Historical story

Was Maria Skłodowska-Curie Jewish?

For anti-Semites, the Jewish origin of the Nobel Prize winner was a stone of offense. Jewish newspapers proudly indicated that Maria Skłodowska-Curie belonged to the Chosen People. But was the discoverer of radium and one of the most distinguished Polish women in history really Jewish?

It is difficult to say on what basis Maria Skłodowska-Curie was considered a Jew. Perhaps it was suggested by her second, biblical name (Salomea) and it was connected with the well-known fact that many followers of Judaism lived in Poland.

It was said:"We don't want a Jewess"

In November 1910, Maria Skłodowska-Curie submitted her candidacy to the French Academy. During the hot election campaign, her Jewish origin was pointed out. Given that anti-Semitic sentiment was strong in France at that time, the case received wide publicity.

Do you see the "characteristically drooping Jewish corners of the eyes"? French scientists must have seen them. Or so they thought.

At least some members of the Academy took into account the Polish researcher's roots when making their decisions. Ultimately, at the beginning of 1911, Marie Skłodowska-Curie lost by two votes to Edouard Branly, a physicist and doctor, one of the pioneers of radio. She lost because the French did not want a Jew in their midst.

Epitaph in honor of the great Jew

Also after the death of the Nobel Prize winner in 1934, information about the scientist's Jewish origins appeared in the foreign press. For example, the Viennese "Gerchtigkeit" (Jewish newspaper) wrote:

Could it be members of the French Academy instead of Maria Skłodowska-Curie ...

Maria Curie, born in 1867 in Warsaw, was Jewish. She came completely poor to Paris and got a place there for a laboratory maid at the Sorbonne. She studied mathematics and physics at the same time and became assistant to Pierre Curie, whom she later married.

This was met with a decisive response from "Ilustrowany Kurier Codzienny", one of the most widely read magazines in pre-war Poland:

We ignore the biographical inaccuracies of the above note and the complete omission of the Polish name of Maria Curie. We ignore the fact that Marja Skłodowska was never a maid, but a laboratory technician with a secondary school diploma at the Inst. prof. Lippman and not an assistant, but a friend of Piotr Curie.

We must, however, firmly correct the finger-tipped statement that Mrs. Curie-Skłodowska was Jewish. Not only was it not, but not a drop of Jewish blood ran in her veins.

How was it really?

Under the influence of articles about the Jewish origin of Maria Skłodowska-Curie, historians took up her genealogy. This resulted in a valuable article by Count Zygmunt Lasocki in the "Miesięcznik Heraldyczny".

And it was confirmed that the Skłodowscy were one of many noble families. For centuries they had the coat of arms of Dołęga. Also the ancestors of the physicist's mother, née Boguska, were noblemen of the Topór coat of arms.

… Did they imagine one?

Among the ancestors of the Nobel Prize winner were Jakub Skłodowski, who in 1733 signed the election of King Stanisław Leszczyński, and Franciszek Boguski, who collected various dignities in the years 1767-1792, in the style of the Ostrołęka land regent or the Łomża land judge.

In a word - neither criticism nor praise towards Curie-Skłodowska resulting from her Jewish origin had any basis. The famous researcher was a Pole with her great-grandfather.

The case was aptly summed up by the "Illustrated Daily Courier":

We do not care about proving that she owes her genius talents to Curie Skłodowska belonging to the Aryan council. But we do not consider it decent to make her, for the use of militant Zionism, a Jew after the death of a pure-blooded Polish woman.

This is how the "Gerechtigkeit" fights "racism" on the one hand - and on the other hand it cultivates and peralizes its Jewish "racism" - it is even - as in this case - based on common lie.

Supplementary:

  1. Adamek Mieczysław, Skłodowski Józef (1804-1882) , [in:] Polish Biographical Dictionary, vol. 38 p. 198.
  2. Sadaj Henryk, Skłodowscy . Ancestors and contemporaries of Maria Salomea Skłodowska Curie , "Annals of Humanities", vol. 30, 1982, issue 2.