antonina

Could you name a great, fascinating or simply awful woman who left a mark - slight or strong - on the history of your country? Was it for better or worse?

It would be particularly interresting to hear of some women who aren't widely known outside their native land.

antonina

Maja Berezowska (1898 - 1978)

Polish graphic designer and book illustrator. Her frivolous series of cartoons published in "Ici Paris" under the title "Adventures of Sweet Adolph" were all the rage in Paris 1935. The Gestapo, sadly lacking in sense of humour, placed Berezowska on the "enemy list"; folowing the German invasion of Poland she was arrested and dispatched to Ravensbruck with a death sentence for insulting the Fuhrer. Amazingly, she survived four years in the concentration camp and emerged in 1945, half starved but unbeaten, her joy of life intact.

Her delightful illustrations of Polish renaissance and baroque erotic poetry could finally be published as soon as the grim Stalinst period was over. They've been the joy of each generation of Poles ever since.

antonina

Zofia Rapp vel Marie Springer



One of the most daring intelligence agents of Polish underground. Born in Berlin she spoke German like a native, which facilitated her trips between occupied Warsaw and the Reich under the name Marie Springer.

Among the information she gathered was the exact location of the battleship "Tirpitz", which enabled the Allies to destroy it ( ) or details about the „Hannower Stecken” factory where acumulators for German submarines were produced.
In 1943 she married Jana Kochański, codename „Maciek”, intelligence officer parachuted to Poland from Britain. When the Gestapo arrested them both, Marie was eight month pregnant. Having simulated contractions, she was taken to hospital - the Nazis guarding her room night and day. Still, she managed to slip past them and escape (the story reads like James Bond!) Her baby was born healthy and on time.

Zofia Rap remarried after the war, her son Maciek became an artist.

funakison

Carpenter, Mary

Carpenter, Mary, 1807–77, English educator. She devoted her life to the establishment of schools and institutions and the promotion of educational reforms. In 1835 she organized the Working and Visiting Society, in 1846 opened a school for poor children, and in 1852 founded a juvenile reformatory (see her Juvenile Delinquents: Their Condition and Treatment, 1852). Her agitation for reformatory and industrial schools contributed to the passage of the Juvenile Offenders Act (1857) and furthered the movement for free day schools. She made four visits to India after 1866, interesting herself in Indian education, and also lectured in the United States.

MinoanGoddess

FOR THE BETTERMENT OF MANKIND
Marie Skłodowska-Curie (7 November 1867 – 4 July 1934) was a Polish physicist and chemist, working mainly in France, who is famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the only woman to win in two fields, and the only person to win in multiple sciences. She was also the first female professor at the University of Paris (La Sorbonne), and in 1995 became the first woman to be entombed on her own merits in Paris' Panthéon.

Tairusiano

Maria Quitéria de Jesus Feira de Santana, 27 July 1792 - Salvador, August 21, 1853


in the Brazilian war of Independece she joined the joined the Brazilian army as a men two weeks discovered that she was a woman but instead of being expelled she was accepted,with the commander of the unit giving to her a kilt for him to add to uniform
The October 29 followed with his battalion to participate in the defense of the island of Maré and, soon after, to Concepção, Pituba Itapoã and integrating in the First Division. In February 1823, he participated bravely fighting the Pituba when attacked an enemy trench, where he made several Portuguese prisoners , escorting them alone to camp.

On March 31, the rank of Cadet, received, by order of the Interim Council of the Province, a sword and its accessories.

Finally, July 2, 1823, when the "Liberation Army" came into triumph in the city of Salvador, Maria Quitéria was welcomed and honored by the people in the party. The provincial government had given him the right to bear the sword.
she fought in rest of the war late some peoples called him the "Brazilian Joan d'arc"

antonina

Thank you for the contribution Funakison, I must admit I've never even heard of her ( and twice as much so, as an educator...)

Very nice of you to mention her, we're proud of Maria Sklodowska, especially as the Polish contribution to science has been rather modest. But I've got to admit I've always felt sort of uneasy about her discovery of radium... not that sure it was much of a blessing for mankind.

Hadisami8

Simply awful women?

tjadams

Anne Hutchinson, Mary Dyer, Abigail Adams, Jeanette Rankin, Dorothea Dix and Clara Barton come to mind.

antonina

I looked them all up (again - no name even rang a bell! Thank you for posting ). Ms Dix and Barton clearly made a great contribution for the good, Ms president Adams was quite a character, the stories of Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer are amazing - I had a chance to learn about some Protestant martyrs and saints (if you don't mind the Catholic phrasing), but not about these women who obviously deserve to be remembered.
As for Ms Rankin,she certainly seems to have made a mark on American politics, but whether for the good I'm not quite sure.