Róża Maria Goździewska
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31 March 1936
Róża Maria Goździewska | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Goździewska in 1944 | |
| Born | Róża Maria Goździewska 31 March 1936 Poland |
| Died | 29 October 1989 (aged 53) |
| Alma mater | Silesian University of Technology |
| Known for | The youngest nurse of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising |
| Medical career | |
| Profession | Nurse |
Róża Maria Goździewska (Polish pronunciation: [ˈruʐa ˈmarʲja ɡɔʑˈd͡ʑɛfska]; also known as Różyczka Goździewska, Różyczka being a diminutive of her first name, lit. "Little Rose"; 31 March 1936 – 29 October 1989) was a Polish nurse, known as the youngest nurse of the 1944 Warsaw Uprising when she was a child.[1]
Goździewska was born on 31 March 1936. Her father was killed by the Gestapo in 1943.[1] A year later, on 1 August, the city of Warsaw was engulfed in the uprising against the German occupiers, with the civilian population caught in the middle. A number of child soldiers took part in the fighting on the side of the Polish insurgents.[2][3]
Goździewska, eight years old at that time, was helping in the field hospital at 11 Moniuszki Street in Warsaw. She was described as a nurse because she made the patients smile, brought them water to drink, and tried to clear away the flies.[1] That field hospital was associated with the Polish insurgents' Home Army Koszta Company unit.[4][5] Her relative, Jadwiga Obretenny, 19 years old at the time, was also a nurse in the Uprising.[6]
A photo of Goździewska, wearing a Red Cross armband, was taken in early August 1944 by Eugeniusz Lokajski, nom-de-guerre "Brok", a Home Army resistance fighter and photographer, who would perish a month later.[5][7] The Uprising, after incurring major casualties among the civilian participants, was eventually crushed by the Germans on 2 October.[2][3] Goździewska and her sister survived the war. Afterwards, she attended a gymnasium run by the Ursulines, graduated from the Silesian University of Technology, and in 1958, she emigrated to France, where she got married and had two children.[5][1] She died on 29 October 1989.[1]