Title:

Ethnic and denominational issues in religious education in Bielsko (Bielsko-Biała) in the 20th century

Creator:

Bujakowski, Maciej

Publisher:

Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów Polskiej Akademii Nauk

Place of publishing:

Warszawa

Date issued/created:

2019

Date on-line publ.:

2019.12.31

Type of object:

Journal/Article

Subject and Keywords:

Bielsko ; Bielsko-Biała ; German school ; religious education system ; Evangelicals ; Volksliste ; School Sisters of Notre Dame ; ethnic conflicts ; polonisation

Abstract:

The article deals with the issues of religious education, its transformations and geopolitical and ethnic conditions in Bielsko (Bielsko-Biała). It presents the ethnic structure of the city at the time when Poland regained independence as well as subsequent changes that took place during the interwar period and after the Second World War. Once in Poland, Bielsko embarked upon an accelerated process of Polonisation, which stifled German education and led to a rapid expansion of Polish education. In practice, German education was limited to religious education in the Bielski Syjon (Bielitzer Zion) district. Numerous restrictions along with the spread of fascist ideology led to the complete radicalisation of the German community, thus giving the impression that Evangelical education equals German education. Unfortunately, the stigmatisation of Evangelical education and evangelicals themselves as Germans led to persecutions and alienation attempts after the war. The fate of the Catholic school run by the School Sisters of Notre Dame was similar. The accusations of collaboration with Nazi Germany during the occupation and the postwar state policy towards the Catholic Church made the sisters cease their education agenda. Despite difficulties, religious education in Bielsko-Biała recovered quickly after the 1989 political transformation. Today, it is experiencing its renaissance. Schools run by various religious denominations, often scoring high in education rankings, are very popular among both students and parents.

Relation:

Rozprawy z Dziejów Oświaty

Volume:

56

Start page:

11

End page:

26

Resource type:

Text

Detailed Resource Type:

Article : original article

Format:

pdf

Resource Identifier:

0080-4754

Language:

pol

Language of abstract:

eng

Rights:

Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 license

Terms of use:

Copyright-protected material. [CC BY-NC-ND 4.0] May be used within the scope specified in Creative Commons Attribution BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, full text available at:

Copyright holder:

Instytut Historii Nauki im. Ludwika i Aleksandra Birkenmajerów PAN

Original in:

Library of the Institute for the History of Science PAS

Access:

Open