Krystyna Pawłowicz was born On December 15th 1896 and died at Casa da Velhice São Luiz in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on October 15th 1971.  She was the elder daughter of Kazimierz Pawłowicz and Helena Jełowicka,  and Bohdan Pawłowicz’s sister.

She married three times. First to Piotr  Olewiński but as the marriage was not consummated,  it was dissolved and Krystyna returned home. Then, she got married to Mirosław  Szabuniewicz but this did not last long. 

Finally, she met Aleksander  Hauke-Nowak, whom she married on June 2nd 1933 and with whom she remained until he died in 1956 in Rio de Janeiro. As he was already married in the Roman Catholic Church, which did not recognize divorce, they made their relationship official at the Evangelical-Reformed Church in Warsaw.

Her husband was the governor of the provinces of Łodz (1933-1938) and later of the Wołyń Voivodeship (1938-1939).  After the outbreak of World War II,  they fled Łuck. Aleksander joined the Polish Government in Exile in France.Later,  they found themselves in exile in Great Britain  They were invited by Krystyna’s brother, Bohdan, to come to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

In Rio de Janeiro,  Krystyna founded the Polish Youth Circle Świetliki (Fireflies) in 1953.  Tomas Łychowski, poet, painter and promoter of Polish culture in Brazil was its first president. He describes Krystyna in the book  ” Moja droga na księżyc” (My way to the Moon: How I survived WWII” pages 69 to 74)

“I met Mrs. Krystyna Hauke-Nowak in 1952. It was shortly after I arrived in Rio de Janeiro from the provinces. I was seventeen years old. Mrs. Krystyna had a very peculiar style of expressing her thoughts and only after some time had passed, I was able to fully appreciate her
beautiful, lush Polish language. Lush was also her lavish imagination and very often distant from “reality.” Her reality was still and fervently Poland. Poland in Rio de Janeiro. Soon after, Ms. Krystyna founded the Circle of Polish Youth “Świetliki”. “White Chalk Circle” – as she often called it….Mrs. Krystyna defended our Circle from the interference of Polish organisations in Rio, which intended to include us in their sphere of influence. She made some enemies, but it seems to me that she was right. Thanks to her efforts, “Świetliki”  (The Fireflies)  maintained their independence for many years,  undisturbed by the intrigues of a colonial atmosphere…”