Wladyslawa Kostak

Wladyslawa Kostak was born on 20 December 1908 in Warsaw, to a sculptor father Stanisław Kostak. Before she decided to run for Miss Poland, there had been other kinds of running in her life. WWI made her family run from Warsaw in 1914, then the Bolshevik revolution ran them out of Crimea, and only in 1920 could she and her mother return to free Poland. having buried her father and they had run out of all resources. The family returned to Warsaw only to discover that their apartment and all their possessions had been handed over to strangers, which forced them to build a new life in Warsaw.

For three years, Wladyslawa lived in a monastery in St. Georges d'Aurac near Paris, France and commuted to Paris. She then learned typing and stenography in Warsaw, and when the first official beauty pageant was held in Poland in 1929, she was working for the Municipal Savings Fund. The humble clerk ran for the sash and won the title of Miss Polonia, winning over Countesses and Aristocrats, stepping into the spotlight and turning into a celebrity overnight.

At the beginning of 1929. Wladyslawa Kostak became the first client of the Atelier of Artistic Photography by Benedict Jerzy Dorys. The photos taken there sent anonymously (as "Limba") to the Miss Polonia election.

On January 27, the Polonia Hotel presented 10 most beautiful women selected by readers. Among them was the "Limba," who delighted the jurors with her Slavic beauty and captivated them with her modesty. She won by defeating Countess Alina Ryszczewska and Hanna Daszyńska, the daughter of Marshal Ignacy Daszyński.

The victory surprised Wladyslawa. All of Warsaw started talking about the clerk of the Municipal Savings Fund. Her desk was moved from an upper floor to ground floor so that devotees would not interfere with the work of the office. Fashion houses lined up with offers for the most beautiful Polish woman. The material situation of Wladyslawa and her mother had also improved – the women received an apartment with two rooms and a kitchen.

20-year-old Wladyslawa went on to represent Poland in the Miss Europe contest in Paris, coming second, and she could have competed for the Miss Universe tiara or taken any movie role she wanted, but she simply returned to her job at the bank. On 5 January 1930, in St. John's Cathedral in Warsaw, she married attorney Leon Śliwiński, a widower raising his only child alone. She became a devoted wife and caring mother. She also found time to develop her interests, improve her skills (m.in. she took driving and sailing courses) and do charitable work. She was involved in the Society for the Care of Animals and in the Society for the Care of the Deaf. For her charity work, she was awarded the Gold Cross of Merit.

In 1939, with the start of World War II, the couple and Leon's son (also named Leon) drove the dangerous route through Yugoslavia and Italy to France.

The Sliwinski’s moved to Aix-en-Provence and then Nice, where her stepson joined the Polish Intelligence and recruited his stepmother. She was a cipher and agent of the maritime network subordinated to the “France” Exposition, operating under the operational pseudonym “Maria”. She dealt with the encryption of radio dispatches and wrote reports highly appreciated by the Allies. She was designated a second lieutenant, not just sergeant, and her work included smuggling clothing and money to Allied agents.

One day, she took a novel path to protect her stepson: When Leon was arrested on 26 December 1942 by members of the Abwehr and the OVRA Association for anti-fascist activities, a notebook was left on the table in the lieutenant colonel's room. Władysława decided to take it with her when German agents took her for questioning. Sitting in the waiting room and taking advantage of the agents' inattention, Wladyslawa ate her stepson's notebook in its entirety, fearing that it might contain compromising information about him. She was subsequently promoted to 2nd lieutenant and always refused to be compensated for her service.

It went on until late 1944; when the Third Reich's efforts were beginning to look like the flopping of a fish on a deck, the spy ring was terminated, and Wladyslawa and her stepson Leon moved to Morocco, where she worked for the Polish Government in Exile, while her husband served in the Navy Command in London. After the war, Leon Senior became an advocate for the International Court in Tangier; Leon Junior was an Honorary Consul in Casablanca on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile and director of a mining company that dealt with the mining magnesium, lead, and tungsten.

They settled in Casablanca, where in 1951 the former spy received the King’s Medal for Courage in the Cause of Freedom; she also received the Polish Gold Cross of Merit with Swords, the French Legion d’honneur - one of the first awarded to a Polish woman, and the Médaille en Vermeil. She cherished them more than her 1929 sash.

She returned to France and lived in Aix-en-Provence where she died at the age of 93 years on 1 March 2001. She was buried in a cemetery in Montmorency, called the pantheon of Polish emigration.