Editing Helena Modjeska (section)

==Early life==
Helena Modjeska was born in [[Free City of Kraków|Kraków, Poland]], on 12 October 1840.{{sfn |Shattuck |1987 |p=126}}{{sfn |Modjeska |1910 |p=15}} Her birth name was recorded as Jadwiga Benda, but she was later baptized Helena Opid.{{sfn |Shattuck |1987 |p=126}}

The question of Helena  Modjeska’s paternity and identity has been a subject of controversy and myths from the very beginning, often perpetuated by  Modjeska herself. Helena’s mother was Józefa Benda, née Mizel. Her parents were Karol Mizel (Müzel) and Katarzyna Golc (Goltz), both of whom came from German mining families that arrived at the end of the 18th century to work in the mines in [[Szczakowa]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Orzechowski |first=Emil |date=2017 |title=Helena Modrzejewska |url=https://encyklopediateatru.pl/osoby/41524/helena-modrzejewska |website=Encyklopedia Teatru Polskiego}}</ref> Józefa was born in [[Swoszowice,_Kraków#Subdivisions_of_Swoszowice|Wróblowice]], lost her father at an early age, and was taken in by the Radwański family, the owners of the nearby [[Swoszowice, Kraków|Swoszowice]] estate. They provided her with an education, brought her to Kraków, and arranged her marriage to Szymon Benda in 1824.<ref name=":0" />

Szymon Benda and Józefa had three sons: Józef Szymon, Jan Szymon, and {{Ill|Feliks Benda|lt=Feliks Filip|pl}}. Benda passed away in 1835 at the age of 63, leaving his wife and sons a substantial estate, including two interconnected tenement houses at the corner of Grodzka and Szeroka Streets (now Dominikański Square).<ref name=":0" /> A few years after his death, Józefa became involved with a municipial clerk, Michał Opid, an admirer of music and classical literature, who was married to Anna Krzyczkiewicz. From this marriage, he had a son Adolf.<ref name=":0" /> From the relationship between Józefa Mizel and Michał Opid, Helena was born in 1838, followed by her younger sister, Józefa Michalina, in 1842.<ref name=":0" /> Adolf Opid was two years older than Helena and the closest to her among all the siblings.<ref name=":0" />

[[File:Helena Modrzejewska 1865 Kraków.jpg|thumb|Modjeska as Queen [[Barbara Radziwiłł]], 1865]]

For a long time, a popular rumor suggested that  Modjeska's father was Prince [[Władysław Hieronim Sanguszko]]—a hero of the [[November Uprising]] and a wealthy landowner. The basis of this speculation was likely the resemblance in appearance and life paths between Modjeska and Sanguszko’s acknowledged daughter, also {{Ill|Helena Sanguszko|lt=Helena|pl|Helena Sanguszkówna}}, who was also an actress, renowned for both her beauty and scandalous lifestyle.<ref name=":0" />

Michał Opid died around 1845, when Helena was 5 years old. The tenement in which she and her family lived burned down in the great fire of Kraków in 1850, which could not be rebuilt. The family moved into the flat of Dr Schanzer, father of the actress Marie von Bülow, and Helena and her sister Józefina were sent to the school of the Presentation Sisters. In 1850 or 1851, the sisters began to take private German lessons from G Gustaw Zimajer, an actor, who fostered in Helena the interest in theatre that had been awakened by her brothers, especially Feliks.<ref name=":0" />

Also glossed over in Modjeska's autobiography were the details concerning her first marriage, to her former guardian, Gustave Sinnmayer (Polish: Gustaw Zimajer). Gustave was an actor and the director of a second-rate provincial theater troupe.{{sfn|Osnes|2001|p={{page needed|date=October 2021}}}} The date of Modjeska's marriage to Gustave is uncertain. She discovered many years later that they had not been legally married, because he was still married to his first wife when they wed.{{sfn |Shattuck |1987 |pp=126, 317}} Together the couple had two children, a son Rudolf (later renamed [[Ralph Modjeski]]), and a daughter Marylka, who died in infancy.{{sfn |Modjeska |1910 |p=114}}

Gustaw Zimajer used the stage name "Gustaw Modrzejewski."<ref>The surname "Modrzejewski" likely derives from "''modrzew''," which is Polish for "[[larch]]."</ref> It was the feminine form of this name that Modjeska adopted when she made her stage debut in 1861 as Helena Modrzejewska.{{sfn |Wilmeth |Miller |1996 |p=263.}} Later, when acting abroad, she simplified  her name to "Modjeska", which was easier for English-speaking audiences to pronounce.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9330293 Encyclopedia – Britannica Online Encyclopedia<!-- Bot-generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060316054314/http://www.britannica.com/ebi/article-9330293|date=2006-03-16}} at www.britannica.com</ref>
[[Image:Helena Modrzejewska jako Adam Kazanowski 1867 (96686957) (cropped).jpg|thumb|Modrzejewska as [[Adam Kazanowski]] in ''The Court of Prince Władysław'', 1867]]
In her early Polish acting career, Modrzejewska played at [[Bochnia]], [[Nowy Sącz]], [[Przemyśl]], [[Rzeszów]] and [[Brzeżany]]. In 1862 she appeared for the first time in [[Lwów]], playing in her first Romantic drama, as "Skierka" in [[Juliusz Słowacki]]'s ''[[Balladyna (drama)|Balladyna]]''. From 1863 she appeared at [[Ivano-Frankivsk|Stanisławów]] and [[Czerniowce]], in plays by Słowacki.

In 1865 Zimajer tried to get her a contract with [[Vienna|Viennese]] theaters, but the plan came to naught due to her poor knowledge of the [[German language]]. Later that year Helena left Zimajer, taking their son Rudolf, and returning to Kraków.<ref>{{cite book|title= Helena Modjeska|publisher= Encyclopædia Britannica Online|year= 2009|access-date= 19 February 2009|url= http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/387379/Helena-Modjeska|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090810003520/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/387379/Helena-Modjeska|archive-date= 2009-08-10|url-status= live}}</ref> Once there she accepted a four-year theatrical engagement. In 1868 she began appearing in [[Warsaw]]; during her eight years there, she consolidated her status as a theater star. Her half-brothers Józef and Feliks Benda were also well-regarded actors in Poland.

One incident illustrates the restrictions of nineteenth century Polish society. At one of Modrzejewska's Warsaw performances, seventeen secondary-school pupils presented her with a bouquet of flowers tied with a ribbon in the red-and-white Polish national colors. The pupils were accused by the [[Russian Empire|Russian Imperial]] authorities of conducting a [[History of Poland (1795–1918)#The time of "Organic Work"|patriotic]] demonstration. They were expelled from their school and banned from admission to any other school. One of the pupils, Ignacy Neufeld, subsequently shot himself; Modrzejewska attended his funeral.<ref>Information from [[:pl:Helena Modrzejewska|the Polish Wikipedia article]], edition of 19:53, 25 January 2009.</ref>