Helena Paderewska (1856-1934)
. Polish social activist, extremely devoted wife of the composer and Prime Minister of the Second Republic Ignacy Paderewski, and a great patriot. She died of pneumonia at the age of 78. She was buried in the Montmorency cemetery next to Ignacy Paderewski's son, Alfred (1880-1901).

Helena, de domo Rosen, was born in Warsaw in 1856, the daughter of Władysław Rosen, an officer in the Tsar's army, and a Greek woman from whom she inherited beauty and a southern temperament. Her first husband was Władysław Górski, a soloist at the Grand Theatre, with whom she had a son and spent nearly 20 years. In 1899, after her first marriage was annulled, she married Ignacy Paderewski, whom she had known for many years and cared for his disabled son, Alfred, who was suffering from polio. Paderewski's first wife and Alfred's mother died shortly after the boy's birth. Helena and Ignacy settled in the newly acquired residence of Riond-Bosson near Morges, on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, although they only stayed there for a few months a year due to their many travels.

The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 gave hope to Poles deprived of their homeland. The Paderewski couple were very active in promoting the Polish cause, making use of their extensive social and political contacts, which Ignacy, as a world-famous virtuoso, had at his disposal. Suffice it to say that, under his direct influence, US President Woodrow Wilson, in his famous programme designed to ensure a lasting and just peace order after the Allied victory in World War I, postulated: "the creation of an independent Polish state on territories inhabited by an indisputably Polish population, with free access to the sea, political independence, economic independence (...)".

During the Great War, Helena Paderewska was very active in the United States in helping victims of the conflict on Polish soil, and soldiers serving in the ranks of the Polish Army in France (the so-called Blue Army), for whom she prepared parcels. On her initiative, at the beginning of February 1918, a charitable organisation was established under the name of the Polish White Cross, which she headed, while her husband supported the organisation with concerts and other cultural events during which financial funds were collected. Helena Paderewska was honoured for her untiring work for the Polish cause already during the war - a sanitary train that operated at the front in eastern Lesser Poland was named after her. Also going down in history are the so-called Helena Paderewski dolls, which were small rag dolls dressed in folk costumes that were sold to raise money for a fund to support artists. They were popular with the American cultural elite and are now housed in the Polish Museum in America (Chicago).

She continued her activities after Poland regained its independence. By then, however, she was no longer just the wife of a famous artist, but of the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Second Republic, who became Ignacy Paderewski in 1919. She actively supported the Polish branch of the largest and oldest women's organisation in the world - the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), and was also an honorary member of the Polish Women's Union in America. She co-founded the Aid Society for the intelligentsia, the aim of which was to help the impoverished Christian Polish intelligentsia in the Poznań voivodship. She also founded a school for girls in Julin. In 1921, she was awarded the Cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice by Pope Benedict XV. She also had quite original passions. In Riond-Bosson, she bred pedigree chickens with great success, becoming the winner of more than 300 Swiss and foreign awards. This hobby contributed to the organisation of poultry courses for Polish women. In independent Poland, she founded a school of poultry breeding and homesteading, which she later donated to the Central Agricultural Society in Warsaw.

Helena Paderewska became seriously ill towards the end of her life. For this reason, her husband cancelled his winter tour of the United States. She died on 16 January 1934 at the Paderewski estate in Switzerland. She was buried in a common grave with her stepson Alfred. After a period of mourning, Ignacy Paderewski returned to giving concerts and became involved in politics again. He outlived his wife by seven years. He died in June 1941 in New York. According to the composer's last will, his heart was to remain in the United States, while he was to be buried in free Poland. This did not happen until 1992. Exactly on the 51st anniversary of his death, his remains were flown to Poland aboard an American military plane. Paderewski was buried in Warsaw's St John's Cathedral, next to Henryk Sienkiewicz.