Szkolnictwo Polaków w RFN pod egidą zjednoczenia polskich uchodźców w latach 1951–1959

Education was one of the most important activities of the Zjednoczenie Polskich Uchodź ców w Niemczech (Union of Polish Refugees in Germany, ZPU). Polish education wasthought to be in a state of collapse following years of neglect. The main goal of the 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 fulfilment of national and cultural needs. Many vocational course certificates, matriculation certificates 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. Józef Omasta. A soon as the Committee was established, Polish language courses were organised and set up in Cologne, Witten, DortmundEving, 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 running, to act as a substitute for the Polish education system. The Committee, along with ZPU, applied to the Kulturministerium for support of the initiative 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.