be prudent to leave the country immediately. Piłsudska fled with her mother and elder sister, Wanda, to Lithuania and eventually arrived in the United Kingdom. She resumed her studies, in 1940, matriculating at Cambridge University.

Later she acquired her aircraft pilot's license, and in July 1942, she joined the Air Transport Auxiliary. With the rank of Second Officer (Flying Officer) she flew unarmed military aircraft in the dangerous skies of wartime Britain and was, with Anna Leska and the Lithuanian-Pole Barbara Wojtulanis, one of several Polish women who served as wartime ferry pilots in Britain.

In 1944, she took a leave of absence to continue her studies by enrolling in the Polish School of Architecture at Liverpool University. In 1946 she graduated with an engineering degree in architecture.

In 1944, she also married Lieutenant Andrzej Jaraczewski, an officer in the Polish Navy. She has two children: a son, Krzysztof (in English, Christopher), and a daughter, Joanna.

Due to the Communist takeover in Poland, she remained in England after the War, as a political émigré. She has never accepted British citizenship. She used a Nansen passport, valid for all countries in the world, except Poland.

In 1990, with the collapse of the Communist government, she returned to Poland and now lives in Warsaw.

Honours

Piłsudski coat of arms

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

See also

• Wanda Piłsudska
• Piłsudski family
• Piłsudski coat of arms
• List of Poles