Rita Gorgonowa

In 1977, a feature film The Case of Gorgonowa was made by director Janusz Majewski, with Ewa Dalkowska playing the role of Rita. In 2014 Rita's daughter Ewa and granddaughter Margarita Ilic-Lisowska declared their intention to re-open the trial and change of the verdict.

On 14 May 1932, after a short trial, District Court at Lwow sentenced Rita Gorgonowa to death. Due to a number of legal mistakes and appeals of her defence (Mieczyslaw Ettinger of Warszawa, Jozef Wozniakowski of Kraków and Maurycy Axer of Lwow), the verdict was later changed by the Supreme Court. While in prison, Margerita gave birth to daughter Ewa, on 20 September 1932. In the meantime her case was moved to the District Court in Kraków, which on 29 April 1933 sentenced Rita to eight years. Gorgonowa was to be released on 24 May 1940, but due to the German Invasion of Poland she was released on 3 September 1939.

In the night of 30–31 December 1931, Elzbieta (Lusia), who was sleeping in her bed, was hit in the head by a blunt object and died on the spot. The murder was discovered by Stanislaw Zaremba, who was awakened by a dog, and alarmed residents of the house. Doctor Ludwik Csala was called for, together with a police officer, who scanned the room.

In addition to her governess duties, Gorgonowa ran the house. After about a year, Gorgonowa and Zaremba began an affair which eventually let to daughter Romana's birth in 1928. Gorgonowa later claimed that she was hoping to marry the wealthy architect. Meanwhile, the close relationship between her father and her governess was noticed by teenage Lusia, who often argued about this with her father.

In 1924, Gorgonowa became a governess at the house of the 41-year-old architect Henryk Zaremba. She lived at his villa in Brzuchowice, located 7 kilometers from Lwow. Prior to employing Gorgonowa, Zaremba had separated from his wife, who had been confined to an asylum as she suffered from mental problems. Zaremba and his ex-wife had two children: a daughter, Elzbieta (Lusia), born in 1914 and a son, Stanislaw, born 1917.

At the age of 15, Margerita married a Colonel of the Austro-Hungarian Army, Erwin Gorgon. Probably in 1918 she gave birth to a son and settled in Lwow with her husband's family. In 1921, Erwin Gorgon left Poland and, in search of work, emigrated to the United States. Soon afterwards, Rita was forced by her in-laws to leave their house, as they had wrongly accused her of immoral behaviour. Gorgonowa, who was regarded as a very attractive woman, left her son with the in-laws and supported herself by working as a governess.

Rita Gorgonowa (real name Emilia Margerita Gorgon, née Ilic) was a governess, and main character of one of the most infamous crime stories of the Second Polish Republic. Born on 7 March 1901 in Knin, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary, she was found guilty of murder of Elzbieta Zaremba, daughter of Henryk Zaremba, an architect from Lwów. The murder, which took place on 30 December 1931, and the subsequent trial, were regarded as the biggest crime story of Poland at that time. Gorgonowa, who had a son and two daughters, died in unknown circumstances: her post-1939 fate has not been established.