Emilia Malessa

Emilia Malessa, née Izdebska (noms de guerre: Marcysia, Miłasza, Maniuta; 26 February 1909 in Rostov[1] – 5 June 1949), was a Polish soldier, member of the Home Army with the rank of Captain,[2] participant in the Warsaw Uprising, member of the underground anti-communist organization Freedom and Independence (WiN), and a "cavalier" of the Order of Virtuti Militari.

In mid-October, she joined the underground organizations Service for Poland's Victory (SZP) and Union of Armed Struggle (ZWZ), and later of the Polish Home Army (AK).

[2] Malessa took part in the Warsaw Uprising and afterward escaped from a transport that was taking the defeated insurrectionists to labor camps in Germany.

She made her way to Kraków where she took part in the operation, run by Elżbieta Zawacka, pseudonym '"Zo", that brought the courier Jan Nowak-Jeziorański from Great Britain to Poland.

[2] While she was in the process of being officially discharged, she was arrested by the Communist secret police (UB)[3] who had managed to penetrate the organization's ranks.