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Flying University#People's Republic

{{Short description|Former underground educational enterprise in Warsaw, Poland}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}

The Flying University ({{langx|pl|Uniwersytet Latający}}, less often translated as "Floating University") was an underground educationalBetty Jean Lifton, The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cuK1wyWayOoC&dq=%22Flying+University%22+underground&pg=PA35 p. 35], St. Martin's Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0-312-15560-3}} enterprise

Peter Brock, John Stanley, Piotr J. Wróbel, Nation And History, [https://books.google.com/books?id=lzWHDEE6OqkC&q=conspiratorial+enterprise&pg=PA167 p. 167], University of Toronto Press, 2006, {{ISBN|0-8020-9036-2}} that operated from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire. Between 1977

{{cite book

|last1 = Ackerman

|first1 = Peter

|author-link1 = Peter Ackerman

|last2 = DuVall

|first2 = Jack

|author-link2 = Jack DuVall

|year = 2000

|chapter = Poland: Power from Solidarity

|title = A Force More Powerful: A Century of Non-Violent Conflict

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-1TMCQAAQBAJ

|edition = reprint

|publisher = Palgrave Macmillan

|page = 129

|isbn = 9780312240509

|access-date = 31 January 2025

|quote = In the fall of 1977 KOR members joined with other scholars to create the Flying University. Unofficial student groups in university cities would announce a date and venue - usually a private apartment - for each lecture. Dozens of students and others would show up and cram inside, sprawling all over the furniture and floor as they listened to talks that would never have been heard in regular classrooms [...]. In Krakow the Cardinal, Karol Wojtyla, provided assembly halls on Church property, accommodating more people and deterring police harassment. By the end of its first year, the Flying University had held 120 lectures.

}}

and 1981 renewed Flying Universities were operated by dissident Poles in the communist-controlled People's Republic of Poland.

{{cite news

|last1 = Getler

|first1 = Michael

|author-link1 = Michael Getler

|title = History Is Uncensored in Poland's 'Flying Universities'

|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/07/05/history-is-uncensored-in-polands-flying-universities/cfc9c67d-2801-475f-b1f0-5bd88540198b/

|work = The Washington Post

|publisher = The Washington Post

|publication-date = 5 July 1978

|access-date = 31 January 2025

|quote = In crowded apartments scattered in five Polish cities, small groups of students and scholars have created perhaps the most clever and daring new form of dissent in Eastern Europe. [...] The students, from 10 to 150 at a time, are attending lectures - sometimes at considerable personal risk - at Polands[sic] highly unofficial 'flying universities.'

}}

The Flying University and similar institutions aimed to provide Polish youth with opportunities for education within the framework of traditional Polish scholarship at times when that tradition collided with the ideology and practice of the governing authorities.

{{cite book

|last1 = Skrzypek

|first1 = Dominika

|editor-last1 = Maciejewski

|editor-first1 = Witold

|year = 2002

|chapter = The Flying University

|title = The Baltic Sea Region: Cultures, Politics, Societies

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=vD0dEY5l-Z4C

|series = Baltic University Publication

|location = Uppsala

|publisher = Baltic University Press

|page = 533

|isbn = 9789197357982

|access-date = 13 February 2025

|quote = The Flying University - an underground organization founded in 1886 [...] clandestine classes were primarily held for the teaching of Polish language and history, in order to maintain Polishness until independent Poland could be formed, as while in the purely economic area there was little interference from the occupying forces, education was clamped down on and Russified. [...] The name 'Flying University' was later applied to a series of underground educative and publishing activities [...] organised [...] between 1977 and 1979. This Flying University opposed the communist system and defied its ideology, its aim being, among others, the formation of a new political elite.

}}

In the 19th century, such underground institutions were important in the national effort to resist Germanization under Prussian and Russification under Russian occupation.{{Cite book |last=Tapper |first=Ted |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=riv0UCM90AMC&dq=%22Flying+University%22+Russification&pg=PA142 |title=Understanding Mass Higher Education: Comparative Perspectives on Access |last2=Palfreyman |first2=David |date=2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-35491-2 |pages=142 |language=en}} In the People's Republic of Poland, the Flying University provided educational opportunities outside government censorship and control of education.Barbara J Falk, The Dilemmas of Dissidence in East-Central Europe: Citizen Intellectuals and Philosopher Kings, Central European University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|963-9241-39-3}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsR0CGdWCC0C&dq=%22Flying+University%22&pg=PA42 Google Print, p. 42].

History

= Partitions =

After the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned in the late-18th century, its lands were divided among its neighbors: Imperial Russia, Prussia and Austria's Habsburg monarchy (which seven decades later became part of Austro-Hungary). Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, fell under Russian control. In the Russian and Prussian partitions the situation of Poles progressively worsened. Particularly in the Russian sector, the initially moderate ethnic policies were revised in the aftermath of the Polish revolts aimed at overthrowing Russian control, the November Uprising (1830–1831) and the January Uprising (1863–1864). Following the defeats of the uprising the autonomy of the Congress Poland was initially limited (1831) and finally abolished (1865).

File:Jadwiga Szczawińska-Dawidowa (cropped).jpg]]

Among the increasing policies of Germanization and Russification, it became increasingly difficult for Poles to obtain a Polish higher education. Also, the higher education opportunities for women that existed in the Russian Empire were severely limited,{{Cite book |last=Johanson |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B_BfKgWKDy8C&dq=Polish+women+education+Russian&pg=PA23 |title=Women's Struggle for Higher Education in Russia, 1855-1900 |date=1987 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP |isbn=978-0-7735-0565-0 |pages=23 |language=en}} and teaching or research into some fields, like Polish language, Catholicism or Polish history, ranged from difficult to illegal.{{Cite book |last=Ascher |first=Abraham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rNRqfGWR4pIC&dq=Russification+education+Poland&pg=PA47 |title=The Revolution of 1905: A Short History |date=2004 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0-8047-5028-8 |pages=47 |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Brock |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lzWHDEE6OqkC&q=Flying+University&pg=PA7 |title=Nation and History: Polish Historians from the Enlightenment to the Second World War |last2=Stanley |first2=John D. |last3=Wrobel |first3=Piotr |last4=Wróbel |first4=Piotr |date=2006-01-01 |publisher=University of Toronto Press |isbn=978-0-8020-9036-2 |pages=167 |language=en}}

As a response to such policies,{{Cite book |last=Waldron |first=Peter |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gvLExy_Z3PsC&dq=%22Flying+University%22+Russia&pg=PA120 |title=The End of Imperial Russia, 1855-1917 |date=1997-05-15 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-16537-6 |pages=120 |language=en}} and inspired by the Polish positivism movement,{{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSWJ5WGSmJgC&dq=%22Flying+University%22+Russia&pg=PA85 |title=When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland |date=2000-02-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535127-9 |pages=85 |language=en}} secret courses began in 1882 in private houses in Warsaw. At first it was a series of conspiratorial education courses for women, and among the first teachers were Józef Siemaszko, Stanisław Norblin, Piotr Chmielowski and Władysław Smoleński. In 1885 transformed due to the efforts of one of the students, Jadwiga Szczawińska{{Cite book |last=Lifton |first=Betty Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuK1wyWayOoC&dq=%22Flying+University%22&pg=PA35 |title=The King of Children: The Life and Death of Janusz Korczak |date=1997-04-15 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=978-0-312-15560-5 |pages=35-40 |language=en}} (also known as Zofia Szczawińska{{Cite book |last=García |first=Margarita Díaz-Andreu |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RcsI5IvpocMC&dq=%22Flying+University%22&pg=PA88 |title=Excavating Women: A History of Women in European Archaeology |last2=Sørensen |first2=Marie Louise Stig |date=1998 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-15760-5 |pages=88 |language=en}}), the various pro-education groups were united into a single, informal, and illegal, secret university open for both sexes known as the Flying University (the courses, spread throughout the city, often changed locations to prevent the Russian authorities from learning the location and arresting the teachers and students). The fees (2–4 rubles per month) were used as honoraria for the teachers and to create a secret library. The curriculum of the Flying University extended over 5–6 years with 8–11 hours per week and was divided into four main subjects: social sciences, pedagogy, philology and history, and natural sciences.

Among the teachers of the university were the best contemporary Polish academics, including many prominent liberals and socialists such as and Tadeusz Korzon (history), Bronisław Chlebowski, Ignacy Chrzanowski, socialist Zofia Daszyńska-Golińska{{cite book|editor-last=de Haan|editor-first=Francisca |title=Biographical dictionary of women's movements and feminisms in Central, Eastern, and South Eastern Europe : 19th and 20th centuries|date=2005|publisher=Central European University Press|location=New York|isbn=9637326391|url=https://books.google.com/books?isbn=9637326391|edition=1st|editor2=Daskalova, Krassimira|editor3=Loutfi, Anna}} and Piotr Chmielowski (literature), Jan Władysław David and Adam Mahrburg (philosophy), prominent Marxist anthropologist, economist and sociologist Ludwik Krzywicki and Józef Nussbaum-Hilarowicz (biology).{{Cite book |last=Davies |first=Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DMoPXktGwiUC&dq=%22Flying+University%22&pg=PA235 |title=God's Playground: A History of Poland |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-51479-8 |pages=235 |language=en}}

During the twenty years of the existence of the university, its courses were attended by approximately 5,000 women and men. Among the most famous of its students was the future Nobel Prize winner, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, more commonly known as Madame Curie. Other well known students included Zofia Nałkowska and Janusz Korczak.

=Legalization=

Around 1905–1906 the Flying University was able to start legal activities, and was transformed into the Society of Science Courses (Towarzystwo Kursów Naukowych), as Poland's partitioners, anticipating the First World War, sought to convert the Poles to their cause. Around 1918–1919, after Poland regained independence (as the Second Polish Republic), the Association was transformed into the private university, Free Polish University (Wolna Wszechnica Polska). In 1927 it founded a branch in Łódź.

=World War II=

{{Main|Education in Poland during World War II}}

During the Second World War, Poland was occupied by Nazi Germany which forbade Poles to attend university-level courses. University faculty members utilized their experience and took part in secret teaching during World War II.{{Cite journal |last=Załęczny |first=Jolanta |date=2015 |title=Działalność oświatowa Polskiego Państwa Podziemnego : tajne nauczanie |url=https://bazhum.muzhp.pl/media/files/Niepodleglosc_i_Pamiec/Niepodleglosc_i_Pamiec-r2015-t22-n1_(49)/Niepodleglosc_i_Pamiec-r2015-t22-n1_(49)-s187-203/Niepodleglosc_i_Pamiec-r2015-t22-n1_(49)-s187-203.pdf |journal=Niepodległość i Pamięć |volume=22/1 |issue=49 |pages=187-203}}{{Cite book |last=Macias |first=Katarzyna |url=https://ruj.uj.edu.pl/xmlui/handle/item/226617 |title=Edukacja formalna i tajne nauczanie w okupowanej Polsce w okresie II wojny światowej |date=2018-06-27 |publisher=Jagiellonian University |trans-title=Formal Education and secret teaching in occupied Poland during the Second World War}}{{Cite journal |last=Nawrocki |first=Paweł M. |date=2009 |title=Tajne nauczanie - w 70-lecie powstania TON |url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=104858 |journal=Znak |language=Polish |issue=652 |pages=155–158 |issn=0044-488X}}{{Cite book |last=Lowe |first=Roy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vf7A7yiSqe8C&dq=schools+%22occupied+Poland%22&pg=PA132 |title=Education and the Second World War: Studies in Schooling and Social Change |date=1992 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-7507-0054-2 |pages=128-138 |language=en}}

=People's Republic=

After the Second World War, the Wolna Wszechnica Polska was not immediately recreated in Warsaw, although its branch in Łódź served as the foundation for the University of Łódź.

During the time of communist domination in the People's Republic of Poland, as the curriculum became a tool of politics, and much of Polish history (like the Polish-Soviet War, Katyn Massacre or Praga Massacre) was censored in an attempt to 'erase' the history of Polish-Russian conflicts,Marc Ferro, The Use and Abuse of History: Or How the Past Is Taught to Children, Routledge, 2003, {{ISBN|0-415-28592-5}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=hDkeOWop9TsC&dq=Suvorov+ordered+Praga&pg=PA259 Google Print, p. 259]. the tradition of the Flying University was revived once again, first by the Society of Free Polish University (Towarzystwo Wolnej Wszechnicy Polskiej) active in Warsaw from 1957, later from 1977 by the new Flying University and Society of Science Courses, supported by Polish dissidents: Stefan Amsterdamski, Jerzy Jedlicki, Andrzej Celiński, Bohdan Cywiński, Aldona Jawłowska, Jan Kielanowski, Andrzej Kijowski, Jacek Kuroń, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, Adam Michnik, Wojciech Ostrowski.

Many participants of this second flying university were abused by milicja, with common incidents like a prominent dissident, Jacek Kuroń, being thrown down the stairs or his apartment ransacked by milicja-supported thugs; despite this, the Flying University was active until the imposition of martial law in Poland in 1981, which, although designed to destroy the Solidarity movement, stifled the flying university's activities too.

Notable people

= Educators =

= Students =

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • {{Cite book |last=Porter |first=Brian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSWJ5WGSmJgC&dq=%22Flying+University%22+Russia&pg=PA85 |title=When Nationalism Began to Hate: Imagining Modern Politics in Nineteenth-Century Poland |date=2000-02-24 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-535127-9 |pages=85 |language=en}}

{{History of the People's Republic of Poland}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Flying University in Warsaw

Category:Universities and colleges in Warsaw

Category:Defunct universities and colleges in Poland