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USAGM Honors VOA Polish Broadcaster Zofia Korbonska

VOA News

   The U.S. Agency for Global Mediais paying tribute toZofiaKorboÅska, a
   member of the anti-Naziresistancemovementwho laterworked for theVOA
   Polish service,on the 10thanniversaryof her death.

   KorboÅska, born in Warsaw in 1912,was a member of the Police
   Underground Army, which fought against the Nazis.

   "On a daily basis, she risked her life writing and coding secret
   shortwave radio transmissions sent from Poland to the Polish
   government-in-exile in London. A number of her dispatches that reached
   the free world were broadcast back into occupied Europe by the
   BBC,"saida statement from USAGM, which oversees VOA and other
   U.S.-funded broadcast entities."In addition to her clandestine radio
   work,KorboÅskawas also a partner in the work of her husband,
   StefanKorboÅski, the leader of Poland's anti-Nazi civil resistance and
   the last head of the Polish Underground State."

   After the end of World War Two, bothKorboÅskaand her husband were
   arrested in Poland bythe NKVD Soviet secret police. They were released
   after several interrogations. Theyescapedto Sweden in 1947 before
   eventually finding refuge in the United States.

   In 1980,KorboÅskabegana more thanthree-decadecareer with VOA's Polish
   service, using the pen name "ZofiaOrlowska" to protect her family and
   friends back home.She wrote and recordedoccasionalprograms in the
   1980's after her retirement.

   She died in Washington on August 16, 2010.

   Poland slipped to number 62 on Reporters Without Borders annual ranking
   of countries press freedom in 2020.

   The group said Warsaw's moves to criminalize defamation and other
   policies are impacting freedom of expression of independent media
   outlets. It says some courts are using a criminal code article that
   allows journalists to be sentenced to up to a year in prison for
   defamation, which is encouraging self-censorship by the media.

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