Girl Power means independence and staying true to one’s convictions, sisterhood and empathy, perseverance and strength of character, courage and determination. Women’s strength and power.
The unquestionable Power Girl was Dżennet Dżabagi-Skibniewska, a Caucasian princess, freedom fighter, a champion for peace, a Gdynian by choice. A Muslim, a refugee, a patriot and a Polish soldier. A superheroine. Sounds incredible, but it’s a true story nonetheless. Born in Saint Petersburg, to a Polish Tatar mother and the last ruler of Ingushetia, she made her way to Poland right after it regained independence. Her blonde-haired beauty was unlike the rest of the family, and more was expected of her than of the others. She joined the army and received command of a platoon even before taking her secondary school exams. In 1938 she moved to Gdynia with her husband. After the outbreak of WWII, along with a group of female volunteers, she helped the wounded, and after the collapse of the Coastal Defence, despite German rulings, she buried the fallen in the Oksywie district. Forced to escape Gdynia, she followed the combat trail from Syria to Italy, to finally return to Communist Poland on the first voyage of the “Batory” in 1947. Underappreciated by the new authorities, she started working as glove maker. Over all these years, she managed to hold onto a family heirloom – a piece of rock from the Caucasus. It was that stone that, just like her father predicted, brought her back to Chechnya near the end of her life. Prideful, in a Polish uniform and a lieutenant’s beret.