of specialisation: nursing and gymnastics. She devoted a lot of time to social work. In the spring of 1939, when the political atmosphere was already electrified because of the uncertainty of tomorrow, and when the first Anti-aircraft Defense [OPL] courses were being organised, Mrs B. did a special course to become an OPL instructor. She then organised an OPL training course for female residents of her tenement. In order to demonstrate the results of her efforts, Mrs B. organised an air defence drill in the presence of the Polish OPL delegation. The drill proved to be a success. Consequently, Mrs B. was made a block commandant of her own tenement and the two neighbouring ones. A senior Polish officer was the [senior] commandant.
Just two days after the outbreak of the war on 1 September 1939 the commandant gave up his position. [41] Mrs B. automatically took over his position. She was so full of organisational zeal that it took her only one day to organise all OPL commissions within her command. In between air-raids she made sure that residents kept watch at their gates and that there were enough spades, water tanks, and sand tanks in the attics. During air-raids she made sure that all OPL members were at their assigned places.
At the end of the second week of the war, the first wave of refugees from Łódź, Kalisz, and Toruń reached Warsaw. Exhausted, ragged, and penniless, they needed immediate help. Mrs B. turned to the Citizens’ Committee374 with a request for food products. With help from her neigbour ladies she then organised a kitchen for the refugees. It served breakfast, lunch (usually one course), and dinner every day. The meals were tasty and nourishing. Whenever it ran out of the food products it had received from the Citizens’ Committee, a private collection of food was organized among the residents. The city learned about the kitchen from radio announcements. Consequently, the number of its clients—those who had lost their homes to fire and refugees—increased every day by several dozens. Nonetheless, the distribution of meals was only a half measure for Mrs B. There were no [refugee] centres, so refugees had no roofs over their head. Moreover, some bomb shelters refused to let
