Katarzyna Mateja: Polish Musician and Resistance Fighter
Katarzyna Mateja (née Kawurek) was born on March 22, 1920, in Kędzierzyn, Poland, during a period when the country was recovering from years of foreign control. After the division of Upper Silesia in 1922, her family relocated to the Polish town of Radzionków. Mateja's father had participated in the Silesian uprisings and was interned in Cotbus for six months.
As a youth, Mateja joined the scouts at school and by age 15 became a team leader and trained medic. She was assigned to the 11th Infantry Regiment in Tarnowskie Góry in case of war. At 18, she began working at the city hall in Tarnowskie Góry alongside her close friend Marysia.
Following the outbreak of World War II, Mateja became active in resistance activities. She worked to protect Polish books, supported families marked as hostile to the German Reich, and organized resistance. On October 11, 1939, she swore an oath to conspiratorial work for the Polish Guerrilla Organization. Her resistance activities eventually led to her arrest by the Gestapo on November 20, 1941, at the age of 21.
Imprisonment and Camp Life
After her arrest, Mateja was initially held at the Myslowice prison for six months. On April 25, 1942, she was transferred to Ravensbrück concentration camp as a political prisoner and assigned the camp number 10662.
Her early days at Ravensbrück were marked by physically demanding and purposeless labor, which drove her into a deep depression. After several weeks, she was reassigned to the tailoring department, which offered somewhat better working conditions as it was less physically demanding and located indoors. Despite this relatively better position, violence remained a constant presence. The head of her division, Gustav Binder, was known for his cruelty, with prisoners singing about him: "The worst slave driver [Leuteschinder] of them all will always be Gustav Binder."
Mateja found solace and purpose in music during her imprisonment. She taught patriotic songs to other Polish inmates, creating moments of solidarity and resistance. As she recalled:
"With singing, everything can be said: the vast love we have for our land, our families and so much more."
The Mury Group
In the winter of 1941, Mateja organized a secret youth group called "Mury" (Walls), which eventually grew to include around 150 women divided into seven smaller groups. The Mury group served multiple purposes: easing the transition to camp life for new inmates, sharing information about the war and camp conditions, and creating a sense of shared community through music.
One of the group's primary objectives was to exchange and memorize folk songs, which not only strengthened their communal bonds but also served a practical purpose of documentation. Due to the absence of writing materials and the danger of being caught with written documents, music became a way to preserve and communicate important information. One member wrote a song about the group called "The March of the Mury," which members memorized and sang together at night in the barracks or while marching to work.
The Mury group was part of a larger scout troop organized by teacher Józefa Kantor. Kantor was arrested on 9 November 1940 by the Gestapo and sent to the Ravensbrück (inmate number 7261) There she was referred to as "Rector" because of her spiritual guidance and where she established the secret Girl Scout group in November 1941. Their slogan, "Stay and help others survive," embodied their will to fight and their commitment to human solidarity.
Escape and Return Home
By spring 1945, as the war was coming to an end, camp life grew increasingly chaotic, and prisoners were being transferred to other camps. On April 29, 1945, Mateja was sent on one of the infamous death marches out of Ravensbrück. While struggling through the freezing countryside, she managed to hide in a forest and escape.
Her journey home was arduous, lasting from April to July 1945. After several months of travel, she finally reached her hometown of Radzionków on July 3, 1945. Her return brought great joy to her family and the entire community.
Later Life and Legacy
On December 26, 1945, Mateja married Franciszek in Piekary Śląskie. Their marriage lasted over 50 years, during which they raised three children: two sons and a daughter. She eventually became grandmother to seven grandchildren and great-grandmother to eleven great-grandchildren.
Throughout her life, Mateja remained committed to preserving the memory of Ravensbrück and supporting fellow survivors. She was an activist on the Main Board of ZBoWiD (Union of Fighters for Freedom and Democracy) in Katowice and a member of the Board of ZBoWiD in Ruda Śląska. For her service, she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, the Cross of Merit for the Polish Scouting Association (ZHP), the Medal of Victory and Freedom 1945, and the Grunwald Badge.
In her later years, Mateja worked to establish the Ravensbrück Family Association, which brought together not only blood relatives of former prisoners but also those who shared their values and commitment to preserving their memory. In the book "Walls: Scout Underground Team in Ravensbrück," she wrote: "I was raised like that at home and in scouting. The Scout law is to help others, so as long as I can, I try to help the weaker..."
The bonds formed among the Polish prisoners at Ravensbrück remained strong long after liberation. Survivors of the Mury group continued to meet annually to exchange information, pray together, and sing the songs that had sustained them during their imprisonment.
Katarzyna Mateja passed away on June 17, 2016, at the Hour of Divine Mercy, surrounded by her family. She was remembered as an Honorary Citizen of Ruda Śląska and a person who remained faithful to scout ideals throughout her life.
Sources
Knapp, G., 2003. Frauenstimmen: Musikerinnen erinnern an Ravensbrueck, Berlin: Metropol-Verlag.
Obituary of Katarzyna Mateja, Muzeum Harcerstwa (Scouting Museum), Poland, 2016, accessed March 2025
