Dromedaries

An important role was played in the armed struggle against the Russian authorities by women who were active within the Polish Socialist Party's paramilitary units. In underground jargon they were known as Dromaderki, the feminine form of the Polish word for dromedaries-the one-humped Arabian camels used to transport people and goods-because they carried weapons, ammunition and explosive materials.In the Czestochowa district alone there were several dozen of them. Unfortunately, most of them have remained anonymous; the names or aliases of only a few of them have survived to the present day. In 'civilian' life they were students, teachers, doctors, housewives or factory workers. Active involvement in the fight for independence meant the risk of imprisonment, lengthy sentences to hard labour, or exile to Siberia. From the afterword by Juliusz Setowski