A Brief History
On September 5, 1725, Louis the XV, King of France, married Maria Karolina Zofia Felicja Leszczynska, the daughter of King Stanislaw I of Poland. Known as Queen (consort) Marie of France, she served in that role until her death in 1768 at the age of 65. For a whopping 43 years between Louis XIV (“The Sun King” famous for his namesake furniture style) and Louis XVI (the guy that wed Marie Antoinette and got his head lopped off) there was a Polish lady serving as Queen of France. If you did not know this, perhaps you are not aware of these other famous people of Polish heritage. Sure, you know the obvious Poles by their names, such as Pulaski, Kosciusko, Paderewski, Yastrzemski, Polanski and the like, but how about Pope John-Paul II? Dr. Alois Alzheimer was born in what is now Wroclaw, Poland. How about singer Pat Benetar? Even flamboyant pianist Liberace was part Polish. Here are just a few of the many you may not be aware of that say jak sie masz!
Digging Deeper
10. Marie, Queen of France, 1703-1768.
As detailed above, Marie served as Queen of France during the last of the classic monarchies before the ruinous reign of Louis XVI. She apparently was quite traditional and formal in her approach to all things protocol, and unlike Marie Antoinette, was quite popular with the public.
9. Catherine the Great, 1729-1796.
Empress/Czarina of Russia, she was born in Stettin, Prussia, in what is now Szczecin, Poland. It is hard to say exactly how much Polish ethnic DNA Catherine bore, but while on the throne of Russia she did have an affair with Polish nobleman Stanislaw Poniatowski, a dalliance that produced a daughter, Anna Petrovna. Poniatowski went on to become the last King of Poland, installed by Catherine. Catherine assumed the throne only 6 months after marrying Peter III, Emperor of All the Russias, probably being responsible for the guy’s murder.
8. Tracey Ullman, 1959-.
This famous British-American actress was born in England of an English-Roma (Gypsy) mother and a Polish father. Her father served with the Polish army during World War II and was evacuated to England in the Dunkirk mass evacuation from France. Born “Trace” she later added the “y” to her name, and became one of the richest British comedians of all time, or at least the richest female British comedian. This versatile performer is known for her comedy, acting, singing, dancing, producing, directing, writing and business pursuits.
7. The Arquette siblings, 1959-.
These well known actors, Rosanna, Patricia, Alexis, Richmond and David have been in all sorts of plays, movies, television shows and David was even a professional wrestler. Their mother, maiden name Nowak, was of Polish-Jewish descent. Their list of acting credits is enormous for a single family of siblings.
6. Alexandrea “Alex” Borstein, 1971-.
Most famous for her voice acting role of Lois Griffin on the television cartoon series, Family Guy, Alex is of Polish-Jewish descent. She has also appeared in movies and other television shows and has done voice work on video games. (As you can see by numbers #7 and #6, there are many actors and entertainers of Polish-Jewish ancestry, including Jack Benny, Arthur Rubenstein Debra Messing, Simon Cowell, Neil Diamond, Benny Goodman, Scarlett Johannson, Shia LeBeouf, Harvey Keitel, Samuel Goldwyn, the Warner Brothers, and a veritable Who’s Who of entertainment.)
5. Steven Tyler, 1948-.
Surprisingly still alive after his mis-steps with drugs, this lead singer of Aerosmith is still rocking. He is ¼ Polish from his maternal grandmother. Of course, this means his actress daughters, Liv and Mia are also of Polish descent.
4. Joseph Conrad, 1857-1924.
The famous “British” writer of such works as Heart of Darkness (the story that was modernized into the 1979 film Apocalypse Now) was actually Polish, born in Telephone (in what is now Ukraine) as Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski. Despite his birth in the Ukraine, an area with many Jews as well as Ukrainians, Conrad was born of Polish nobility. In fact, Conrad’s grandfather served with Marshal Poniatowski in Napoleon’s Grand Armee. In 1886 Conrad became a British citizen after bouncing around Europe in the convoluted changing borders and empires that prevailed. He served as a merchant sailor until 1894 when he became a full time writer. Another of his famous works is Lord Jim, made into a major movies in 1925 and 1965.
3. Nicolaus Copernicus, 1473-1543.
Born Nicolaj Kopernik in Torun, Poland (then part of Prussia), Copernicus was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer that proved the Earth orbit’s the sun along with the other planets, going against European (Catholic) doctrine that made the Earth the center of the Universe with the Sun orbiting the Earth. Adept at many scientific fields, including economics, his great work was published shortly before his death, On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres, which was a ground breaking and pioneering work that started the so called “Copernican Revolution” as a subset of the Renaissance “Scientific Revolution.” Having studied in Poland and Italy, Copernicus was a great influence on astronomers that followed, including Galileo, who was convicted of heresy in 1633 for espousing Copernican principles.
2. Marie Curie, 1867-1934.
Born Maria Salomea Sklodowska in Warsaw, the scientist that became known as “Madame Curie” married a French scientist named Pierre Curie and was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, winning a Nobel Prize in both Physics and Chemistry, the only person to win 2 such prizes in different subjects. (Pierre also got a Nobel Prize.) She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the only woman to win 2 Nobel Prizes. Curie is the discoverer of the elements Radium and Polonium (Polonium named after her native Poland.) Albert Einstein called her “probably the only person that could not be corrupted by fame.” Marie and Pierre Curie turned down many awards and gave much of their Nobel Prize money to students and other researchers.
1. Stan “The Man” Musial, 1941 – 1963.
This Hall of Famer played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals (22 years), and when he retired, he had more batting records, including a career .331 batting average with 7 batting titles, than any player in history besides Babe Ruth. (Many of his records were later passed by Hank Aaron and Pete Rose.) Musial was of such character that after his playing days, he was voted the most trusted athlete/spokesman. His 24 All Star Games are tied for 1st of all time. He was also the model of reliability, having the longest continuous playing streak without a day off besides Lou Gehrig. (Before Cal Ripken, Jr.) Musial’s stint with the U.S. Navy during World War II cost him even more baseball achievements. (See our April 1 article, Famous Polish-American Baseball Players for an impressive list of all start diamond men.)
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: Who is your favorite Polish person?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Minjoli, Teresia. Maria Leszczynska Und Die Favoritinnen Ludwigs XV. Wer War Wirklich Die Konigin? (German Edition). GRIN Verlag GmbH, 2014.
