When she set off on a tour to Warsaw, the Swedish prima donna Elna Gistedt had planned to stay in Poland for two weeks, but her stay ended up lasting 22 years. She is remembered not only as an artist, but also as a friend of the Polish people.

Elna Gistedt was born in Stockholm on 26 January 1895. ‘[…] as early as the age of five, I shook the dust of my homeland from my sandals as I set off with my parents for the United States. I have no particular memories of the seven years I spent there, but I am certain that it was then that my curiosity about the world and my thirst for new experiences in foreign countries were first awakened.” Upon her return to Sweden, she began to show an interest in the theatre, which was hardly surprising, as her parents – Ernst Gistedt (1863–1907) and Maria Gistedt, née Welcher (1870–1943) —were also actors. At the age of 14, she began combining her studies with performances at the Djurgårdsteatern in Stockholm. In her memoirs, she notes that this was not easy, as studying had never been her passion.

In 1916, she found herself at a small open-air theatre in Helsinki, where – as she herself jokingly recalled – she served as director; however, this adventure did not last long and in the autumn of that same year she returned to her native Stockholm. At that time, she was enjoying great success as a singer in *The Csárdás Princess*. In 1917, she travelled to St Petersburg and Moscow for performances, but less than two years later she returned to Sweden. ‘However, my thirst for travel continued to demand satisfaction, so in November [1919] I was back in Helsinki, where I performed until 1920’, and then spent several months in Berlin. Her stay in that city proved crucial, as it was there that she decided on a two-week trip to Warsaw to play the title role in the comic operetta *Nitouche*.

Initially, Warsaw did not make a good impression on Elna. The prima donna arrived in the city by train on 2 February 1922, when “the weather [was] drizzly, enough to dampen even the most radiant enthusiasm”. The prima donna was due to appear in *The Csárdás Princess*, but following a change of plans – resulting from protests by another prima donna – she was recast as Denise in *Nitouche*. Although she had a cold on the day of the premiere, she still made a huge impression with her dancing and acting. She soon met Witold Kiltynowicz, the owner of a carpet factory, whom she went on to marry. “I got married at twelve o’clock, in a white dress and hat, in the presence of two witnesses […] After the wedding, we had lunch at the Hotel Europejski in the company of my husband’s friends. None of my own friends attended the reception, as I hadn’t yet managed to form any truly close friendships with anyone at that point.” The couple soon moved into a villa designed by Helena and Szymon Syrkus on Katowicka Street in Saska Kępa.

Elna Gistedt did not have a particularly successful career in Warsaw, but she enjoyed living there. She performed in operettas and also made guest appearances outside Poland. When the Second World War broke out, she decided to stay in Poland and open a café in Warsaw. In this way, she helped actors and singers who did not want to perform for the Germans; thanks to their work at the café, they were issued with work permits, exempting them from forced labour. The café ‘U Elny Gistedt’ operated from February 1940 at 18 Nowy Świat Street until the building was damaged during the Warsaw Uprising. Furthermore, the Swedish woman was actively involved in helping Poles – she smuggled food into the ghetto, organised care for sick children in the Zamość region and provided warm clothing for those in need.

Following her husband’s death, she left Warsaw at the end of 1944 and travelled to Stockholm, where she publicised German war crimes in the media, whilst also continuing to perform. After the end of the Second World War, she returned to Poland several more times. She died on 26 October 1982 in Stockholm and was buried in the Catholic section of the cemetery in Solna.