The Seminar and Exhibition “Native Europe: Photographs of Ukraine 1902-1903 & the Polish
Citizenship of Constance Markievicz”, 16 th June 2024.
Poland was first to help! – were the words of the Polish ambassador to
Ireland, Prof. Arkady Rzegocki at the Polish House in Dublin during the
opening of the exhibition of the Irish-Polish Society on the occasion of the
20th anniversary of Poland’s accession to the EU. Today, Poland is a modern
and strong country, a member of the European Union and NATO, with strong
ties with Ukraine and its historical ties with Ireland, dating back even to the
early Middle Ages, added the Polish diplomat. Stay with us! Stand by us! – this
is a strong message from the ambassador of Ukraine in Ireland, Larysa
Gerasko, who was visiting our Polish centre on the invitation of the Embassy
of the Republic of Poland. I was there in Moscow when Ukrainian national
consciousness was emerging and when the Soviet Union was falling apart,
recalled the former Irish ambassador to Poland and the USSR, Patrick
McCabe. And I saw the dissatisfaction on the faces of Soviet comrades, added
the distinguished guest. My parents are in Ukraine, at home… and they are not
afraid, said Ambassador Larysa Gerasko later on the sidelines.
The exhibition entitled Native Europe is a journey through time. It shows the image of Ukraine from
1902-1903, captured in original sepia photographs, seen through the eyes of a young Irish woman,
Constance Markiewicz (née Gore-Booth), wife of the Polish noble, Kazmierz Markiewicz, from the
manor house in Żywotówka near Oratów in western Ukraine. The photographs she took, shown for the
first time publicly at the Polish House in Dublin on June 16, 2024, are also a retrospective look at the
common European identity of three nations: Polish, Ukrainian and Irish.
The title of the exhibition refers to the book by Czesław Miłosz, entitled Native Realm (in Polish,
literally: Native Europe), published in Paris in the 1950s and telling the story of the multicultural
Vilnius of the Polish Nobel Prize winner's youth. This microcosm of nations is also visible in the
photos of Constance, where, next to a Ukrainian bride and groom, or Ukrainian peasants, you can see
Jewish merchants on the market square in Oratów, Polish children playing around a typical Polish
manor and images of the noble Markiewicz family. This part of history was presented to the audience
by the Chairman of the Irish-Polish Society and the author of the English-language trilogy about the
Markiewicz family, Patrick Quigley. The author has travelled many times around Poland and Ukraine,
at the invitation of various institutions and schools, and in 2016 he also visited the Old Polish
University in Kielce, during a special conference entitled "Ireland 1916-2016: an Age of Change". Dr
Katarzyna Gmerek from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, who came at the invitation of
Ognisko Polskie CLG (management board of the Polish House), told the guests about her work on the
Polish translation of Patrick Quigley's latest book, which is a compilation of the author's Irish trilogy.
The translator also presented recordings of a patriotic song by Constance Markiewicz from the period
of the Irish Easter Rising of 1916 and an earlier Polish song entitled With the smoke of fires, created in
the mid-19th Cent. but popular later, especially during the January Uprising of 1863 in the former
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Both songs, although sung in different languages and with
different content, have the same melody line and a similar national liberation message. This is another
parallel that binds our nations, noticed by Dr Gmerek. The story of the saga of the Markiewicz family
is also an opportunity to familiarize listeners with unique documents confirming Konstancja
Markiewicz's Polish citizenship. Their analysis in the political and constitutional context was
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undertaken by Dr Jarosław Płachecki, representing the management board of the Polish House as well
as the Dublin Branch of the Old Polish University of Applied Sciences in Kielce. In 1921, Konstancja
Markiewicz applied for Polish citizenship as a member of the Irish Parliament, while also serving as
Minister of Labour in the informal government of Ireland. She received her Polish passport in 1922
and never applied for an Irish or British passport. She died in 1927 as a Polish citizen. This personal
story of Ireland's national heroine, suffragist and the first woman elected to the British Parliament, is
not well known by the Irish, nor by the Polish community in Ireland.
The opening and conference were organized thanks to the help of the team of the Embassy of the
Republic of Poland in Dublin, members of the Irish-Polish Society, the support of Ognisko Polskie
and the Old Polish University of Applied Sciences in Kielce. In addition to representatives of the
Polish diaspora and the Polish and Ukrainian diplomatic corps, the guests also included: Dr Emily
Mark-Fitzgerald (Prof. of Art History of Art and Cultural Policy at UCD), Senator Gerry Horkan,
Helena Johnston (secretary of the Irish Polish Society in 1979), Dermot Manning (former President of
the Kildare Street and University Club), Verity Swan (Irish-Japanese Society), Ray Bateson (historian
and author of Memorials of the Easter Rising) and Muriel McAuley (granddaughter of one of the
leaders of the Easter Rising, Thomas McDonagh). The exhibition organized by the Irish Polish Society
is just one of the activities of the Polish House in Dublin in its new function as the Institute of Polish
Culture and Research in Ireland. Coming soon, in addition to cultural and scientific events, there will
be more new Polish publications.
In the photos: 1) Welcome to the Polish House (from the left): H.E. Ambassador of
Ukraine in Ireland, Larysa Gerasko, Chairman of the Irish-Polish Society, Patrick
Quigley, host of the opening, Dr Jarosław Płachecki, H.E. Polish Ambassador to
Ireland, Prof. Arkady Rzegocki and Dr Katarzyna Gmerek from Adam Mickiewicz
University (standing back). 2) Inaugural lecture by Prof. Arkady Rzegocki on the
historical and present day trilateral relations between Poland, Ukraine and Ireland, 3)
H.E. Ambassador of Ukraine Larysa Gerasko speaking about Russian aggression in
Ukraine, 4) Poland, Ukraine and Ireland – the saga of the Markiewicz family by
Patrick Quigley, 5) Dr Katarzyna Gmerek compares recordings of Polish and Irish
uprising songs, 6) Dr Jarosław Płachecki, Director of the Branch of the Old Polish
Academy of Applied Sciences in Dublin, about documents confirming Polish
citizenship of Konstancja Markiewicz, 7) Patrick McCabe, former ambassador of
Ireland to Poland (1905-2001) in conversation with Helena Johnston, co-founder of
the Irish-Polish Society in 1979. All photographs by Mariusz Kowalczyk (the Polish
Embassy Dublin).
Video link from the Exhibition by Paweł Bury: https://fb.watch/sOMImXNGbM/
The note was prepared by Dr Jarosław Płachecki 20/06/2024