Entomology of Symbol, a phenomenon of free woman in history of XIX century Poland and Europe.

Karl Marks with Daughter Jenny, 1869

Photography you are looking at doesn’t seem to be any unusual picture, but if you start thinking about it, you might find much different side of this photo – statement.

Photo presents Karol Marks and his daughter Jenny.

As the story goes, Karl Heinrich Marx (German pronunciation: [ˈkaɐ̯l ˈhaɪnʀɪç ˈmaɐ̯ks]; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, social scientist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Marx's work in economics laid the basis for much of the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and subsequent economic thought.[4][5][6][7] He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867–1894). Jenny Marx Longuet (Jennychen) (11 May 1844 – 11 January 1883) was the eldest daughter of Jenny von Westphalen and Karl Marx. Known as 'Jennychen' in the Marx circle, Jenny Longuet, Marx's eldest daughter, was a socialist activist. She wrote for the socialist press in France in the 1860s, most importantly in exposing British treatment of Fenian revolutionaries in Ireland. She married Paris Commune veteran Charles Longuet on 2 October 1872. She was the mother of five boys and a daughter.[1]Jenny Longuet died at Argenteuil near Paris on January 11, 1883, at the age of 38, probably from cancer of the bladder, a condition which had afflicted her for some time

Karl Marx was coming from the Jewish family, cultivating tradition of Rabbinate, his father prior to his son's birth, and to escape the constraints of anti-semitic legislation, Herschel converted from Judaism to the Protestant Christian denomination of Lutheranism, the predominant sect in Germany and Prussia at the time, taking on the German forename of Heinrich over the Yiddish Herschel. In the end Marx was Atheist.

As you see on the photo his daughter standing tall, wear black dress and Christian cross on her neck. So what is that saying?

Photography so as paintings was a carrier of initiative and political or social statement. Particularly this one is focusing our attention on the January Uprising in Poland, starts 22 January 1863 – Autumn 1864, spread on the land of Russian Partition, lands of Kingdom of Poland and lands take away from it previously.

Polish history is very difficult and full of faith in freedom, that will come. This faith was always with the people, after 125 years of occupation of territory of Poland by threesome of invaders they were finally ready to bring Poland on the map of Europe.

Many talk about First World War, seems to forget that history doesn’t starts there, previous steps took by Lithuania 1st February 1963, joining the Uprising in Poland put down in a bloody manner by Russia. Yet another symbol of changes slowly start to appear. Idea of emancipation slowly gained a bunch supporters and sympathizers actually much earlier than that.

Another great uprising was dated on 29th November 1830 - 1831, the November Uprising in Poland declared national mourning. Many men were killed during the fighting, while others went into exile were women: mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, and they took the self-management of land and the transfer of Polish traditions, culture and history. Has long postulated ideal picture of Polish Mother could now fully realize. The woman herself raising her children and ran a farm; prioritizing the good of the motherland, devoted entirely to its individuality. These unexpected responsibilities forced them to unusual at the time of independence, were therefore a contribution to the liberation of sex from the age-old tradition of economic dependence, but also underscoring Ciechomska M., "made entirely lifeless idealization: in effect, compared with the ideal of every normal woman had inevitably prove to be the essence of little worth. “

Women began to appear in large numbers also in the world of science and literature. Founded by Narcissa Zmichowska, student K. Hoffman (2), Circle Enthusiast, was the first feminist literary movement - custom in Poland. Chaired them in Warsaw by Narcissa Zmichowska (1819-1876).

Narcyza Żmichowska pronounced [nart͡sɨza_ʐmixɔvska] (Warsaw, 4 March 1819 – 24 December 1876, Warsaw), also known under her popular nom de plume Gabryella, was a Polish novelist and poet. She is considered a precursor of feminism in Poland. Żmichowska's first novel published in 1846 was Poganka (The Heathen), in which she is known to have expressed interest in her friend Paulina Zbyszewska. The book was published by Northern Illinois University Press in 2012 in English translation by Dr Ursula Phillips.[1] Letters to friends and family written by Żmichowska were published in five volumes by Wrocław University in 1960. There, she also expressed interest in a married man, Edward Dembowski, which led to a known scandal. Her correspondence with Bibianna Moraczewska (an unmarried woman by choice like Narcyza) spanning 32 years consisted mostly of intellectual discourses.

Above photo is just an interesting, very little known fact of support given to the Polish woman by many independent feminists around the Europe, silent symbol of fight for the equal rights and freedom, conjugation in lonely struggle with the childbirth pain of feminism in Poland.

Many of them went with their husbands to the Siberian penal servitude; past by casemates prisoner and remained in the Siberian ground, dying of hunger, cold and longing for the homeland. These were women of great ideology and dedication. Many of them, following the love of the Fatherland, was ready to bear the heaviest victim. Women brought up children in the spirit of patriotism, tried install the idea of fighting for the freedom of Poland to the next generation. Among all, this was just a background to the new beginning of free and independent woman in Europe.

by

Anna Tchorzewska Geogehgan

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