Life /
Famous / Iconic Polish Women [43]
Matka Polka should be translated as Mother Pole, and it's not the same as a Polish mum. It's a cultural archetype here in Poland, created exactly because there were so many iconic women that they needed a generic name.
Matka Polka isn't necessarily a biological mother. She's rather a mother, a backbone, of the nation than a mother to her own kids. It's thought that Poland survived the time of inexistance in the 19th century, both World Wars, and communism thanks to them.
Typically Matka Polka fought in the 19th century insurrections as well as in both World Wars. There were thousands of women fighting, so one wouldn't be able to mention them all by name. They also organised underground life, publishing and education (for both men and women) throughout much of the last two centuries. They are, in other words, a symbol of Polish resistance.
Matka Polka tends to be a lonely figure, because her husband, father and brothers would be taken from home or killed by the enemy powers. She had to carry all the burden - domestical and patriotic - on her own.
The mere fact that Maria Curie-Skłodowska was able to receive two Nobel Prizes starts with another woman, Jadwiga Szczawińska, who organised the Flying University - the only courses of higher education available to women in the 19th century Poland under Russian occupation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_University
Emilia Plater, the first female commanding officer in the Polish Army in the early 19th century, died a virgin, and yet she's a typical Mother Pole.
Approximately 4,000 women fought on the first day of the Warsaw Uprising 1944 and many more joined within the next weeks. They were the first female soldiers granted POW status by an enemy in world history. They are Mother Poles too, but many of them were just teenagers.
The first Mother Pole was Wanda - a legendary ruler of Poland, who commited a suicide in order to avoid an unwanted marriage and at the same time spare her people from invasions on her territory by the unwanted suitor.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Wanda
In other words Mother Poles are women who pursue higher goals, sacrifycing their own convenience for the country. Often they're fighers or martyrs, but scientists and writers count too. A traitor would not be a Mother Pole even if she achevied a lot, and a gold digger wouldn't be one either.
Many of them received high distinctions. The first woman received Virtuti Militari - the highest distinction for bravery in battle - yet in the early 1800s. To answer your question then all Polish iconic women are Mother Poles, even if not all of them are famous.
