Wiesław Caban, Lidia Michalska-Bracha
Much has been written about Poles’ forced journeys to exile in Siberia in the 19th century, including literature regarding the fate of Polish women who found themselves there. It is estimated that 10% of the total number of exiles in Siberia at that time were women: some, such as Ewa Felińska, because they had been involved in independence activities; others, however, such as Antonilla Roszkowska, voluntarily followed their husbands or fiancées there. Antonilla Roszkowska first went to Siberia in 1843 to alleviate the misery of her husband Adolf, who had been sentenced to hard labour for his participation in Szymon Konarski’s conspiracy. She returned to Poland with her husband pursuant to the coronation manifesto of Alexander II in 1856. Ten years later, together with her daughter Julia, she accompanied in exile her son Stanisław, who had been convicted of participating in the January Uprising. In turn, Albina Wiśniowska accompanied her fiancé, Wincenty Migurski, who in 1836 was sentenced to penal military service in the Orenburg battalions for his “subversive activities”. In 1837, this young couple got married, and two years later they attempted to escape, as was widely reported among both Poles and Russians.
After the failure of the January Uprising, approximately 38,000 Poles were exiled deep into the Russian Empire, including not less than 20,000 to Western Siberia and Eastern Siberia. There were also women there: some because they had been actively involved in the January Uprising, like Jadwiga Prendowska (Marian Langiewicz’s courier) and Helena Kirkorowa (Romuald Traugutt’s liaison officer); others voluntarily decided to accompany their husbands in exile, including Maria Obuchowska-Morzycka, who, together with her husband, went to Usol near Irkutsk, sarcastically referred to by the exiles as the Siberian Arcadia. These wives made these decisions because the conditions in which the exiles lived were much more bearable than in other places in Eastern Siberia.
Who was the above-mentioned Maria Obuchowska-Morzycka, the author of memoirs thanks to which we can learn about her exile and her immediate family’s fate?
Forced to marriage
She was born in 1841 in Warsaw, where she was educated at a girls’ boarding school. After turning 16 years old in 1857, she was forced to marry Julian Morzycki, the owner of the Lachowce estate near Zhytomyr. Their marital relationship was very bad from the beginning: Julian, who was 16 years older, led a free lifestyle, while his young wife was stuck at home raising four children.
With the beginning of religious and patriotic demonstrations, many married couples, like many Polish families descended from low- and middle-income nobility living in Volhynia, became involved in patriotic activities. Julian Morzycki was exiled to Vyatka for organizing a religious and patriotic demonstration in Berdychiv in March 1861. After a year there, he returned to Volhynia and with even greater determination joined the preparations for armed struggle, recruiting several dozen volunteers in cooperation with Wacław Lasocki and Józef Łagowski – both doctors from Zhytomyr. However, none of them took part in the fight because they were captured by Ukrainian peasants and delivered to the military authorities. Morzycki, Lasocki and Łagowski were sentenced to many years of hard labour in Siberia.
Dramatic choices
Maria Morzycka shared her husband’s fate when he was arrested. Realizing that he would be sent to Siberia, she faced the dilemma of whether she should go and endure the hardships of Siberian exile with him or stay at home. It was a difficult decision for her, as was reflected in the pages of her diary. Maria often mentioned that she had no love for her husband, and he treated her only as “an object of physical love”. An important argument for staying in Lachowce was their four small children. In turn, Julian’s closest collaborators, Wacław Lasocki and Józef Łagowski, were going to the Ural Mountains with their wives, and Łagowski would also be accompanied by his wife and children. Maria was also troubled by other doubts, fearing that when her husband was in Siberia, she “would break the bond of marriage” and get involved with another man. She realized that then she would be excluded from civic society – that she “would sink into the abyss”. Ultimately, she decided to accompany her husband on his difficult path to exile. It is possible that her father also had some influence on this decision as he bought a suitable carriage and a pair of horses for Maria to relieve their daughter from the hardships of this journey. Additionally, he paid for a maid who was to accompany Maria during the journey.
Apparently “pleasant trip”
Julian Morzycki, Wacław Lasocki and Józef Łagowski, together with their wives, were put with a group of several dozen criminals. These three exiles travelled the entire journey on foot, while their wives went in their carriages, called tarantasses. They departed from Zhytomyr in front of their families and many gathered residents. According to Morzycka, the mood was not tragic, but only because not everyone realized where they were being taken. The first stage – a resting place – was located 15 versts (approx. 1.1 km) from Zhytomyr. The husbands spent the night together with the criminals in prison rooms, and the people accompanying them stayed in a rented peasants’ hut.
The next stage that Morzycka remembered was to Radomyshl, located halfway between Zhytomyr and Kiev. The husbands were put in prison again, and the women took advantage of the accommodation offered to them by the Poles living there. A man called Nitowski, about whom we know nothing more, offered to organize an escape for Maria’s husband, Lasocki and Łagowski. However, after a joint discussion, this venture was abandoned as it was believed that the plan might fail and the punishment for the exiles would then be doubled.
As Morzycka recalls, the journey from Radomyshl to Kiev passed without major difficulties. Bribed overseers, called smotritiels, did not prevent the women from contacting their husbands, and at stages and half-stages Poles were always waiting for them to alleviate their misfortune. In a word, as the author of the memoirs points out, the journey from Radomyshl to Kiev itself seemed to be a pleasant trip. Only in Kiev was there a very unpleasant incident because the exiles were met with an ominous reaction from the crowd while marching through the city, where local fishwives threw sharp tools at the marching group. One of them even wanted to stab Morzycka herself.
Their further route led from Kiev to Tambov via Poltava. After leaving Kiev, the traveling conditions of the women accompanying the exiles changed significantly. Henceforth, at stages and half-stages, Morzycka, Lasocka and Łagowska could not always sleep in peasant huts. Sometimes they had to spend the night in prison rooms, where the living conditions were terrible because the cells were dirty, stinking, and there were countless lice and other vermin.
A birth on the way to exile
Before reaching Poltava, the exiles received a pleasant surprise because an Orthodox priest’s daughter who had previously had contacts with Polish students welcomed them hospitably. On Christmas Eve 1863, the exile group reached the town of Kozlivm, where they had a one-day rest. The men stayed in prison cells, and the women rented rooms in a local hotel, where they prepared Christmas Eve dinner for their husbands. In prison, they shared the Christmas wafer not only with their husbands, but with all the prisoners.
The group of exiles reached Tambov on the last day of December 1863. There were already many Poles there who had been administratively deported for so-called ‘residency’. They stayed there for several months because Łagowski had fallen seriously ill and the governor allowed all three families to stay in the city until he recovered. In mid-April 1864, the Lasockis and Łagowskis continued their journey, and the Morzyckis remained in Tambov because Maria was pregnant and was due to give birth. The childbirth took place on 15th June 1864 in a separate room designated by smotritiel. This is where Faustynka Morzycka – later a writer, educational activist associated with the PPS Combat Organization, and, above all, the prototype of Stanisława Brzozowska from Stefan Żeromski’s “Siłaczka” [“The Strongwoman”] – came into this world. Eight days after giving birth, Morzycka and her daughter were moved to a prison cell, and in the last days of August they continued their journey as usual.
A six-year-old Rózia on the exile
During their stay in Tambov, the Morzycki family, like the Lasockis and Łagowskis, decided to sell their horses, give the carriages to smotritiel, send their maids back to Poland, and continue their journey in the same way as the other exiles. This decision was dictated by a lack of funds to maintain the carriages.
At the end of August, the Morzycki family (already three of them) continued their journey, heading for Kazan. The first stage was to Kirsanow, a district town. The Morzycki family decided to stay there a little longer because they were afraid for the child’s health and life. The local authorities allowed them to stay. Morzycka, describing in detail her stay in Kirsanow, recalled that she asked the Poles who were administratively assigned to live there for help with caring for her child. After a week, the Morzycki family continued their journey. Soon, the eldest daughter Rózia also joined them because the Morzycki family decided that if other families were going into exile with their children, they should also take six-year-old Rózia with them. She was sent from Volhynia with other Poles who were sentenced to exile in Siberia. In this way, she reached Tambov, where – thanks to the help of an unknown Russian named Skopin – Rózia was delivered to her parents’ place of residence. And so the four of them reached the governor city of Penza. Here, Maria received help from Mrs. Ciechanowiecka, who had been administratively exiled but had already managed to settle down well, both financially and socially, and was also involved in helping exiles passing through the city. As a result, Maria, together with little Fustynka and Rózia, found help at Mrs. Ciechanowiecka’s house. She was the one who arranged for the local governor to allow the Morzycki family to stay at her house for a week because little Faustynka was extremely emaciated and Maria herself was exhausted. Morzycka and her two children could gain strength in the comfort of her home for a few days and then continue their journey. Moreover, Mrs. Ciechanowiecka used her own funds to pay for a wet nurse who would feed Faustynka on her way to exile as her starving mother could not provide adequate milk. However, Morzycka recalls that shortly after leaving Penza the officer leading the group of exiles became furious that the convicts had been allowed to enjoy some home comforts. The explanation that the wet nurse (a poor Russian woman) had been assigned to Morzycka after consultation with the Penza governor was of no use. The officer ordered the wet nurse to be put in chains and sent back to her place of residence. At that moment, little Faustyna’s life was in danger because her mother, as we have already mentioned, had no milk, and it was difficult to give the child raw milk obtained from vendors along the route because it could not be boiled on a candle fire. However, thanks to a vzyatka (a bribe), which is popular in Russia, the officer was placated.
A prison called “a mess”
The next stage was to Simbirsk. Here, the group of exiles had to stay in prison cells for several weeks because fires were constantly breaking out in the city and a mob was spreading rumours that Poles were causing them. For fear of a tumult, the exiles were kept in prison under the strict protection of armed soldiers. Everyone was put in the cells together, i.e., political prisoners and criminals, women and children. The large prison room was dirty, with broken windows and vermin everywhere. The criminals spent their days drinking and fighting. The political prisoners could not bear this situation and asked prison security for help. The criminals took revenge on Julian Morzycki and when he tried to get to the large iron stove in the middle of the room to warm up the child’s porridge, they wanted to beat him. A few soldiers appeared in time and peace was restored in the large prison room (sometimes called a mess by the exiles).
At the end of December 1864, the Morzycki family and the rest of this group of exiles reached Kazan. Because it was winter, they decided to obtain permission from the governor for a longer stay in the city, which was metaphorically called the gate to Sybir, as they were afraid the harsh frosts could become a huge danger to little Faustyna’s life. However, there was also another reason for submitting this request, namely the matter of a wet nurse. Anisia, for that was her name, received permission from the Penza governor to accompany the Morzycki family only on their way to Kazan. So, because Maria still had no milk, a clever plan had to be hatched so that the wet nurse could also stay with them in Kazan: during her five-month stay in this city, Morzycka, her two daughters and the wet nurse lived alternately with either Polish families who had voluntarily settled in Kazan for some time, or in prison rooms with her husband, i.e., in a hall called a mess.
A hellish road
During this period, Faustynka and Rózia gained sufficient strength and health for the Morzycki family to decide to send the wet nurse to Penza and continue their journey. The next stage of the journey from Kazan to Perm was by river. In Kazan, the entire group of exiles (criminals and political ones) was put into a borja, which is a huge covered boat towed by a steamboat. The conditions in the borja were much worse than in the prison rooms during the stages. Everyone was stacked together like proverbial sardines in a barrel: criminals together with political prisoners – women alternating with men. In addition, it was filthy and stank so badly that, as Morzycka pointed out, Faustynka’s milk simply curdled after fifteen minutes. One-year-old Faustynka had to eat food from the general pot, which meant stinking krupnik soup cooked from musty groats, often with cockroaches swimming in it. It is hardly surprising that Morzycka called this section of the trip from Kazan to Perm a hellish road. After five days, the full borja of exiles reached Perm. This is where the group reformed, as the further journey to Tyumen via Yekaterinburg was made on foot. Groups of exiles usually covered the road from Perm to Tyumen within a month and a half. Unfortunately, during this march, Faustynka contracted whooping cough, then pneumonia developed and there were serious fears for her life. After reaching Tyumen, Morzycka went to the headquarters of a company handling transport on the rivers of Western Siberia, owned by the Polish entrepreneur Alfons Koziełł-Poklewski, asking for help for sick Faustynka, whose health condition was deteriorating day by day, and for assistance in her further journey. Morzycka did not meet Poklewski himself directly because he was in St. Petersburg, but his bailiff listened to her requests and fulfilled what was possible. A suitable apartment was found for Faustyna, and doctor Puciata, who was exiled in Tyumen, took care of her treatment. The Morzycki family stayed here for several months until their daughter’s health improved. When this happened, they boarded a ship to Tobolsk on which, on Kozełł-Poklewski’s orders, they were given a separate cabin. In addition to them, there were a dozen or so people on the ship who had been exiled for participating in the January Uprising. There was a several-day stopover in Tobolsk, where Despot-Zenowicz, the governor of Tobolsk and a Pole by origin, came to the exiles to check whether they were traveling in appropriate conditions. Morzycka, like many other Polish post-January Uprising exiles who came into contact with the Tobolsk governor, had the highest opinion of him.
Arcadia of Usolye
The next stage was Tobolsk–Tomsk. It seems that nothing special happened on this section because Maria mentions little about it in her diary, only noting that the ship’s captain was a polite and very helpful man who made every arrangement possible. This, however, should not be surprising because he was not in government service but worked for the wealthy Koziełł-Poklewski family.
Unfortunately, Morzycka does not describe any further events from the trip to Usolye, but it seems unlikely that nothing of note happened. Perhaps this part of the diary has been lost. In any case, after two years of travel, the Morzycki family reached their destination: Usolye – Siberian Arcadia. It should be mentioned that the two-year march was not included in the general punishment given to Julian.
In Usolye, the Morzycki family found many Polish families. Here, among others, the Lasocki and Łagowski families already lived there, with whom the Morzycki family had started their journey to Siberia in Zhytomyr but had parted in Tambov. Women who voluntarily went into exile with their husbands or fiancées constituted as much as 25% of the exiles in Usolye. In this respect it was probably a unique place.
Usolye is a town located on a salt island in the Angara River, 70 km west of Irkutsk. In a town of approximately three thousand inhabitants, 150 were Poles, of which at least forty were with their families. The exiles enjoyed great freedoms because they were rarely shackled on the streets and rarely worked in the salt mines, which are famous in Eastern Siberia. It is difficult to explain why Polish exiles received so many amenities in this town. The aforementioned Lasocki family created a substitute for a family home here, which became a meeting place for many exiles. The Morzycki family’s financial situation was getting much worse. There were only two of the Lasocki family, and Wacław had great earning potential as a doctor. Julian Morzycki did not have such opportunities and had three children to support: Rózia, Faustyna and Paulinka (born in Usolye). The Morzycki family took advantage of their improved finances and moved to a village near Usolye, where they were engaged in production of groats, bread baking, agriculture and gardening.
She has left her husband on the exile…
After being in exile together for about three years, Morzycka left her husband and returned to her family in Zhytomyr with her three children. In her diary, she speaks only very briefly about this return, but there is no doubt that the trip was properly prepared and financed by the family. Therefore, there was no reason to describe it as it took place in relatively normal conditions for the 1870s. It is only worth mentioning that Morzycka decided to return while pregnant. Shortly after arriving in Zhytomyr, she gave birth to a daughter, Vacia. This was the seventh child of the Morzycki family. After Maria’s return, family relations were very bad, especially with Julian’s sister, who reproached Maria at every turn for leaving her husband in exile in Siberia. So, Maria Morzycka decided to seek happiness in St. Petersburg. She wanted to find a job there and provide her children with an education. During her stay in St. Petersburg, she met Marcin Wroński, a participant of the January Uprising who had luckily escaped punishment and was also looking for a way to continue his life in the city on the Neva River. It was with him that Maria joined herself for the next period of her life.
A quiet hero
Is the described case of Maria Morzycka’s journey to voluntary exile in Siberia something unique? Perhaps other women who voluntarily followed their husbands or fiancées and gave birth to children in Siberia did not leave any memoirs, or historians have simply not yet found them. Both are possible. Some other women who voluntarily followed their husbands are mentioned in the study Ciche bohaterki [Silent Heroines] by Maria Bruchnalska, a writer and social activist from Lviv, who for years carefully recorded everything about the women of 1863 and their subsequent fate in exile. However, returning to the story of our titular heroine, it is worth considering that if Stefan Żeromski referred to the Morzyckis’ daughter Faustyna as a Strongwoman, then what term should be used to properly reflect everything that her mother, Maria Morzycka, went through on the way to exile in Siberia?
Translated by Sylwia Szarejko