Irena Górska-Damięcka
{{Short description|Polish actress and director (1910–2008)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Irena Górska-Damięcka
| image = Irena Gorska-Damiecka.JPG
| alt = black-and-white portrait of white female looking left of camera
| caption = Irena Górska-Damięcka
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1910|10|20|df=y}}
| birth_place = Ashmyany, Russian Empire
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2008|01|01|1910|10|20|df=y}}
| death_place = Skolimów, Poland
| nationality =
| other_names =
| occupation = Actress
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
}}
Irena Górska-Damięcka (20 October 1910 – 1 January 2008) was a Polish actress, mise-en-scène designer, and theater director.{{Cite web |title=Irena Górska-Damięcka |url=https://www.filmpolski.pl/fp/index.php |access-date=30 December 2022 |website=FilmPolski |language=pl}}{{Cite web |date=2 February 2021 |title=Irena Górska-Damięcka przeżyła wojnę i stratę ciąży. Przez rok nie powiedziała synom, że ojciec umarł |url=https://www.ofeminin.pl/swiat-kobiet/irena-gorska-damiecka-biografia-tworczosc-i-dokonania/pnvp1q4 |access-date=30 December 2022 |website=Ofeminin |language=pl}}
Biography
Born in Ashmyany in the Russian Empire (now Belarus), her mother Alina Górska was forbidden to act after marrying, but used the money from her dowry to build a home with a cinema inside. After graduating from high school, Górska went to theatre school in Vilnius. She made her stage debut in 1936, aged 26, in Juliusz Osterwa's experimental group Reduta. She met Czesław Miłosz in a cafe while reciting poetry, and they developed a relationship that lasted for two years; they continued to correspond throughout their lives after separating.{{Cite web |date=29 June 2021 |title=Czesław Miłosz miał romans z mamą Daniela Olbrychskiego. Sekretne życie pisarza |url=https://plejada.pl/newsy/czeslaw-milosz-tajemnicze-kochanki-i-sekretne-zycie-poety/9xh0eqv |access-date=30 December 2022 |website=plejadapl |language=pl}}
File:Bekanntmachung.Igo.Sym.Assassination.Warsaw.1941.jpg
In 1940, Górska married actor Dobieslaw Damięcki, who was married when they met to actress and dancer Jadwiga Hryniewiecka. The following year, the actor and Nazi collaborator Igo Sym was killed by members of the Polish resistance movement after he named Hanka Ordonówna to the Gestapo. Following Sym's assassination, over 100 actors were rounded up by the Gestapo, and the people of Warsaw were given three days to turn over the perpetrators. Górska-Damięcka and her husband, under suspicion though innocent, fled the city two hours before the Nazis searched their home; 21 of those arrested were executed.{{Cite journal |last=Tribunal |first=Supreme National |date=7 March 1941 |title=Fischer's trial, Volumes III-IV |url=https://www.zapisyterroru.pl/dlibra/publication/218/edition/206/content?navq=aHR0cDovL3d3dy56YXBpc3l0ZXJyb3J1LnBsL2RsaWJyYS9sYXRlc3Q_YWN0aW9uPVNpbXBsZVNlYXJjaEFjdGlvbiZ0eXBlPS02JnA9MA&navref=NjI7NXEgcHk7cGogYjA7YW8}}{{Cite web |title=Tajemnice klanu Damięckich. Czego o nich nie wiemy? |url=https://www.pomponik.pl/relacje-i-zwiazki/news-mateusz-damiecki-i-reszta-najwieksza-rodzina-aktorska-w-pols,nId,6037985 |access-date=31 December 2022 |website=www.pomponik.pl |language=pl}} A bounty of 3,000 Polish złoty had been issued for their arrest. The couple lived through the rest of World War II in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, changing hiding places and under false documents, using the name Bojanowski.{{Cite web |title="Teatrowi oddałam synów. Wierzę, że oddam i wnuków". Aż trzy pokolenia aktorów w rodzinie Damięckich. Wiecie, kto jest kim? |url=https://www.plotek.pl/plotek/56,79592,15887882,teatrowi-oddalam-synow-wierze-ze-oddam-i-wnukow-az-trzy.html |access-date=31 December 2022 |website=plotek.pl |language=pl}}
In 1953, the People's Council of the Koszalin Voivodeship decided to establish a theater company and tapped Górska-Damięcka as its artistic director.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bgIWAQAAMAAJ |title=Polish Western Affairs |date=1962 |publisher=Instytut Zachodni. |pages=488 |language=en}} In January 1964, the premiere of Aleksander Fredro's Maiden Vows opened under her direction.{{Citation needed|date=December 2022}}
Personal life
Górska's sons Damian Damięcki and Maciej Damięcki, and her grandchildren, Grzegorz Damięcki, Mateusz Damięcki, and Matylda Damięcka, became actors as well.{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1049683 |title=Słownik biograficzny teatru polskiego |others=Stanisław Dąbrowski, Zbigniew Raszewski, Zbigniew Wilski, Instytut Sztuki |year=1973 |isbn=83-01-11260-3 |location=Warszawa |pages=115 |language=pl |oclc=1049683}}
She died on New Year's Day, 2008, aged 98, in Skolimów, Poland.
Selected filmography
- Serce matki (1938)
- How to Be Loved (1963)
Bibliography
- Irena Górska-Damięcka, Wygrałam życie, 1997 (autobiography) ({{ISBN|83-7180-778-3}}).
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commonscat|Irena Górska-Damięcka}}
- {{IMDb name|id=2711644|name=Irena Górska-Damięcka}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorska-Damiecka, Irena}}
Category:People from Oshmyansky Uyezd
Category:Polish film actresses
Category:Polish stage actresses
Category:Polish theatre directors
Category:Polish women theatre directors
Category:20th-century Polish actresses
Category:Artists from Białystok
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