Wiktoria Kudela-Świątek

The aim of this article was to verify the image of the betrothal and wedding of Maria Cecylia Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, as well as the repercussions associated with it, in the light of the unknown historiographical archival sources on this subject and by analyzing previously known sources in the context of new facts about the entering into this marriage established on their basis. In the sources describing the circumstances of the marriage of Maria née Grocholska and Witold Czartoryski, I find several repeated events and facts, on the basis of which the chronology of those days is reconstructed. The first is a letter that Ksawera Grocholska sent to Emperor Nicholas I indirectly regarding the arrival of her future son-in-law to Podolia in order to meet her fiancée’s immediate family and obtain the blessing of the bride’s grandfather, Karol Brzozowski. Another theme is the decision to marry off the daughter to the son of a political criminal, thus condemning her to a life away from her relatives living in the Russian Empire. Next, it is necessary to look at the course of the ceremony to be able to consider whether the controversy surrounding this marriage will be reflected in the ceremony itself and the reception that followed it. Finally, fragments of Ksawera Grocholska’s diary and family correspondence discovered in the collections of the State Archives of the Vinnytsia Oblast in Ukraine were analyzed, which allowed to achieve the main goal of the article.

* Artykuł powstał w ramach realizacji działania naukowego finansowanego ze środków Narodowego Centrum Nauki w ramach konkursu Miniatura 2 w 2019 r. pt.: „Relacje ziemiaństwa polskiego i ziemiaństwa rosyjskiego w życiu codziennym w latach 1867–1917 na Ziemiach Zabranych” (DEC-2018/02/X/HS3/03020).

Among many charitable initiatives undertaken in Podolia in the period between the national uprisings that were to benefit the Polish political exiles and their families was the informal “Care Committee”, also known as “Charity Work” or “Siberia Campaign”, organised by Róża Sobańska, Ksawera Grocholska, Eliza Brzozowska, Tekla Bołsunowska and Zygmunt Szczęsny Feliński. It is an important example of a well-organised charity project that operated over a very long period of time and positively affected not only the Polish exiles in Siberia but also many who stayed in the country and were persecuted for their patriotic attitude. The aim of this article is to offer a new perspective on said organisation, expanding on the previous historiographic research in order to highlight the scope and impact of this charitable undertaking amongst the Polish community on the both sides of the Ural Mountains in the period between the national uprisings.