“I have miraculously survived four times. Once with the aforementioned bomb […] Another time we went to airdrops. My friend was walking nearby and a pigeon breeder hit her. She died. Later I went somewhere with a request. I hear: “Cow!” I managed to get out of the room. I grabbed the door handle and three floors fell. After the riot, they took us to who knows where and were supposed to shoot us. I survived four times. “Thank God,” Zofia assessed.
Love and life
The dark days of the uprising were brightened for Zofia by the beautiful feeling that unexpectedly arose between her and one of her comrades-in-arms, Czesław Czekalski, alias “Trzcinski”. Zofia suffered a tragedy when Czesław was seriously wounded towards the end of the uprising. On 28 September he was hit by a shell fragment and only a quick operation in the hospital on Śliska Street saved his life. Another blow came a few days later when the decision was made to end the fighting. When asked in interviews about the most difficult memory of the uprising, “Sosenka” always answered without hesitation: “despair after the surrender”.
However, this devastating truth had to be faced head on. Zofia, wanting to continue caring for her wounded loved one, decided to ask for permission to go into captivity with the hospital staff and patients instead of with the soldiers. Her supervisor provided this opportunity for her. Captain Roman Bornstein, alias “Brom”, noted in her documents that the girl served as a nurse. As a result, the couple were sent together to the prisoner of war camp at Stalag IV-B/H Zeithain. At this point, the young people were separated and sent to parts of the camp designated for women and men respectively. It was a difficult experience for both of them, as were the transport conditions that the Germans created for the wounded, which were an insult to human dignity: “Organize trips for the sick, collect food and bedding. Later, they took them to the Western Railway Station in wagons and cars and everything had to be organized. There were wagons and bunks so that the sick would have some conditions. Many of them were dying. There were no bandages.”
As it turned out, Zofia and Czesław also survived this ordeal. After returning to Poland in 1945, Zofia immediately decided to contact her family left behind in Tomaszów, who had not heard from her since the beginning of the uprising. The meeting with her loved ones took place in an atmosphere of emotion and emotions that are hard to describe. It turned out that Zofia’s parents and brother were convinced that she was dead. They received false news that the girl had died. Ironically, they received this information on the day of Zofia’s brother’s wedding, which took place on August 6, when “Sosenka” took part in the uprising.
In 1946, Zofia became Czesław’s wife. The couple settled in Warsaw, which had been reborn from the ruins of the war with great difficulty. Zofia, who inherited her sewing talent from her mother, an embroiderer, decided to link her future with this craft. She began working in the theater, where her job was to sew costumes. For decades, she worked in various theaters in the capital, while raising two daughters with her husband. Czesław died in 1985. Zofia maintained close ties with the veterans’ community throughout her life, actively participating in various forms of commemoration of the events of August 1944, including through close cooperation with the Warsaw Uprising Museum and other institutions. In 2018, President Andrzej Duda appreciated her activities in this field, honoring the heroine with the Golden Cross for “merits in commemorating the truth about Poland’s recent history”. It is certainly noteworthy that “Sosenka” avoided getting involved in any political conflicts, maintaining close and respectful relations with both President Andrzej Duda and his wife, as well as with the President of Warsaw, Rafał Trzaskowski, who regularly visited her at the Warsaw Insurgent Support House. Agata Kornhauser-Duda remembered Zofia as a person who spread positive energy around her. In turn, Rafał Trzaskowski perceived “Sosenko” as a woman who “infected with a smile”.
