Z dziejów przyjaźni polsko-ormiańskiej

Przypadek Marii Grocholskiej (1917-1989)

Abstract

FROM THE HISTORY OF POLISH-ARMENIAN FRIENDSHIP: THE CASE OF MARIA GROCHOLSKA (1917-1989)

Maria Grocholska (1917-1989) played a significant role in Polish-Armenian cultural relations during the Soviet era. Born in St. Petersburg to a Polish family, she studied Russian philology and Armenian philology in Leningrad. Her studies continued in Yerevan from 1940 to 1945, and from 1945 to 1948 she worked there as Professor Gurgen Sewak’s assistant. After abandoning the completion of her doctoral studies, she worked in primary and secondary schools in Armenia, where she taught Russian and Armenian. From 1955 to 1960, she taught Russian at the Academy of Theology in Etchmiadzin. She was a fervent advocate of the Armenian language during the Russification era. In 1962, she translated into Armenian Bohdan Gębarski’s essay on the Armenian genocide in the Ottoman Empire, titled List do starego tureckiego znajomego [A Letter to an Old Turkish Acquaintance], which resonated widely in Armenia. She also translated several literary works by Polish authors into Armenian, including Stanisław Lem’s well-known novel Solaris. She moved to Poland in 1969, where she taught Russian at a high school in Grodzisk Mazowiecki and assisted Bohdan Gębarski in translating literature from Armenian. Grocholska died in Warsaw. In March 1989, a solemn memorial service was held in Etchmiadzin in her honor performed by Catholicos Vazgen I.