A LOVELY WOMAN

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23489, 28 October 1939, Page 2 (Supplement)

A LOVELY WOMAN

She Went Into Exile "With Chin Up"

rnHE wife of the former Polish Foreign Minister, M. Beck, who has gone into exile, is one of tho most attractive women I have interviewed —which includes Gaibo and Dietrich, writes Hilde Marchant in the Daily Herald, London. I met her three years ago at ClnricWs Hotel, when.Colone Beck was paying an unofficial diplomatic visit. Sno .was getting just a little bored with being called Inlands bestdressed, most beautiful woman, though there \yas a certain amount of.truth in Pathetic Echo . Sho dresses in a rather plain, tailored way, and I remember, her saying she liked flat shoes because high heels made her feel as if she were going to fall flat on her nose. She is slight in build, with fair hair and violet eyes, and gives you the impression of great energy. , ~ , Some of the things she said havo a rather pathetic echo about them: "Polish women were in a very special position of trust during the unhappy centurv and a-half when our country was divided between Russia and Germany. , "It was forbidden to teach Polish culturd in tho schools, and tho women had to teach it secretly to their children at home. So we kept our own national spirit alive through the literature and arts that wo smuggled among us." She foretold, too, Poland's heroic stand that has stirred the hearts of Britons throughout,the world. "Our independence is something we would readily dio for: We could never again accept those years of domination." That rather Ray, light-hearted interview three years ngo has another grim turn to it now.

Mine. Beck said she was certain that Poland would" now be left to develop her own national character in peace. "Countries thrive in peace, and wo are building things now that will last for over." Perhaps she is.right. To-day they are beinf* destroyed, vet there remains something inevitable in them that cannot bo threshed out of a whole nation. Mme. Beck is now an exile. But I remember the intense seriousness of her beneath the sparkle and animation. Her spirit, like the spirit of her country, will never bo-quenched.