Wiktoria Longchamps de Berier

At the biographical museum of Wincenty Pol in Lublin, there is a photograph of the poet’s sister, Wiktoria Ewa Longchamps de Berier (1817-1898), taken at the Walerian Twardzicki atelier in Warsaw (ul. Niecała 12). It was donated to the collection in 1987 by Janina Romanówna Mierzejewska (1904-1991), an actress related to the family.

After her father’s death in 1823, Wiktoria was taken care of by her older sister, Zofia Bułharowska (1809-1856), a gifted pianist and educated person who spoke several languages. On July 28, 1840, she married her cousin, Wincenty Longchamps de Berier (1808-1881), a participant of the November Uprising and graduate of the Faculty of Law at the University of Vienna. At one time or another the family lived in Lviv, in Mostki near Lviv, in Gumniska near Tarnów, in Tarnopol itself, and in Przemyśl. Their children were: Bogusław (1844-1897), Wincenty (1845-1894), and Zygmunt (1846-1919) –participants in the January Uprising – and Kazimiera (1850-1898), married to Antoni Gross.

Wiktoria was a companion to her husband in his conspiratorial activities. Patriotic and religious life concentrated in their apartment in Przemyśl. In 1863, meetings were held there, ammunition and sanitary materials produced, and the insurgents were given shelter.

She did not forgive the youngest son, Zygmunt, for transferring to service in the Prussian army. In her will, she bequeathed everything to her daughter Kazimiera, leaving Zygmunt only, with an obvious allusion, the Works (Dzieła) of Wincenty Pol.

She was in a close relationship with her brother Wincenty – a poet. She and her daughters hosted him, among others, in Przemyśl in the spring of 1861, when he was finishing work on the poem Pacholę Hetmańskie. In 1860, together with her niece Julia Polówna, she received the deed of gift for the Firlejowszczyzna farm in Lublin.

She was a well-known social activist and philanthropist, founder and longtime secretary of the Society of Saints of Mercy of Saint Vincent de Paul established in Przemyśl in 1868. She was also active in the Institute for Underprivileged Girls, of which she was a founder. A commemorative plaque in her name was founded in the orphanage of the Felician Sisters in Przemyśl. She died in Lviv on March 28, 1898, and rests in the family tomb in the Łyczakowski Cemetery.

Grażyna Połuszejko