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• The backyard of the uprising (...)
• In the second half of the 19th century (...)
• Magdalena Mańczak, a certified nurse who (...)
• When the uprising broke out (...)
• The Budny sisters were runners who helped the insurgents (...)
• Organisation and equipment (...)

The Budny sisters were runners who helped the insurgents – Kazimiera, who was merely 14 years old, and her 18-year-old sister Zofia. It was their father who involved them in conspiracy activities after his return from the front. Kazimiera and Zofia passed reports and letters from their father to his collaborators, including Priest Bajerlein, Wichliński from Tuczno, and the Wichliński family from Helenowo. He also asked them to try to acquire information from the Germans staying in Inowrocław concerning the location of their armies. Their excellent command of the language allowed them to successfully pretend they were German.

Klara Słowińska, who came from a peasant family, was also a courier and a runner. As a 12-year-old, she became a runner for the Łabiszyn company commanded by Second Lieutenant Tadeusz Fabian. She was accepted into the company together with her father. She passed reports during the battles near Antoniewo, Rudy and Rynarzewo, as well as during insurgent activities on the outskirts of Bydgoszcz and by the Noteć river. She also delivered letters to families, as well as food and clothing to the insurgents. She was very brave and frequently carried reports along the firing line. During an artillery attack on her home village, she was wounded. Despite immediate help and transport to the hospital, she had to have one of her legs amputated.

Another woman who was wounded in the uprising was Franciszka Kasprzak. She regularly passed information on the number and movement of armies to Żurczyn, where the insurgents were staying. When the Germans discovered what she was doing, she had to escape, and stepped on a mine.

In Zduny, Julianna Bujakiewicz née Snadna, a girl from a peasant family, was a courier with an insurgent unit. She passed reports between the unit’s command in Zduny and the post in Borowica. During an attack on a Grenschutz post, she was arrested and threatened with the death penalty. She was saved thanks to the intervention of her mother, who, on her behalf, appealed to the Regional Court in Wrocław and proved that Julianna had provided medical aid not only to Polish insurgents, but also to a German second lieutenant.

Zofia Angierska worked at a railway station in Rogoźno Wielkopolskie as a telegrapher. She carried out tasks for the Rogoźno Company commanded by Lieutenant Zieliński, and her task was to transfer information to the insurgents in the Budzyń – Chodzież section, and, at the same time, prevent the Germans from contacting each other. When the Germans found out about it, she was dismissed. 

Leokadia Degórska was employed at a post office in Pniewy, where she was responsible for supervising the work of the office. Her task was to prevent German office clerks from sabotaging the work of the communication services. She also maintained contact with the insurgent units and between the staff and the units staying on the front near Międzychód.

Landowner Zofia Sokolnicka also passed information. She was an emissary between Greater Poland and the Central Polish Agency in Lausanne, and later the Polish National Committee in Paris. Her excellent memory allowed her to pass information and instructions for political activists and organisations in Poznań without any written notes.

The insurgents received information not only from the women who worked for them as couriers, but also from the ones who incidentally came across information that might have some importance in the context of the uprising, and who considered it their duty to share it with the commanders of the uprising. Their solidarity with the insurgents and their feeling of national identity was undoubtedly a common thing.

Other women whose help was priceless during the uprising were Jadwiga Ligarzewska and Zofia Kryger. After the men from Rynarzewo were interned and taken to a prisoner-of-war camp by the Prussian Grenschutz units, they started their work at a local post office. However, they got real recognition for accompanying the soldiers on the front line, when they. became leaders of a group of women whose tasks included digging trenches.