April 4, 2016 marked the passing of Dr. Elżbieta Dziębowska, a noted musicologist and specialist in music of the nineteenth and twentieth century. For many years Dr. Dziębowska was associated with the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, serving as a Head of Music History and Theory Department from 1974-1978. She was also one of the founders and leaders in the Paderewski Life and Work Centre between 1973 and 1989) and worked as Editor-in-Chief of the monumental PWM Music Encyclopedia.
Born in Warsaw in 1929, as a Girl Scout in her youth, Dziębowska was active in the Armia Krajowa’s Szare Szeregi [Grey Ranks] Polish Underground during World War II. Under a nom de guerre Dewajtis, together with her friends in the “Parasol Battalion,” Dziębowska participated in the February 1944 assassination of Franz Kutschera, the Head of SS in Warsaw. Wounded in action, for her bravery during the Warsaw Uprising she was honored with the Virtuti Militari Order as well as the Commanders’ Cross of the Polonia Restituta Order. The funeral ceremonies were held in Wrocław on April 9.
[Source: paderewski.muzykologia.uj.edu.pl]