The Pope’s Secret: When a Jewish Resistance Fighter Received Papal Recognition
In one of the most extraordinary ironies of World War II, a 12-year-old Jewish girl who had fought with the Polish resistance received a personal audience with Pope Pius XII in Italy in 1946. The Pope never knew her true identity.
After Poland’s Capitulation
Following the capitulation of Poland and the liberation of POW camps, young Edna Szurek (now known as Stefcia Skolkowska) found herself in a transition camp in Porto San Giorgio, Italy, in 1946. At just 12 years old, she had already received two Polish military medals for her work with the Armia Krajowa (Polish Home Army) at age 10. Now, while attending the Army Grammar School and awaiting processing for onward migration, her courage was being acknowledged at the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
The Ultimate Deception
Edna’s Catholic identity, which had begun as a desperate survival strategy, had become so convincing that it earned her the most sacred recognition possible. The young girl who had escaped the Warsaw ghetto and fought Nazis while pretending to be Catholic had maintained her disguise so perfectly that she was now being honored by the Pope himself.
A Personal Audience in Italy
After being at the transition camp in Porto San Giorgio for a month, Edna was summoned by her superior and informed that she had been granted an audience with Pope Pius XII as a decorated Christian war hero. She was one of fifteen women selected to receive awards from the Pope.
The experience was breathtaking: transported to Rome, she donned her Polish Home Army uniform with meticulous care. The colorful Swiss Guards, the vastness of St. Peter’s Square, the reception room with its black and white marble floor and magnificent works of art – all of it must have been overwhelming for a 12-year-old.
When her name was called, her legs trembled as she crossed the vast room to where Pope Pius XII sat upon his golden throne. The Pope made the sign of the cross over her and spoke in both Italian and Polish: “May the Lord bless you for your bravery and may the world know peace from your courage and strength.”
“Thank you, Your Holiness,” she responded, her voice quavering.
He motioned for her to rise and a priest extended a small medal toward her – shaped like a cross. In that moment, pride swelled within her as she accepted this ultimate validation of the identity she had assumed and gradually embodied.
As the ceremony continued, each woman being called forward in turn, Edna drifted toward the rear of the group. Her eyes wandered over the ornate details of the room—the precise patterns in the marble flooring, the intricate molding around the doorframe. A sudden, inexplicable impulse seized her. With the Pope himself mere feet away and all attention focused on the ceremony, she slipped a small penknife from her pocket and, working quickly and silently, chiseled “Kajtek” into the door molding.
It was a childish act of rebellion or perhaps a desperate bid for permanence—a need to leave some mark of her true self in this hallowed place where she was being honored for a persona that wasn’t entirely her own.
The Weight of the Secret
What must have gone through Edna’s mind during this audience? Here she was, a child who had witnessed the horrors of the Warsaw ghetto, fought with the resistance, and survived by assuming a Catholic identity – now standing face to face with Pope Pius XII himself.
The Pope saw a brave young Catholic girl who had served her country with distinction. He had no way of knowing that he was actually honoring a Jewish resistance fighter whose survival depended on the very identity he was blessing.
Historical Significance
This papal audience represents one of the most remarkable deceptions of World War II. It demonstrates not only Edna’s incredible courage and resourcefulness, but also the complexity of survival during the Holocaust. Her Catholic disguise was so complete, so convincing, that it carried her from the streets of occupied Warsaw to the Vatican itself.
The fact that a Jewish child could maintain her cover so thoroughly that she received papal recognition speaks to both her remarkable strength and the tragic necessity of such deceptions during this dark period of history.
A Secret Kept
Even decades later, this remains one of the most extraordinary untold stories of World War II. The Pope never learned the truth about the young “Catholic” hero he honored. Edna carried this secret with her, a testament to both her survival and the complex identity she had been forced to assume.
This moment – a Jewish resistance fighter receiving papal blessing – represents the ultimate irony of survival during the Holocaust. It shows how completely Edna had mastered the identity that saved her life, even as it highlights the tragic circumstances that made such deception necessary.
From the memoir “Little Edna’s War” by Janet Bond Brill, PhD, releasing January 27, 2026.
