Helena Marusarzówna – Polish Ski Champ & Underground Courier

Before World War II, Helena Marusarzówna was the leading Polish women’s ski champion. Born January 17, 1918 in Zakopane in the Tatra Mountains of southern Poland, even as a young child she showed great ability as a skier. Marusarzówna was a keen competitor, seven-time Polish champion in alpine competitions (downhill running, slalom and Nordic combined).

When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Marusarzówna volunteered her services to the Polish Underground.  Beginning in October 1939, she served as a secret courier of the “Zagroda” cell of the Conspiracy Communications Department of the SZP-ZWZ Headquarters to the “Romek” base in Budapest, carrying mail and leading people along the mountain trails.

In March 1940, she was captured by Slovak authorities, who were then cooperating with the Germans, and handed over to the Gestapo. She was imprisoned, and tortured many times. But she did not betray any of her fellow resistance members.

It is believed that the Germans executed her by shooting on September 12, 1941, in Pogórska Wola near Tarnów. However, according to another version, she was shot on July 23, 1941 in the Kruk forest in Skrzyszów, together with Janina Bednarska and Stefania Hanauskówna and three other women. Marusarzówna was only 23 years old.

Her remains were later exhumed and on November 27, 1958 she was buried with ceremony at the Cemetery of Merit at Pęksowy Brzyzek in Zakopane. Marusarzówna was posthumously awarded the Order of Virtuti Militari with the Cross of Valor in 1967. On September 21, 2019, during the gala celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Polish Football Association, she was posthumously awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, for her outstanding contributions to the independence of the Republic of Poland, sports achievements, and activities for the development of winter sports.