Nina Oleńska

Actress, singer and dancer, one of the theatre artists that accompanied Polish soldiers during World War II. The wife of Feliks 'Ref-Ren' Konarski. Also known as 'Ochotniczka Helenka' – 'Volunteer Helenka'.

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Nina Oleńska, photo: WKDS archives

Oleńska was born Janina Piwocka in Kraków. Having graduated from secondary school, Oleńska enrolled in medicine; however, she could not resist the call of the stage and soon abandoned medical studies for acting school – Miejska Szkoła Dramatyczna (located in what is today the Stary Theatre in Kraków). She graduated in 1925, roughly around the time when the revue theatre Perskie Oko came into being after a schism within the famous interwar cabaret Qui Pro Quo. It was Perskie Oko, located in the central Nowy Świat Street in Warsaw, that Oleńska debuted in. The artist also performed in other theatres before the outbreak of World War II, including the Messal-Niewiarowska Theatre, established in 1926 by Lucyna Messal and Kazimiera Niewiarowska, dancers and operetta singers. In May 1927, Oleńska and the ensemble gave a guest performance in Prague. In subsequent years, she performed in Lublin and Płock, amongst other cities.

In 1931, Oleńska started her co-operation with the revue theatre Mignon. It would later turn out to be a turning point in her life. At the time, Mignon's ensemble's leader was Feliks Konarski, also known as Ref-Ren – poet, actor, songwriter, theatre impresario, author of the lyrics to the legendary Polish military song The Red Poppies on Monte Cassino. Two years later, Konarski and Oleńska married. They were together until the actress's death. Over the span of her career, Oleńska performed many songs composed by her husband, including Banany, Imieniny we Lwowie, Fajer Polka, My Od Lwowa Za Daleko, Ta Joj! Ta Lwów. In 1963, Konarski self-published the biographical book Taka Sobie Helenka (This Helenka of Ours, trans. NS). The publication was released in London; the subtitle read a 'page from a diary'. In the first chapter, he included a description of his wife:

The grotesque silhouette of the seemingly clumsy and inept clodhopper gained immense popularity during our long military endeavours. Helenka was very funny – not only for her looks, but also thanks to her somewhat Chaplinesque, somewhat Švejkian [editor's note: 'The Good Soldier Švejk' is a 1923 book by the Czech writer Jaroslav Hašek. The titular soldier, Švejk, became an international symbol of anti-war sentiment. His name even made it into the English language. The Oxford English Dictionary defines 'Schweik' as 'a person likened to the character of Schweik, pictured as an unlucky and simple-minded but resourceful little man oppressed by higher authorities'.] philosophy. She became a living chronicle and a distorted lens of our military life.

The fragment is a reference to one of the most curious groups in the history of Polish theatre – namely, the theatrical revue unit embedded in Anders' Army. Accompanying the military unit on a route spanning from the USSR through the Middle East to Italy, Oleńska – who was part of the ensemble Polish Parade (Polska Parada) – created a persona called Helenka, who appeared in a song by the composer Henryk Wars.

After the war ended, Oleńska appeared in the Polish-Italian movie Wielka Droga (The Great Road, trans. NS), starring Irena Anders (listed in the cast under her stage name Renata Bogdańska) in one of the main roles. In the film, Oleńska performed the tango song Gdzie Najlepiej with music by Henryk Wars and lyrics by Aleksander Świtaj, a nostalgic piece about the city of Lviv.

Oleńska and her husband were active organisers of the émigré Polish community in London. She performed in the productions of Polish Stage Artists' Association Theatre, appearing in shows based on the work of Julian Tuwim and Zofia Kossak-Szczucka. In 1965, the couple was invited to Chicago by Ref-Ren's cousin, Feliks Konarski, where Oleńska lived until her death in 1983. She is buried in a military grave in the Catholic Maryhill Cemetery in Illinois. Eight years later, her husband was interred next to her. Oleńska was decorated with the Monte Cassino Commemorative Cross.

Sources: staremelodie.pl, encyklopediateatru.pl, filmpolski.pl, B. Holmgren: Tending Andersland: The Calling of Feliks Konarski and Nina Oleńska, 2018, originally written in Polish by Marcelina Obarska, translated into English by NS, June 2021

nina oleńska

interwar cabaret

anders' army

polish artists of the interwar period