Elżbieta Ficowska was born in 1942, inside in the Warsaw Ghetto, as Elżbieta Koppel, the daughter of Josel and Henia (née Rochman). As a six-month-old baby, she was secretly transported to the "Aryan side”, where she was care for by midwife Stanisława Bussold, who was working with Irena Sendler and Żegota. Elżbieta's birth mother died in 1943 in the Poniatowa camp. A year earlier, her father had been shot at the Warsaw Umschlagplatz. Stanisława Bussold adopted little Elżbieta and raised her lovingly as her own daughter, though she concealed the child's Jewish origins.
At the age of seventeen, Elżbieta Ficowska discovered that she was Jewish. This revelation came following a conversation with a friend and some conflicting facts presented to her by her mother. It so shocked her that she ran away from home.
During this time, she met Jerzy Ficowski, who was fascinated by her story. They married in 1968. In 1970, Elżbieta Ficowska graduated with a degree in psychology from the University of Warsaw and gave birth to her daughter, Anna. Elżbieta Ficowska and her husband were actively involved in the opposition to the communist government in Poland. She collaborated with figures such as Jacek Kuroń. For her involvement, she was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta in 2006. Between 2002 and 2006, she served as the chairwoman of the Children of the Holocaust Association. She is also the author of books and radio dramas for children.