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World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
saw the cultivation of underground education in Poland ( pl, Tajne szkolnictwo, or '). Secretly conducted education prepared scholars and workers for the postwar reconstruction of Poland and countered German and Soviet threats to eradicate Polish culture.


Background: repressions of Polish education

After the Polish defeat in the
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week af ...
of 1939 and the subsequent
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
and
Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
of Polish territory, Poland was divided into the areas directly incorporated into the Reich, areas directly incorporated into the Soviet Union and the German-controlled
General Government The General Government (german: Generalgouvernement, pl, Generalne Gubernatorstwo, uk, Генеральна губернія), also referred to as the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (german: Generalgouvernement für die be ...
. According to
Nazi racial theories The Nazi Party adopted and developed several pseudoscientific racial classifications as part of its ideology (Nazism) in order to justify the genocide of groups of people which it deemed racially inferior. The Nazis considered the putative ...
the
Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
needed no higher education and the whole nation was to be turned into uneducated
serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
for the German race. The only schools that remained opened were trade schools and courses for factory workers.Chapter XIII - GERMANIZATION AND SPOLIATION
"
Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
prescribed:HITLER'S PLANS FOR EASTERN EUROPE
By 1941, the number of children attending elementary school in the General Government was half of the pre-war number. On the territories incorporated into the Reich, education in Polish was banned and punished with death. Throughout Polish territory, the Germans abolished all university education for non-Germans. All
institutions of higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...
were closed. Their equipment and most of the laboratories were taken to Germany and divided among the German universities while the buildings were turned into offices and military barracks. There existed however the Staatliche Kunstgewerbeschule Krakau, which educated many Polish artists. It inspired also a number of theater creators cooperating with Tadeusz Kantor.


Resistance: the underground education

However, many teachers, professors and educational activists organized underground courses all around the country, reviving the tradition of '' Flying University'' from the times of
partition of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...
. Those who survived the A-B Aktion and were not sent to
concentration camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...
actively lectured to small groups in private apartments. The attendants were constantly risking deportation and death. Most of the underground education was organized by the Secret Teaching Organization (''Tajna Organizacja Nauczycielska'', ''TON''), which took care of the underground primary and secondary level education.
Norman Davies Ivor Norman Richard Davies (born 8 June 1939) is a Welsh-Polish historian, known for his publications on the history of Europe, Poland and the United Kingdom. He has a special interest in Central and Eastern Europe and is UNESCO Professor a ...
notes that the Organization undertook the education of a million children. By 1942, about 1,500,000 students took part in underground primary education; in 1944, the clandestine secondary school system covered 100,000 people and the secret university level courses about 10,000. The net of underground university faculties spread rapidly and by 1944 there were more than 300 lecturers and 3,500 students at various courses at the
Warsaw University The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...
alone. Underground Law and Social Sciences faculties, as well as Humanities, Medical, Theological, Mathematical and Biology faculties were kept alive at Stefan Batory University in Wilno (now
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urba ...
) from 1939 until 1944 with lectures, seminars and exams. The main universities included the
University of Lwów The University of Lviv ( uk, Львівський університет, Lvivskyi universytet; pl, Uniwersytet Lwowski; german: Universität Lemberg, briefly known as the ''Theresianum'' in the early 19th century), presently the Ivan Franko Na ...
, Warsaw University, Stefan Batory University in Wilno and
Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
in
Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula, Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland un ...
. A new University of Western Lands (''Uniwersytet Ziem Zachodnich'') was created in
Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officiall ...
, with branches in
Kielce Kielce (, yi, קעלץ, Keltz) is a city in southern Poland, and the capital of the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. In 2021, it had 192,468 inhabitants. The city is in the middle of the Świętokrzyskie Mountains (Holy Cross Mountains), on the ban ...
, Jędrzejów,
Częstochowa Częstochowa ( , ; german: Tschenstochau, Czenstochau; la, Czanstochova) is a city in southern Poland on the Warta River with 214,342 inhabitants, making it the thirteenth-largest city in Poland. It is situated in the Silesian Voivodeship (adm ...
and
Milanówek Milanówek is a town and a seat of a separate commune in Poland. Located next to the Grodzisk Mazowiecki County near Warsaw, it is often considered an outlying suburb of the capital of Poland but is in fact an independent entity administrative ...
. The latter university was composed mostly of the professors of
Adam Mickiewicz University Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...
of
Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint Joh ...
and included 17 different units, among them the faculty of medicine and surgery. Almost 10,000 students received master's degrees at the secret universities and several hundred others received doctorates. Secret printing houses that sprang up across Poland shortly after the war started, provided the facilities of secret learning with handbooks and scripts. The professors organized a net of secret
high schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
, trade schools and special courses on forbidden subjects, such as the
Polish language Polish (Polish: ''język polski'', , ''polszczyzna'' or simply ''polski'', ) is a West Slavic language of the Lechitic group written in the Latin script. It is spoken primarily in Poland and serves as the native language of the Poles. In ad ...
,
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
and
geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
. A special case were the secret
talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...
ic schools organized in
ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished ...
s. Until 1944 there were more than a million secret high school students in Poland. At least 18,000 students passed their final school exams and received their certificates. This led to a bizarre situation in which students of formally non-existent high schools entered formally non-existent universities. Most of these certificates were issued on pre-war forms with the dates forged to indicate either 1938 or 1939. These were later accepted by post-war Polish universities. There was also a net of secret military colleges in most major cities. Until 1944, most of
Armia Krajowa The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) e ...
regiments had their military schools for
Non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...
s (NCOs) while the regional headquarters organized officer courses and special training. The
Szare Szeregi "Gray Ranks" ( pl, Szare Szeregi) was a codename for the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association (') during World War II. The wartime organisation was created on 27 September 1939, actively resisted and fought German occupation i ...
(the underground Polish
Scouting Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth Social movement, movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hik ...
Association) opened its own NCO school in Warsaw nicknamed
Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mi ...
. Religious education and training also took place. Prominently, the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
operated underground
seminaries A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...
for the education of priests. One well-known seminary was run by the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Sapieha and trained future Cardinal and Pope,
John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
(Karol Wojtyla).


Underground-university lecturers

This is a partial list of professors who risked their lives teaching under the Nazi and Soviet occupations. Dates of death are given for those executed for their teaching activities.


Warsaw

*
Stefan Bryła Stefan Władysław Bryła (Polish pronunciation: ; born 17 August 1886 in Kraków – died 3 December 1943 in Warsaw, Poland) was a Polish construction engineer and welding pioneer. He designed and built the first welded road bridge in the world ...
, engineering (d. 1943) * Eugeniusz Lokajski, sports (d.1944 -
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...
) *
Marceli Handelsman Marceli Handelsman (1882–1945) was a Polish historian, a Warsaw University professor, medievalist, modern historian, and historical methodologist. Life Marceli Handelsman was born on 8 July 1882, in Warsaw, to a family of distant Jewish ances ...
, history (d.1945) *
Tadeusz Manteuffel Tadeusz Manteuffel or Tadeusz Manteuffel-Szoege (1902–1970) was a Polish historian, specializing in the medieval history of Europe. Manteuffel was born in Rēzekne, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire (now Latvia). His brothers were Leon ...
, history *
Andrzej Mostowski Andrzej Mostowski (1 November 1913 – 22 August 1975) was a Polish mathematician. He is perhaps best remembered for the Mostowski collapse lemma. Biography Born in Lemberg, Austria-Hungary, Mostowski entered University of Warsaw in 1931. He was ...
, mathematics * Kazimierz Iwiński, Polish language *
Zygmunt Szweykowski Zygmunt Szweykowski (7 April 1894 in Krośniewice – 11 February 1978 in Poznań) was a historian of Polish literature who specialized in 19th-century Polish prose. Life In 1932-39, Szweykowski held a professorship at the Free Polish University ...
, history *
Władysław Tatarkiewicz Władysław Tatarkiewicz (; 3 April 1886, Warsaw – 4 April 1980, Warsaw) was a Polish philosopher, historian of philosophy, historian of art, esthetician, and ethicist. Early life and education Tatarkiewicz began his higher education at ...
, history of philosophy, history of aesthetics, history of art *
Jan Łukasiewicz Jan Łukasiewicz (; 21 December 1878 – 13 February 1956) was a Polish logician and philosopher who is best known for Polish notation and Łukasiewicz logic His work centred on philosophical logic, mathematical logic and history of logic. ...
, logic and philosophy


Kraków

* Władysław Czapliński, history *
Marian Gieszczykiewicz Marian Teodor Ludwik Gieszczykiewicz (born 21 May 1889 in Kraków, Austria-Hungary - 21 July 1942 in Auschwitz.) was a Polish physician, bacteriologist. Gieszczykiewicz was professor at the Jagiellonian University starting in 1924 and member of ...
, biology (d.1942) *
Mieczysław Małecki Mieczysław Małecki (14 July 1903 – 3 September 1946) was a Polish linguist. Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, during World War II under a cover of collaboration with the Nazi-run ' he in fact, with support of the Polish Un ...
, linguistics (responsible for organizing much of Kraków's underground education) * Konstanty Troczyński, literature (d.1942) * Adam Stefan Sapieha, theology * Władysław Ślebodziński, mathematics


Lwów

* Stefan Inglot, historian, imprisoned (but not executed)


Wilno

*
Iwo Jaworski Iwo or IWO may refer to: People * Iwo Byczewski (born 1948), Polish diplomat * Iwo Dölling (1923–2019), Swedish diplomat * Iwo Gall (1890–1959), Polish theater director, stage designer, and pedagogue * Iwo Kaczmarski (born 2004), Polish foot ...
- law Mikołaj Tarkowski
Wydział Prawa i Nauk Społecznych Uniwersytetu Stefana Batorego w Wilnie 1919-1939, - przyczynek do dziejów szkolnictwa wyższego w dwudziestoleciu międzywojennym
*
Kazimierz Petrusewicz Kazimierz Petrusewicz (March 23 1906, Minsk — March 26 1982, Warsaw) was a Polish communist activist, member of the Polish People's Republic government, biologist, full member of the Polish Academy of Sciences , professor at the University o ...
- law *
Bronisław Wróblewski Bronisław (feminine: Bronisława) is a Polish name of Slavic origin meaning ''broni'' (to protect, to defend) and ''sława'' (glory, fame). The name may refer to: People * Bronislava of Poland, a 13th-century nun who was beatified in 1839 * Bron ...
- law * Stefan Ehrenkreutz


Others

*
Franciszek Leja Franciszek Leja (27 January 1885 in Grodzisko Górne near Leżajsk – 11 October 1979 in Kraków, Poland) was a Polish mathematician. He was born to a poor peasant family in the southeastern Poland. After graduating from the University of L ...
, history,
Łańcut Łańcut (, approximately "wine-suit"; yi, לאַנצוט, Lantzut; uk, Ла́ньцут, Lánʹtsut; german: Landshut) is a town in south-eastern Poland, with 18,004 inhabitants, as of 2 June 2009. Situated in the Subcarpathian Voivodeship ( ...
, Leżajsk * Tadeusz Strumiłło


Underground-university students

These are some notable underground-university students: * Adam Bielański, chemist,
Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University ( Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...
professor, member of the
Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences ( pl, Polska Akademia Nauk, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society o ...
, Kraków * Andrzej Maria Deskur,
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
cardinal, Kraków *
Zbigniew Herbert Zbigniew Herbert (; 29 October 1924 – 28 July 1998) was a Polish poet, essayist, drama writer and moralist. He is one of the best known and the most translated post-war Polish writers. While he was first published in the 1950s (a volume titled ...
, poet, Kraków *
Tadeusz Konwicki Tadeusz Konwicki (22 June 1926 – 7 January 2015) was a Polish writer and film director, as well as a member of the Polish Language Council. Life Konwicki was born in 1926 as the only son of Jadwiga Kieżun and Michał Konwicki in Nowa Wilejka, ...
, writer, film director,
Wilno Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...
* Karol Józef Wojtyła (
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
), Kraków


Ukrainian education

Ukrainian education in occupied Poland was more developed than before the war.http://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media//files/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_-r1998-t30-n1/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_-r1998-t30-n1-s207-209/Dzieje_Najnowsze_kwartalnik_poswiecony_historii_XX_wieku_-r1998-t30-n1-s207-209.pdf


References

{{reflist, 2


Additional sources

* J. Ślaski ''Polska Walcząca'' (1939–1945), vol. 3 "Noc", Instytut Wydawniczy Pax, Warsaw, 1986, p. 34. See: racial theories of
Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Luitpold Himmler (; 7 October 1900 – 23 May 1945) was of the (Protection Squadron; SS), and a leading member of the Nazi Party of Germany. Himmler was one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany and a main architect of th ...
* Adam Redzik
Rocznik
Instytut Lwowski, Warsaw, ISSN 1230-0829 * Adam Redzik
Polish Universities During the Second World War
''Encuentros de Historia Comparada Hispano-Polaca / Spotkania poświęcone historii porównawczej hiszpańsko-polskiej'' conference, 2004 * Zygmunt Albert,

Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich - Wydawnictwo.
Wrocław Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, r ...
1975. History of education in Poland Polish resistance during World War II Poland in World War II Education activism
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...