Chair

A chair that belonged to Janina Szczerska (born on 22 October 1897 in Stryj, died on 10 July 1981 in Szczecin) – Polish language teacher, which was donated to the collection of the National Museum in Szczecin thanks to a bequest in her will. After completing her pedagogical studies, Janina Szczerska first worked at men's middle school in Stryj, and then for nearly ten years – until the outbreak of World War II – she was the headmistress of the State Female Middle School in Siedlce. During the war she was arrested twice and sentenced to death for her activity in the Home Army, and was also subjected to medical experiments in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. After the camp was liberated by the Red Army in spring of 1945, she settled in Szczecin, where she worked to establish the first secondary school in the city, later becoming its headmistress until 1951 – she was dismissed from her post, most probably because of her involvement with the Home Army and her support for repressed schoolgirls. After her dismissal, she immediately left the city and took a job at a middle school in Pyskowice, later transferring to the Primary School and High School in Bielsko-Biała. She returned to Szczecin in 1959 and again took up the post of the headmistress of the High School no. 1, which she held for six more years until her retirement. She died in 1981, aged 83.

Anna Lew-Machniak