Maria Piłsudska
| Maria Piłsudska | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| First Lady of Poland | |
|
In role November 14, 1918 – 17 August 1921 |
|
| President |
Józef Piłsudski (Chief of State) |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Aleksandra Piłsudska |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Maria Koplewska 1865 Zalavas, Vilna Governorate (now part of Vilnius County, Lithuania) |
| Died | 17 August 1921 Kraków, Poland |
| Nationality | Polish |
| Spouse(s) | Marian Juszkiewicz(1883–1887) Józef Piłsudski(1899–1921) |
| Alma mater | Bestuzhev Courses |
Maria Piłsudska, née Koplewska (1865 – 17 August 1921), was the first wife of Poland's Marshal Józef Piłsudski and ostensibly the first lady of Poland during most of his service as Poland's Chief of State.
She was born in 1865 in Zalavas (now part of Vilnius County), at that time part of the Russian Empire, to Konstanty Koplewski, a prominent physician. After graduating from high school, she moved to St. Petersburg, Russia. There she studied in the Bestuzhev Courses, a university for women, while cultivating friendships within certain revolutionary circles. It was there she met Marian Juszkiewicz, a young railway engineer whom she married in 1883. Their marriage was not a happy one, however, and fell apart soon after the birth of their daughter, Wanda, in 1887.
In 1892, the beautiful, intelligent and socially poised Maria met Józef Piłsudski. After seven years, they married on 15 July 1899 at the village of Paproć Duża near Łomża. Since Maria was a divorcee and the Catholic Church did not recognize divorce, she and Piłsudski had converted to Protestantism. Soon afterward they settled in Łódź, where Józef continued his revolutionary activities. In February 1900, they were arrested when a clandestine printing press was discovered in their apartment. After eleven months Maria was released, while Piłsudski remained imprisoned in the infamous Tenth Pavilion at the Warsaw Citadel in the Russian-occupied part of Poland. Upon his subsequent escape from a mental hospital in St. Petersburg to which he had been transferred, the couple moved to Lwów, in eastern Galicia in Austria-Hungary.
...
Wikipedia