Barbara Sowa, aka Basia, has died – the oldest participant of the Warsaw Uprising – Sosnowiec unites

Barbara Sowa died on Thursday, August 1, on the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising, at the age of 106. She was the oldest living participant of the uprising. She had lived in Wrocław since 1945.

Barbara Sowa, née Gettel, was a Warsaw woman from an intelligentsia family. She joined the underground in the spring of 1940, and completed nursing courses. Her sister and brother were also active in underground structures. All three took part in the Warsaw Uprising.

During the Warsaw Uprising, she was 26 years old and a medic in District IV “Grzymała” (Ochota) of the Warsaw District of the Home Army. Information about Barbara Sowa’s death was shared on social media by the Association “Don’t Forget About Us, Warsaw Insurgents”, recalling the words repeated by the Uprising veteran: “None of us felt like heroes, we were all the same, we simply stood up to fight”.

We express our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the deceased.