Zofia Romaszewska (1940)

Zofia Romaszewska was a distinguished personality of the Polish democratic opposition in the times of the Polish People’s Republic (PRL). She was born on 17 August 1940 in a family belonging to the Warsaw intelligentsia family with a long history of patriotic and left-wing traditions. Her grandmother, Zofia Prauss, was a member of the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic, in which she represented the Polish Socialist Party.

As a teenager, Zofia Romaszewska was involved in the scouting renewal movement. In October 1956, together with her friends, she reactivated the 13th Warsaw Female Scout Troop at the Maria Curie-Skłodowska Lyceum, this way referring to its pre-war traditions.[1] Zofia had many fond memories of her activities in the scouting movement, although she found the obligatory participation in official state ceremonies hard to accept. Therefore, when in 1959 the scouting movement became a target of increased political pressure, Zofia decided to leave the troop. She started studies at the University of Warsaw, choosing physics, because her parents advised her that this course would be the most apolitical one.

In the youth movement, she met her future husband, Zbigniew Romaszewski, whom she married in 1960.  18 months later she gave birth to a daughter, Agnieszka, and she dedicated several subsequent years to her upbringing.

Zofia’s involvement in the opposition activities started in 1967, when together with her husband she was collecting signatures of scientific employees under a petition defending Adam Michnik.[2] Several months later, in March 1968, she witnessed the pacification of the student protests in Warsaw. From then on, the Romaszewskis’ apartment became a place of meetings and debates for people who were critical of the authorities and the system of the Polish People’s Republic.

1976 saw a real breakthrough in her activities, similarly as in the case of the entire Polish democratic opposition. During workers’ strikes in Radom and Ursus, the Romaszewskis together became involved in activities supporting the strikers. Zofia Romaszewska recalled that her stay among the workers also opened her eyes to a common experience of poverty in Poland in the 1970s. She was shocked by the difference in remuneration between Warsaw and the provinces.[3]

Then, Zofia joined the Workers’ Defence Committee (Komitet Obrony Robotników, KOR), which was later transformed into the Committee for Social Self-Defence KOR (Komitet Samoobrony Społecznej KOR, KSS KOR).[4] In KSS KOR Zofia and Zbigniew Romaszewski managed the Intervention Bureau. She herself participated in the preparation of Dokumenty bezprawia (Documents of Wrongdoings) (NOWA 1978), documenting the most serious crimes against citizens committed by the authorities.[5] Later, she was one of the creators of Raport o przestrzeganiu prawa człowieka i obywatela w PRL (The report on observation of human and citizen rights in the PRL) of the KSS KOR Helsinki Committee.[6] In the years 1980-1981, she was responsible for managing the work of the Commission for Intervention and the Rule of Law of the Masovia Region of NSZZ “Solidarność”.

When martial law was introduced in Poland on 13 December 1981, due to a fortunate coincidence she avoided internment, and she went into hiding for several months. At that time, her daughter Agnieszka was interned, apparently in place of her parents.[7] Operating underground, in 1982 Romaszewska was an organizer and an initiator of Radio “Solidarność”. This radio was to become the voice of the Polish underground. Its first programme was broadcast at Easter on 12 April 1982. The whole of Warsaw could hear Zofia in her role as a newsreader. Romaszewska prepared successive programmes until 5 July 1982, when she was arrested.[8] On 17 February 1983, she was sentenced to three years in prison. She served her term in the prison at Rakowiecka, where she went on a hunger strike in protest against the conditions in that facility.[9] She was released under the amnesty in July 1983.

In 1985, she received a scholarship and went to the United States. There, she established the Polish Legal Defence Fund (Polski Fundusz Obrony Prawnej). This became the legal basis for the open bravery of the Intervention and Rule of Law Committee of NSZZ “Solidarność”, which operated under the leadership of her husband.

Zofia and Zbigniew Romaszewski are one of the most famous “opposition couples”. Zofia emphasised that they were of the similar opinion on many issues. They undertook risks and worked together.[10] Nevertheless, Zofia thought that woman’s main duty was to the care of her child. She was striving to ensure for her daughter a sense of security and of living in a normal family, despite her parents being active members of the opposition.[11] Zbigniew Romaszewski worked at the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and she kept house and gave private lessons to add to the family income.[12]

After the social and political transformations of 1989, Zofia Romaszewska is still present in Polish political life, remaining on the right side of the political scene. In 2015, she became an adviser to president Andrzej Duda, and she has held this function to this day.