How I Got to Sleep With Irena Krzywicka

Neither Carol nor I had ever met her but when we arrived in Warsaw on Thursday and were introduced, but it was love at first sight.

Irena Krzywicka is one of 34 unique rooms/suites at the Chopin Boutique Hotel in Warsaw. Each is named after a Polish literary figure.

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Irena was actually born in Siberia in 1899 to a Jewish family that had been exiled from Warsaw by the Russian rulers (Warsaw was part of the Russian partition of Poland since 1795). The Krzywickas had run afoul of the authorities due to their clandestine activities both as socialists and as activists in the Jewish self-education movement. Returning from Siberia, Irena became a social activist, feminist, and writer of many novels and translations. She survived the Nazis by changing her name,  going into hiding and collaborating with the Home Army to fight the Germans.


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High ceiling and windows, beautiful art and antique furniture

Staying in a room honoring such a resilient woman feels fitting given the hotel's own remarkable survival story. Built in 1910, it survived the war - which is astounding since the Nazis destroyed 85-90% of Warsaw, including virtually all the buildings in the Ghetto in 1943 and the rest in late 1944 after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising. Only a few thousand "Robinson Crusoes" remained out of a prewar population of 1.3 million.  

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St. Augustine's Church, one of only a few buildings to survive the Warsaw Ghetto destruction

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Prewar photo of the building. After the war the top floor and distinctive turret were removed.

This is the 3rd time we’ve stayed at Chopin. It is unique and charming and we love the extensive buffet breakfasts featuring Polish cuisine. Since about 2000 Jarek Chołodecki has recreated it into the beautiful building it once was - keeping the original appearance, marble stairs, pre-war furnishings and other period pieces as far as possible. It has lovely art throughout, a garden courtyard, nightly piano concerts on its Steinway (every night since 2013), rooftop apitherapy (a type of inhalation therapy in a special room with beehives), commitment to ecology and in-house roasted coffee.

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Poster in lobby advertising daily recitals

Chołodecki was a Solidarity activist in the 1980s but like many others was marginalized by political repression and forced to leave Poland. He returned after the Communists were overthrown, to create this new and beloved Warsaw institution

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