Alina Centkiewicz (1907–1993)

Alina Centkiewicz, née Giliczyńską, was born in Hłuszki, Poland (present-day Ukraine). During her childhood, the family moved to Warsaw. Her father Bolesław Giliczyński often traveled abroad for his work, and Alina accompanied him on a trip to Brazil as a teenager. After graduating from a girls' gymnasium (high school) in 1925, she went to the University of Grenoble, France, to study law. The following year, while hiking in the Alps, she met her future husband, Czesław Centkiewicz, who was studying electronics at the Grenoble Polytechnic. Alina earned a master's degree in law in 1929 and returned to Warsaw to care for her ailing parents. She completed a librarian course at the University of Warsaw in 1932, and began working as the library manager of the State Agricultural Bank. Czesław Centkiewicz returned to Warsaw, and the two renewed their acquaintance over time and married in November 1939. They lived in Warsaw throughout World War II and both took part in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. For her part in the revolt, Alina Centkiewicz was deported to the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbrück, and her husband was sent to Neuengamme. In 1946, she returned to Poland and was reunited with her husband. In 1949, the couple published the first of their more than 30 books together, the popular children's novel Odarpi syn Egigwy. Between 1950 and 1980, they made 63 trips together to the Arctic and Antarctica, among other places, and wrote about their expeditions in novels, short stories, journalism, and articles. Alina became the first Polish woman (and only the sixth woman in the world) to set foot in Antarctica when she arrived there in 1958. She was the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Gold Cross of Merit (1956) and the Order of Polonia Restituta (Knight's Cross, 1962, Officer's Cross, 1974). In 1969, together with her husband, she received the top Award of the Minister of Culture and Art for lifetime achievement in literature. She also served as a city councillor in Legionowie in the 1950s.