Author, political activist. She was born of noble origin of Poland, Armenian, and, some sources state, Jewish descent in Krzemieniec, Ukraine. Teodor Januszewski and Aleksandra Januszewska were her parents; she had an extended family with two brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins. She was beautiful, well-educated, the daughter of a high school teacher. In 1808, she first married Euzebiusz Slowacki, who was a Polish educator, author and historian. He had built a house just for her near her parents, but after a couple of years, he took a position in the university in Vilnius. After relocating to Vilnius, he died suddenly of tuberculosis in 1814 leaving her with a five-year-old son, Juliusz. As twenty-three-year-old widow, she returned to her parents' home. In 1818, she married Dr. August Bécu, who was noted for his publication on the new smallpox vaccine. She, as did her first husband , believed in Classicism. To provide this type of education for their son, she created a literary "salon" in their home. At he age of thirteen, Juliusz met the romantic writer Adam Mickiewicz, who was considered to be the Best National Polish Poet. She worried about her son's health as he was very thin, with poor coloring at times and one shoulder noticeably higher than the other. In 1824, Dr. Becu was killed with a bolt of lightening while napping. Once again, she was a widow. She remained in Vilnius with her son, who was a student of law at the Faculty of Moral and Political Sciences. In 1827 she returned home to Krzemieniec. In 1829 she relocated to Carlsbad for her health. For a time she lived in Dresden, where in 1830, Juliusz visited her before his departure for France; seeking a more creative environment, he left the country as he was displeased with the censoring politics of East Europe. In 1838 she was arrested by the Russian police, suspected of having ties with the underground priest Simon Konarski. For almost a year she was detained in a prison in Zhytomyr. She did see her son again in Wroclaw before his death: He arrived in Wroclaw using an alias name; they had two weeks together each knowing the end was near for him; he was then expelled by the police; and returned to Paris where he died of the dread disease that killed his father, tuberculosis. Her son was age forty, whereas her husband was forty-one when he died. Upon reaching adulthood, her son, Juliusz Slowacki became a noted poet and political activist. He had invested well in the Paris Stock Exchange, making their lives very comfortable and helping others who were exiled to France. Salomea Becu is known in literature for her 130 lyric letters that she wrote to her son and for the person he honored in his poem, "For a Mother". Another prominent poet Jan Lechon, dedicated his poem, "Lady Slovak", to Salomea too. In September 2005, the 196th Anniversary of the birth of Juliusz Slowacki was celebrated in Krzemieniec with a plaque dedicated to his mother being unveiled. Her biography was written by M. Domanski , "Mother of Julius Slovak - Slovak Salomea Becu", "Rota", 1997 No. 2/3. She was also famous for being a strong mother in a very difficult era. Her birthplace is now a museum.