Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet

Przysposobienie Wojskowe Kobiet (Female Military Training) was a Polish organization for women, which existed in the interbellum period as well as during World War II. This was not a paramilitary organisation. Background In the autumn of 1918 Poland regained national independence, which had been lost as a result of the Partitions of Poland. Soon afterwards, numerous conflicts with several neighbouring states started, and in many cases Polish women organized to actively participate in them, as auxiliaries to the Polish Army. The most famous example of such a unit was the Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet (Voluntary Legion of Women), created in late 1918 or early 1919 in Lwów, for which Poles fought with the Ukrainians. The first commandant of the Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet, Colonel Aleksandra Zagorska, lost her only son, 14-year-old Jerzy Bitschan, in this conflict. Poems and a song were written about him years later. The Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet also actively participated in the Polish-Soviet War of 1919-1921, it had some 2 500 members and after the Peace of Riga it was dissolved, in 1923. But several women, with Maria Wittek as their leader, did not want to give up. They wanted equality, also concerning military service, which, in their opinion, should also be available to females.