Publication date: 09.05.2023
She came from a family of landowners (Ruta's grandfather, Józef Marcinowski, was the godfather of Marshal Józef Piłsudski).
In January 1942, Ruta joined the Union of Armed Struggle - Home Army. In the period from 1944 to 1945, apart from being active in the underground, she also managed the family property, which was later taken away from her as a result of the communist so-called "land reform".
In March 1945, she settled down in Łódź, where she began her studies at the local branch of the Warsaw School of Economics. At the same time, she became involved in anti-communist activity. She was head of communications at the Headquarters of the National Military Organisation. She was in charge of the Organisation's office, helped prepare underground magazines and was a courier. In 1945, she was awarded the rank of Second Lieutenant during the war.
Ruta Czaplińska was arrested on 5 April 1946 in Łódź. She was accused of espionage and attempting to overthrow the Polish state system. After a brutal 19-month interrogation, on 3 November 1947, in the trial of the leadership of the National Military Union, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. She served her sentence in a prison in Fordon, Inowrocław and again in Fordon. She was released on 5 April 1956.
In freedom, she continued her education, interrupted many times, and started studies at the Faculty of Biology at the University of Lodz, which she eventually completed in Wrocław. She worked at the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences and as a senior editor and translator at the publishing house of Wrocław University of Science and Technology. She was also involved in veteran, social and charitable activities. In 1981-1985 she was involved in the works of the Archbishop's Charitable Committee and, after the change of the political system in Poland, she became a member of the circle of "Fordonianki" - women imprisoned during the Stalinist period for anti-communist activities.
Ruta Czaplińska died on 22 February 2008.
A film etude about Ruta Czaplińska (from the IPN series Niezłomni (Indomitable Soldiers)):
