Karolina Kózka (2 August 1898 – 18 November 1914) was a sixteen-year old Polish victim of a sex attack and murder.

Three thousand people flocked to her funeral and called for her canonization cause to be introduced as she died defending her virginity.

The cause formally commenced in the 1950s and culminated in 1987 with Pope John Paul II beatifying her in independent Poland.

[3] Karolina Kózka was born on 2 August 1898 in a hamlet near the village of Zabawa, Lesser Poland, at that time occupied by Austria-Hungary.

In 1914 with the outbreak of World War I Russian forces began occupying Polish towns and cities under Austrian rule and in mid-November entered Wał-Ruda.

Tensions grew as stories swirled about soldiers looting and raping women which exacerbated fear in the area.

[2] On 18 November 1914 at around 9.00 in the morning an armed Russian soldier came to the house asking questions about Austrian forces before ordering Kózka and Karolina to accompany him to the commanding officer.

[4] Her remains were relocated on 18 March 1987 beneath the main altar of the Zabawa parish church, at the behest of the Bishop of Tarnów.