By Ukyung (Heidi) Nam
History is written by the winners. In this patriarchal world where less than 15% of countries are ruled by women, it is safe to say that men have been, and currently are, the winners. We all know of music prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry F. Joliot Curie, or Hero of the Jews Oskar Schindler. But have we ever even heard of Mozart’s sister Nannerl, Frederick Joliot’s wife Irene Curie, or Holocaust Hero Zofia Kossak-Szczucka? Male scribes of our history have always remained partial to the rendering of important figures of their own gender, choosing to blatantly disregard the major and indispensable role their female counterparts played.
Nannerl Mozart was born with the name Maria Anna Mozart. 5 years Wolfgang Amadeus’s elder, historians say that her sheer musical prowess surpassed even that of her brother’s. During her childhood, Nannerl toured the courts of Europe hand-in-hand with her brother. She was praised by many aristocrats, including Count Karl von Zinzendorf, who wrote: “The little fellow from Salzburg and his sister played the harpsichord… His sister’s playing is masterly, and he(Mozart) applauded her.” Even Nannerl’s father Leopold praises her highly, writing that “My little girl plays the most difficult works which we have…with incredible precision and so excellently…my little girl, although she is only 12 years old, is one of the most skillful players in Europe.”
When Nannerl turned 18, however, she was banned from further tours, the reason being that it would damage her reputation, which would be a disaster since she was a woman of marriageable age. Back then, female composers were regarded as prostitutes if they performed and composed for profit. None of Nannerl’s works survived. Her brother described her compositions as being “beautiful”, which is praise of the highest degree, coming from Mozart himself.
Nannerl wasn’t allowed the same opportunities as that of her brother’s. The world might have had another music prodigy and countless more beautiful pieces of music composed were it not for the confines of an unforgiving society. Nannerl Mozart, like so many other women, was hidden behind the curtains of patriarchy, never to be unveiled again.
Irene Joliot-Curie was the eldest daughter to the renowned Nobel Prize winning scientists, Marie and Pierre Curie. Born in Paris 1897, Irene lived through most of her early childhood years under the care of her grandfather Eugene, who instilled in her a love of politics. Following the untimely death of her father, Pierre Curie, the teenage Irene started to learn Physics and Chemistry from renowned professors such as Albert Einstein and her mother, Marie Curie herself. During World War I, Irene insisted on implementing X-ray technology on the battlefield to help locate shrapnel in the bodies of wounded soldiers. She was organizing radiology units and overseeing the teaching of her fellow nurses on how to use the X-ray machines at the age of 18. After the war, she became her mother’s official assistant at the Radium Institute, where she was given the task of training a new initiate at the lab, Frederic Joliot. They married in 1926, and worked together as researchers starting 2 years later.
The Joliot-Curie couple came very close to making extraordinary breakthroughs during their research on radioactive materials in the early 1930s, but were prevented from doing so by the misinterpretation of the results of their experiments, which had identified both the positron and the neutron. However, in 1934, they made a groundbreaking discovery that changed the history of radiation research forever. They conducted a series of experiments in which they bombarded aluminium foil with alpha particles. They noticed that positrons were being emitted from the aluminium even after the bombardment of alpha particles had stopped, and from those results they concluded that the aluminium atoms had been converted into radioactive atoms, which made them the first scientists to manufacture radioactive atoms. Scientists would no longer have to extract the radioactive elements from their ores manually, but create them in labs instead. For this achievement, the Joliot-Curies were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1935. Irene’s work did not end there. She spearheaded research into radium nuclei with a group of German physicists when she discovered nuclear fission.
Irene’s continued work at the Radium Institute with the two-edged sword that is radioactivity soon brought about her end. Due to extensive exposure to radiation, Irene Joliot-Curie died of leukemia in 1956, her death grossly similar to that of her mother’s.
Irene Joliot-Curie has made cancer treatment and nuclear power plants possible, two major medical and technological feats that without, the modern world would suffer greatly. Yet she met an unfortunate death under the age of 60, and her achievements were overshadowed by her husband’s undeserving fame. Note how the Nobel Committee awarded the prize to the ‘F. Joliot-Curie’ couple, and how most biographies don’t even deign to mention her name on the front cover.
Yet another unsung hero is Zofia Kossak-Szczucka, (short description) In August 1942, Kossak-Szczucka wrote in an appeal, titled “Protest” to Western societies during the liquidation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto. “The world is viewing this crime, more horrible than anything else in the annals of mankind, and is silent,” were her words (Rzeczpospolita, 2017). Zofia was an activist writer who advocated for the rights of Jews. Her actions are remarkable and remembered as they resulted in the saving of hundreds of Jews, most of whom are still alive today (Yad Vashem).
Zofia Kossak-Szczucka’s bravery, humanity, and intelligence resulted in the saving of hundreds of innocent lives. As a devout Catholic-Polish writer, she did not support the tenants of Judaism, and was even criticized as being ‘anti semitist’ postmortem, but she still saw Jews as human beings who deserve to be saved. Even though her books and writing were censored by communist authorities, she never stopped protesting and writing for Jews. She also hid Jews in hiding places, and provided them with license cards and food. She even made trips to Krakow to rescue orphaned Jewish children. In September 1943, Zofia was arrested in Warsaw, detained in Pawiak prison, and was then sent to Auschwitz. During her stay there, she wrote Z otchtani(Out of the Abyss), through which she described her stay at Auschwitz (Rzeczpospolita, 2017). She revealed the truth hidden behind all the code words and the secrets of the Nazis for all the world to see. In addition, Zofia co-founded Zegota, an organisation for the saving and aid of Jews (Rzeczpospolita, 2017).
Despite her heroism, Zofia’s name is hidden under the shadows of many other trees planted in honor of men such as Oskar Schindler on the Avenue of the Righteous. Her actions were no less worthy in every aspect imaginable, yet people do not remember her or any other female Holocaust Hero. They remember the male heroes who were lucky enough to have their stories turned into major motion pictures.
As Madame Colette, one of the most celebrated female authors in French history once said, “The hand that holds the pen writes history.” The pen has long been in the grasp of our male counterparts. It is time to unearth every heroine from their hidden graves and present them back in the spotlight. With this act of resurgence and remembrance, we women shall rise up as the new power, and history will be ours to write.
Published on Heidi’s Wonderland, May 17th 2020. https://hnsouth14.wixsite.com/website/post/heroines
