Portrait of Hanka Ordonówna, 1939. National Digital Archives

You are my escape from oppression, you will keep me and you will ply me with joylful songs of salvation – this is the text on the tombstone at the Beirut cemetery. It was chosen by Maria Hanna Tyszkiewiczowa herself, née Pietruszyńska, known to the recipients as Hanka Ordonówna.

Although the career of the Polish diva was not easy, and the stage success she achieved was mainly due to her determination, diligence and people of good will, it is difficult to describe the Polish cabaret scene without taking into account the theatrical creations of ‘Ordonka’. Although her debut in 1918 was not the luckiest, she developed her unique style thanks to her performances on the stages of the ‘Qui Pro Quo’ cabaret, with which she was associated for ten years (1922–1931), and to the artistic care of which she was taken by the outstanding director and actor – Fryderyk Járosy. The creators of the Polish cabaret and dramatic scene of the interwar period were not indifferent to ‘Ordonka’. Juliusz Osterwa, director of the Municipal Theater of Juliusz Słowacki in Cracow of that time, engaged her to dramatic roles, while phenomenal Julian Tuwim, Marian Hemar and Andrzej Włast wrote song lyrics especially for her. Thanks to the unique personal charm, the characteristic, screechy tone of the voice, as well as the unique ambition, the graduate of the ballet school at the Grand Theater gradually became the diva of the Polish cabaret scene.

The star’s developing career in Warsaw, performances on the big screen with hits such as: Love Will Forgive You Everything and At The First Sign, marriage with Count Michał Tyszkiewicz in 1931 and numerous concert tours were interrupted firstly by the artist’s illness (she fell ill with tuberculosis), and then the war outbreak. In 1939 she was arrested by the Germans for protesting against the projection of a propaganda film about the occupation of Warsaw. She stayed in Pawiak prison for 4 months, from where – thanks to her husband – she was released and went with him to Lithuania. After the annexation of the country by the USSR, the husband of ‘Ordonka’ was arrested due to his political commitment and then transported to the Lubyanka Building (NKWD headquoter and prison) in Moscow. In the early 1940s, the artist went to Moscow to perform, hoping to save her husband in this way. However, when, after the outbreak of the German-Soviet war in 1941, she refused to take citizenship of the USSR, she was arrested and then sent to a sovkhoz near Kuibyshev on the Volga. After signing the Sikorski-Majski agreement, Ordonówna organized a theater in the Polish center in Totskoye, in Tashkent she worked in the delegation of the Polish Social Welfare Committee and looked after the Polish orphanage in Ashgabat. She devoted herself to helping children who left ‘the inhuman land’ with her. Together with her husband, they set the goal of saving orphans who were wandering around the endless areas of the USSR. ‘Ordonka’ got several hundred children out through India to the Middle East, to Lebanon, where they were taken care of by Catholic missions.

She included her memories of that period in sketches written under the pseudonym Weronika Hort and entitled Exiled Children. With the help of her husband and as a result of cooperation with Jerzy Giedroyc, the book was published in Beirut in 1948. This is the only item printed in Lebanon by The Literary Institute. In the book, the most important are descriptions of the fates of Polish children – orphans who had to fight for survival in extreme conditions where: ‘Mercy was eliminated, solidarity was raised to the zenith, instinct was […] a guide’. Although in the memories of ‘Ordonka’ she recalls the stories of only a few of her charges, their biographies are the example of the fate of all the children affected by trauma, who lost their childhood and became ‘mature in suffering’. Due to their young age and the lack of experience related to it, they were dependent on adults, who, like Ordonówna, helped them selflessly, supported and tried to provide a sense of security during their wandering, educating them in the ‘principle of humanity’ at the same time. The case of little Jadwisia was described by the author as follows: ‘When a little mite with scared eyes was brought to the office, it seemed that the patched, full of holes, donkey jacket was moving on her due to vermin, and that in a moment it will leave the girl, marching in some direction’ . So then the question arises: could you remain indifferent to little, stray beings? Volunteers who helped children were working for the lost homeland, shaping its small citizens, creating a substitute for their home in exile. The strong commitment of ‘Ordonka’ to children, although very engaging, was not tantamount to her abandoning the stage career. Despite the deterioration in health, she continued to perform and gave her last concert together with the famous popular music composer Jerzy Petersburski. In 1948 she also recorded an album. She died two years later, on September 8, 1950 in Beirut where she was buried. Her ashes were placed on Powązki in Warsaw in 1990 in the Avenue of the Distinguished.

Translated from Polish: Sylwia Szarejko, Kamila Czechowska

Biogram based on the book: S. Szarejko, Kobiety niepokonane/Undefeated Woman, Białystok 2019, edited by Sybir Memorial Museum