Figure 1.--This photo shows the 4th grade of the Bialka School near Lublin. At first we thought it was ther whole school, but the children are all about the same age so it mnust be a singkle class. It certainly was a large class. Perhaps they were divided into two classes, but we believe at some Polish schools there were large classes like this.

A useful section of our country school psges is individual schools. This provoides a lot of useful information about school trends in the various countries. We see different types of schools as well as schools in different chronological periods as well as regions of the country. And when the schools did not wear uniforms, the school portraits provide a valuable record of period fashion. We do not yet have much information on individual Polish schools, but hope to add some as HBC-SU develops.

Bomst/Babimost School (1923)

The photo was taken in primary school of Bomst/Babimost on April 4, 1923. At the time the village was in eastern Germany. Thus tis was a German school. We can't read the text, but it is almost certainlt written in German. A 1871 census reported a population of about 2,300 people, almost evenly split among ethnic Germans and Poles as well as 160 Jews. The local indusries were shoe manifacturers, linen producers and hops (beer) and wine producers. We do not have a 1920s census, but it likely that the village contined to have a substsantial German and Polish population. The Germans did not allow instruction on Polish, but after World War I the Germans were outraged with how the OPloes treated the German minority. After the Germans launched World War II, the began the ethnic leanings of the occupied are of western Poland. Ples living in the Reich itself, however, were not targeted. The Jews of course were as part of the Holocaust. After the War, the village ad much of eastern Germany became part of Poland with the brder fixed on the Oder-Neisse Line. The Poles expelled the German inhabitants by force.

Łąg School (1930)

Łąg is a small village in Pomerania. The population was about 1,000 people. I am not sure how the population was destributed among Poles, Germans, and Jews. It is about and 71 km (44 mi) south-west of Danzig (modern Gdańsk). Pomerania was obtained by Prussia in the Polish Partitions (18th century). It along with the rest of Prussia was incorporated into the German Empire (1871). The Polish question became an important issue in German politics in the late-19th and early 20th century. The Polish poplation increased and the German poplation througout eastern Germany declined despite efforts by the German government to favor German land holding. The village in German was known as Long. After World War I under the terms of the Versailles Treaty, Pomerania was divided between Germany and the new Polish republic. The village became part of what was known as the Polish Corridor designed to connect the rest of Poland to the Baltic Sea. We have a photograph of a 2nd grade class at village school of Lag during 1930.

Village School near Stanislawów (about 1930)

This undated photo was taken in a Polish village near Stanislawów. Before World War I it was part of the Russan Empire and this is how many children were dressed in Russia and the Ukraine at the time. After World War I it became a part of southeastern Poland. Eastern Poland had a mixed population with many Ukranians, especially in the south. This was a very small school. I think it would have been taught in Polish. After Wortld War II, the Soviert Union annexed the area and it is today part of the Ukraine. The town is now named Ivano-Frankivsk. Note that many of the rurtal children wear traditional clothes. Except for the way the teacher is dressed, this photograph could have been taken in the 19th century.

Kamienica Górna School (1930s-40s)

Kamienica Górna is a village in what is now southeastern Poland. It is part of the administrative district of Gmina Brzostek, within Dębica County, Subcarpathian Voivodeship, in south-eastern Poland. It is located about 6 kilometres east of Brzostek. We have photographs taken at the primary school both before and after World War II. The first photograph looks to have been taken in the 1930s. It is interesting because it seems to have been a bilingual school German , a German Volksschule and a Polish Szkola Powszechna). We do not know how common this was. Neither the Russians or the Germans permitted bilengual schools when they controlled Poland. Presumably the village had a substantial ethnic German population. The existence of a bileigual school suggests friendly relations between the two communities. We are not sure what happened at the school during the German World War II occupation (1939-44). Kamienica Górna was located in the Government General. We suspect that the Polish children were expelled and the school was operated as a German Volksshule, but we do not have any actual information. Nor do we know to what extent the Germans in Kamienica Górna cooperated with the NAZIs which were not only perceuting Jews, buth Christisn Poles as well. The children in the 1946 photoigraph would have been all Poles. Most oif the Germans in Poland left as the Wehrmacht retreated (1944). Thoise that did not weere expelled by Polish authorities after the War.

Krylów School (1936)

This photo was taken in Krylów, a village in eastern Poland. It was located Lublin province. One census reported a population of 2,314, including 1,512 Jews (1897). The photograph here shows the teachers with the 7th grade class (and some younger children). Many boys and some girls are wearing the uniform of a youth organization. In spite of that and of the age of the pupils, some of them are barefoot. The youth groups would have been the Scouts. Quite a few of the pupils were members. Few of the boys have close-cropped hair. Krylów when the NAZIs and Soviets invaded was in the Soviet occupation zone (1939). The Soviets like the NAZIs orderd the Scouting movement to disband.

Bialka Basic (primary) School (1939)

This photo shows the 4th grade of The Bialka Basic (primary) School. The Polish term for basic school was podstawowa. At first we thought it was the whole school, but the children are all about the same age so it must be a singkle class. It certainly was a large class. Perhaps they were divided into two classes, but we believe at some Polish schools there were large classes like this. Bialka was a small town near Lublin. It would have been a village primary school. Notice the rough contruction of the school. Lublin is now located in southeastern Poland and is the largest Polish city east of the Vistula. The portrait of the school was taken in 1939, probably in the spring or in summer, a few months before the the German and Soviet invasions which launched World War II (September 1939). Lublin was in theeastern area occupied by the Soviet Union. The girls are wearing dresses; the boys both short and long trousers. Many boys have caps and are holding tem. All the children, that we can see, are barefoot. One girl wears a beret. Notice how the boys have close-cropped hair.

Kiełpiny Primary School (Mid-1940s)

This is a portrait of the older children at the Kielpiny Primary School. Kiełpiny was located in what before World War II western Poland. It was annexed to the Reich as the German province (gau) of Warthegau. Many Poles and most othe Jews were deported to the General Government. After the war Kielpiny is now located in central Poland. The portrait is undated, but was taken right after World war II in the mod-12940s, probably 1946 or 47. The children here look a little old for primary school. This probably reflects the fact that many schools were closed during the German occupation. Many of the girls wear pinafores. The boys wear both long and short pants. The children are mostly barefoot, reflecting the poor economic conditions in war-toirn Poland after the War.

Gardeja Primary School (1957)

This photo shows a class of primary school children at Gardeja, a village in northern Poland. The photo was taken in 1957. Apparently the Communist Government had not yet introduced the school smocks that we see in the 1960s. Note that several of the boys are barefoot. The children look to be about 10-11 yeas old. There female teacher it at the back. Before the War, most of the teachers were male. This probably reflects the fact that the Communists had a fifferent attitude of the role of women and ther family and because many pre-War teachers were not considered reliable politically.

Katowice School (1963-64)

This is a class photo taken in a Katowice primary school during the 1963-64 school year. We are not sure which school it was. Katowice is a town in southern Poland near the Czech border. It is located in the historic province of Silesia which was seized by Austria in the Polish Partitions and then seized by Prussia in the Seven Years War (18th century). It was an important coal mining sector in the German Empire. After World War I (1914-18) as provided in the Versailles Treaty, referendums determined the disposition od Silesia and the rest of Upper Silesiua. The vote in the city itself was strongly German, but the Poles predominated in the country side and Katowice was awarded to Poland. Germany invaded Poland in World War II and ad Katowice was annexed to the Reich as Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz (1939). After the War, the Communist Polish Government expelled Germans that had not already fled with the retreating Wehrmacht. The Governmernt after Stalin's death attempted to rename the city Stalinogród in honor of the Soviet dictator (1953). After the Soviet 20th Party Congress (1956) sand the resulting De-Stalinization campaign, this was no longer politically correct in the East Block and the effort was dropped. Almost all the pupils here wear black smocks. A white collar was also required. Appsarently the collar was not very popular. Many of the children do not wear them. Notice how the teacher has placed the children who do have the white collars at the front. Many of the children have Pioneer badges on their sleeves.

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Created: 1:42 AM 8/23/2009
Last updated: 1:46 AM 4/27/2011