2023Centenary of Polish Immigration - Set

At the end of the 18th century, Poland lost its independence and did not regain it until 1919. In the meantime, the Polish territory experienced several waves of diasporas – or Polonias as the Poles say. The first French Polonia was political: it began in the early 1830s, after the failure of the insurrection of 1830-1831, and continued until 1870 with successive uprisings against the Russian occupiers and the repression that ensues. During these forty years, around 30,000 Poles settled in France. Coming from the wealthy strata of society, they laid the foundations of a lasting cultural presence, reinforced at the end of the 19th century by the arrival of artists, intellectuals and scientists: Maria Skłodowska, who will be remembered as Mary Curie, took up residence in Paris in 1891.