The legendary pharmacist from Brzeszcze passed away on August 27, 1957. She was 63 years old. Maria Bobrzecka was born in Tarnow. She spent her childhood and youth in Krakow, and after studying at the Jagiellonian University she moved to Brzeszcze where she began working at the “Under the Guardian Angel” pharmacy becoming its owner in 1927.
After the Germans established KL Auschwitz Concentration Camp, she immediately began helping the prisoners. She was active in the underground. In the structures of the Polish Socialist Party (PSP) she used the pseudonym “Marta.” She also cooperated with the Peasant Battalions and the Home Army. As a pharmacist, she had access to the medicines that prisoners so desperately needed, and she also obtained them illegally. The pharmacy where she continued to work during the occupation was also a contact point. Here, secret messages were passed to and from the camp.
After the war ended, she supplied drugs to the Red Cross hospital in Brzeszcze, where liberated Auschwitz prisoners were taken. It is impossible to determine how many people survived the camp thanks to Maria Bobrzecka. She was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit for her activities during the war. She died in Krakow, where she was also buried.
This is how, in her book entitled “In the shadow of Auschwitz” she is remembered by Brzeszcze underground activist and head of the underground PSP organisation Edward Hałoń, pseud. “Boruta”. “Mrs. Maria, then just over 40 years old, charming, very well-mannered, delicate, thin, always calmly poised, with a quiet, I would say, courage and readiness to act, but always reckoning with risk. When, for example, I came to the pharmacy to buy medicine, everything was precisely prepared and calmly, without a shadow of emotion handed over. “Marta”, this was her nickname, also organized a network of drug suppliers.”
For those of you who can understand spoken Polish, we encourage you to watch the lecture entitled “Guardian Angel from a Pharmacy in Brzeszcze” by Dr. Agnieszka Rzepieli, director of the Museum of Pharmacy at the Collegium Medicum of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, dedicated to Maria Bobrzecka. She spoke about the courageous pharmacist during a meeting with residents in Brzeszcze in February 2020.
The Remembrance Museum houses many of Maria Bobrzecka’s memorabilia, including some of the original furnishings from her Breszcze pharmacy. This is just one of the many reasons to visit the permanent exhibition dedicated to the history of the land of Oświęcim and its residents who helped Auschwitz prisoners at the risk of their lives.
The museum, headquartered at 2A Kolbego St. in Oswiecim, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors can rent audio guides in Polish, English or German.
The museum, headquartered at 2A Kolbego St. in Oswiecim, is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Visitors can rent audio guides in Polish, English or German.
- Funeral of Maria Bobrzecka in Krakow. Photo: Collection of the Remembrance Museum of Land of Oświęcim Residents /Gift of Prof. Leszek Konieczny.
