A Vocational School of the Professors from the Department of Engineering of the Warsaw Technical University during the Nazi Occupation

The author describes his studies during World War II in the Nazi-occupied Poland at the secondary vocational school, directed since autumn 1940, by professors from the Department of Engineering of the Warsaw Technical University (closed down by the Nazis). Apart from training the students in the construction engineering, the professors intended to prepare them for teaching in the future institutions of higher learning. The study at the school was completed in summer 1942, and the alumni started working in various institutions throughout the country. The majority of students was involved in the underground military organisations and prepared to be a part of the future Polish Underground Army fighting the occupants. The author describes also the underground activities, run together with the study, starting in October 1939, as a typical example of both open and secret work which Polish youth was forced to do during the Nazi occupation.