in the winter of 1923, the inhabitants of radom county in poland were suffering from poverty and hunger. in early december, dolińska's husband was arrested for several burglaries and his wife was left alone with four hungry children. marianna dolińska, who was mentally disturbed, decided that the only way to protect their children from starvation was to kill them. on december 11, 1923 she killed zofia (6 months), antoni (3 years), bronisława (5 years) and stefan (7 years) and tied them to a tree. the next day she went to the police and confessed to the crime. later dolińska was delivered to a psychiatric hospital, where her "manic depression" and other medical disorders were identified. she died in 1928, and was buried in the cemetery of the hospital.