Background
Aleksandra Zagórska was born on April 14, 1884, in Lublin, Poland. She was the daughter of Antoni Lubicz-Radziminski and Flora, née Dzięciołowska.
1919
Lviv, Ukraine
Volunteer Legion of Women. Aleksandra Zagórska is in the middle.
Gołębia 24, 31-007 Kraków, Poland
In 1904 Aleksandra Zagórska entered at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
Lviv, Ukraine
Aleksandra Zagórska (at the back) and a branch of the Volunteer Women Legion at the Lublin Mound in Lviv.
Aleksandra Zagórska, a lieutenant colonel and commander of the Women's Volunteer League.
Aleksandra Zagórska was born on April 14, 1884, in Lublin, Poland. She was the daughter of Antoni Lubicz-Radziminski and Flora, née Dzięciołowska.
From 1894 Aleksandra Zagórska attended the preparatory course at Zamość. After the coarse, she attended a secondary school in Radom.
In 1904 Aleksandra Zagórska entered at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
On 1 November 1918, in the vacuum left by the disintegrating Austro-Hungarian Empire, hostilities broke out between Polish and Ukrainian forces over the control of Lwow, a university town in Austrian Galicia. Among the groups rallying to the Polish side was the Citizens Committee of Polish Women, which set up a medical aid station when the fighting broke out. One member of the committee, Aleksandra Zagórska, concluded that this type of activity was too limited. Instead, she formed a courier service of seventeen women who conducted intelligence work, recruited Polish men to fight against the Ukrainians, and guided soldiers through hostile territory. By early December Aleksandra Zagórska had succeeded in creating the Women's Citizens Militia, which helped keep public order by guarding and patrolling secured areas. The militia also maintained a combat unit that was obliged to help defend Lwow.
Aleksandra Zagórska insisted that the militia's fighting section should be recast as an authentic military formation, quartered and supplied according to military norms. In response, the Polish army command in Lwow established the Women's Volunteer League (Ochotnicza Legia Kobiet, or OLK) at the end of December. In April 1919 the commander in chief of the Polish army, Jozef Pilsudski, confirmed a project for the organization of the OLK, and it was directly subordinated to the military high command in June. During this same period, the OLK expanded its activities, ultimately forming six battalions in Polish-held territory. These included units in Krakow, Poznan, Warsaw, and Vilnius.
On 1 October 1921, at her own request, she retired from military service.
Aleksandra Zagórska joined the Polish Socialist Party in 1906, making explosive materials for the party's Combat Organization in a home-based lab.
Aleksandra was married twice. With her first husband, Henry Bitschan, she had a son Jerzy Bitschan. Then, Aleksandra was married to Roman Zagórski, a Lviv doctor.