𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 (𝐰𝐨)𝐦𝐚𝐧 – 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐉𝐚𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐠𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐟𝐟 (𝟏𝟖𝟓𝟖–𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟎) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦

„𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐞 (𝐰𝐨)𝐦𝐚𝐧 – 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚 𝐉𝐚𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐠𝐚 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐟𝐟 (𝟏𝟖𝟓𝟖–𝟏𝟗𝟒𝟎) 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐄𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐈𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐦

Dr. Piotr Kubkowski, Department of Cultural History, Warsaw
07.05.2024 | Pariser Platz 4A, 10117 Berlin |

Registration:
https://forms.gle/NThXUA8dayb6pnoi7

17.00 (public guided tour of our exhibition „Doppelt Frei“)

18.00 (lecture)
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Dr. Piotr Kubkowski´s lecture “Self-made (wo)man – Maria Jadwiga Strumff (1858 – 1940)” is the fourth event accompanying our exhibition „Liberated Twice” (Doppelt Frei). Dr. Kubkowski will present the fascinating biography of a (very) self-confident woman in Warsaw at the end of the 19th century. Jadwiga Maria Strumff (1858-1940), a baptized Jew who had just moved to Warsaw, was left by her husband from one day to another suddenly having to raise four children by herself.

Strumff dared to take a very atypical step for women in the second half of the 19th century, namely, the step into professional life. As a so-called self-made woman, she became one of the first female masseuses in Warsaw and Poland. She articulated and shaped self-definitions of her idiosyncratic gender and sexual orientation that were clearly ahead of their time. Her memoirs are among the first testimonies of intimate relationships between women in Polish culture.
Maria Jadwiga was the lover and confidante of, among others, a famous female writer. Through her diaries, we are granted insights into the social fabric of Warsaw during a time when both men and women of influence increasingly entered the pathways to self-emancipation. The story of Maria Jadwiga Strumff eloquently illustrates these social dynamics.
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Dr. Piotr Kubkowski: Cultural expert and cultural historian, specializing in the period at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He deals with the cultural history of tourism and travel, sports and the body, and urban culture. He defended his doctoral thesis on the first Polish cyclists with distinction in 2017.