‘One tough Pole’: Jadwiga Teresa Lynch (1928-2026)

Saturday, 25 July 2026

Jadwiga Lutomska arrived in Hamilton in 1946. In her 18th year, she had already experienced more trauma and tragedy than most in her new home town would endure in a lifetime. An orphan and refugee of war, her resilience was bolstered by a strong Catholic faith. If, for the majority of World War II, Jadwiga's survival had been unlikely, her steadfast perseverance against the odds would ensure she would prosper in the Waikato and become a much loved matriarch of a large family, one committed to passing on lessons of culture and belief to her many descendants.

Jadwiga Teresa Lutomska was born 10 November, 1928, in Tarnopol, South-East Poland, close to the Russian border, the second of the two children of Stanislaw Lutomski and Anastazja Lutomska (nee Sitkowska). Edek, her brother, was 31 months her senior.

Stanislaw was a senior sergeant in the Polish police force and the first 11 years of Jadwiga's life were happy ones. The Soviet invasion of the country on 1 September, 1939 was to have devastating consequences for the family. Stanislaw was arrested by the invaders and Jadwiga would never see him again.

On the morning 13 April, 1940, two Red Army soldiers knocked on the door of the Lutomski residence and demanded that its occupants begin to pack immediately, in anticipation of a long journey. Jadwiga, together with her mother and brother, were told that they were being transported to Ostashkov prison camp in Russia, to be reunited with Stanislaw.

It was a cruel lie, one designed to lessen any possibility of resistance. The reality was that Stanislaw had been murdered, along with over 6000 others, the Ostashkov shootings an integral part of what came to be known collectively as the Katyn Massacre.

The Lutomskis were packed into rail wagons, squashed together with a multitude of other relatives of the murdered men. Told nothing about their destination, the train journey took somewhere between a month and six weeks, the conditions, with no beds or bedding and very minimal food provided, were horrendous. Many women with babies were to lose their infants, unable to provide sufficient sustenance.

Arrival in Siberia brought precious little relief. Housed in clay huts, with only straw to sleep on, cooking facilities amounted to two coal ranges, servicing between 50 and 80 people, a bread allowance of 200 grams each, when available, only augmented by any sprats caught in a nearby stream.

Siberia was the family's home for two years. With no schooling provided for children, Jadwiga found work babysitting a Mongolian child. In pursuit of food, she would walk vast distances over the Russian Steppes, risking attack from wolves.

Winter brought snowstorms and the family would often have to be dug out of their huts. Jadwiga witnessed many deaths from starvation or exposure.

After 18 months, with the political situation having fundamentally altered after the Nazi invasion of the USSR, the family were permitted to move to the nearby town, where a room was rented from a Russian family. With Anastazja milking up to 100 cows a day and sewing at night and Edek employed in a mill, Jadwiga's job was to queue for rationed bread, a task which could begin as early as 6am and often saw her wait at three or four different shops and sometimes resort to begging.

In early September, 1942, Anastazja contracted pneumonia. With medicine largely unavailable her condition soon worsened. Jadwiga, sent out to secure some water, returned to discover her mother, lying on the ground outside their house, having succumbed to the disease. At age 13 she and her brother enlisted the help of neighbours to build a crude coffin. It was a burial without the solace of religion.

Jadwiga and Edek were taken in by a sympathetic Polish lady and her family, a prelude to longer term accommodation at an orphanage run by Polish authorities. They were then beneficiaries of a scheme to consolidate the care of Polish orphans spread throughout Russia with a mass deportation to Persia, today's Iran, where the Free Polish Army had been established.

Jadwiga and Edek were on the last transport from Siberia to Persia and would remain in the Middle East for around a year, living in Home No. 5, one of 17 such facilities housing over 2000 Polish children in Isfahan. Polish authorities provided clothing, modest but regular food and an opportunity to go to school. Edek would join the Polish Army and later fight with distinction in Italy, including at Monte Cassino.

The course of Jadwiga's young life would change forever through an act of supreme humanity by New Zealand's wartime Prime Minister. In November, 1944 Peter Fraser invited 733 Polish children to come to his country, a scheme that at inception was thought to be one of temporary care, not permanent relocation.

The journey from Isfahan to New Zealand began with an overland trip to Ahvaz, where visas were organised. From there, the large group of children and caregivers ventured to Basra where a British merchant ship provided rough passage to Bombay, with most electing to drag their mattresses on deck to sleep. A week later, the American troopship the USS General George M. Randall offered comparative luxury, with canvas bunks, wash basins and showers, excellent food and the diversion of 3000 New Zealand and Australian soldiers, en route home. Jadwiga was never to forget the kindness of these battle veterans, who quickly softened in the presence of the orphans, few of whom spoke any English, willingly playing games such as skipping.

Little understood by the children was the real danger the voyage presented. Japanese mines and submarines were a constant threat, whatever the protection offered by two escort vessels and the zig-zag course employed. It was later revealed that the General Randall was indeed hit by a torpedo, which fortunately glanced off its hull.

Arriving in Wellington harbour on 1 November, 1944, Jadwiga quickly warmed to the green New Zealand hills and countryside, a stark contrast to Persian terrain. Taken off the ship the following morning, truck transportation led to Wellington Railway Station, where hundreds of New Zealand school children had gathered, waving Polish and local flags. Every stop on the train trip to Pahiatua Camp saw similar welcomes and wishes of good will.

The Pahiatua Camp would be Jadwiga's home for the best part of 18 months, providing all the material necessities of life as well as education. The teaching of English was of particular importance, though this was a challenge for local educators.

The concessions made to Stalin at Yalta were to seriously imperil the future of the Polish children. In an effort to forestall any attempt at forcible relocation back to Poland after the war, given the near certainty of the Soviet takeover of the country, a New Zealand Supreme Court ruling was sought appointing a Board of Governors to oversee the future of orphans such as Jadwiga. New Zealand government consultations with the Catholic Church ensured refuge and continuing education for those seeking life beyond the camp.

So it was that Jadwiga was sent to Sacred Heart College in Hamilton in early 1946, sustaining her studies, refining her English skills and affirming her faith. She was to discover support beyond the school itself, with the families of her fellow students often hosting the Polish girls for weekends or holiday periods. A Catholic parishioner, manager of the Hamilton Bond & Bond store, also offered Jadwiga her first post-school employment, a clerical position involving the typing of invoices.

It was at a Catholic dance that Jadwiga would meet Gerard Michael Lynch, a fitter-welder. As their relationship evolved and Gerard proposed marriage, Jadwiga bordered for a time at the house of her future sister-in-law and her husband.

Jadwiga and Gerard would marry on 6 October, 1951 at St Mary's Catholic Church, Hamilton. They would have three children: Raymond, Krystyna and Mark.

It was important to Jadwiga to raise her children with an awareness of their Polish heritage and the family maintained a close association with the Polish communities in Hamilton, Auckland and Wellington, where Edek had settled and married. She did not, however, speak much of the horrors of her own youth until such time as she was contacted by an aunt from Poland itself, a revelation given the assumption that all her family had perished during World War II.

A trip back to Poland in 1985, with Gerard, was especially meaningful, a reunion with relatives and the forging of relationships that would be continued. Both on this holiday and a later one, taken with Krystyna in 2002, two years after Gerard's passing, Jadwiga demonstrated her continued fluency in the language of her native land.

Resuming paid employment when her children were of school age, Jadwiga worked for Merck, Sharpe and Dohme in Clarence Street as a laboratory assistant. Retiring at the age of 60, she volunteered for St Vincent de Paul in Frankton for two decades thereafter.

Jadwiga lived in Galloway St for around 45 years, a keen gardener and skillful cook and baker, ever keen to supply her seven grandchildren and their own 18 offspring with sweet treats. Her mastery of Polish cuisine was especially evident at the family's traditional Christmas Eve gatherings.

Leaving Galloway St around two years after Gerard's death, Jadwiga resided in Brooklyn St for 15 years, living independently until a week before her 90th birthday. She maintained good health for the following half-decade and although troubled by falls and hospitalisation more recently, requiring a higher level of care, she remained mentally sharp and immensely proud of her grandchildren and great grandchildren until the end of her life.

A devoted, kind and loving person, hard working and precise and particular in her many crafts if ever humble in her achievements, Jadwiga was, in the estimation of her many descendants, 'one tough Pole'.

Jadwiga Teresa Lynch died 1 July, 2026 in Hamilton, surrounded by family. She is survived by children Krystyna and Mark, children-in-law Wendy, Colin and Miriam, grandchildren Donna, Jenny, David, Graeme, Julia, Alex and Tiffany and 18 great grandchildren.