Szkolnictwo Polaków w RFN pod egidą Zjednoczenia Polskich Uchodźców w latach 1951-1959

Education was one of the most important activities of the Union of Polish Refugees in Germany. Polish education was thought to be in a state of collapse following years of neglect. e main goal of the Union of Polish Refugees (Zjednoczenie Polskich Uchodźców w Niemczech, ZPU) was to uphold both the mother tongue and Polish culture. Educational activity tied in perfectly with § 2 point b of the ZPU Statute, in which one of the posited aims of the organisation was the ful lment of national and cultural needs. Many vocational course certi cates, matriculation certi cates and school reports of those who decided to attend educational courses have survived in the archives. The administrative division of education was the same as that of the ZPU districts. School districts were headed by school managers. Only the Southern District Committee did not have a manager, so it was managed by Fr. Joseph Omasta. A soon as the Committee was established, Polish language courses were organised and set up in Cologne, Witten, Dortmund-Eving, Dortmund-Holte, Essen, Munich, Tutlingen and Mannheim. The Committee also prepared courses for other towns inhabited by Poles: Kassel, Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Meiderich, Wuppertal, Bielefeld and Meppen. The language courses were very popular, and were attended not only by children, youth and adults, but also by the Poles’ partners – by Germans. The Committee’s task was to organise its own work, and the courses it was run- ning, to act as a substitute for the Polish education system. The Committee, along with ZPU, applied to the Kulturministerium for support of the ini- tiative of creating a Polish grammar school and kindergarten. It is unknown whether this proposal has been implemented, due to the lack of archival materials attesting to the success of this initiative.

Łukasz Wolak