Polacy na Uniwersytecie Petersburskim przed powstaniem styczniowym

• Authors: Franciszek Nowiński

Title variants

EN

Poles at the University of Petersburg before the January Uprising

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The period of several years after the death of Nicholas I, called “post-Sevastopol spring”, constituted an important turning point in the history of 19th century Russia. The reforms started at the time encompassed all aspects of life in the Empire and were also felt in the Kingdom of Poland. Political agitation could be noticed in academia, in which the University of Petersburg came to the fore. That the changes in this branch were very dynamic is best evidenced by the fact that over one decade there were no fewer than three ministers. The university in the capital city had, alongside the Universities of Moscow and Kiev, one of the biggest populations of Polish students in the Empire. Polish students in the Russian capital closely collaborated with their compatriots and fellow students in Kiev and Moscow. They actively supported their Russian colleagues, but at the same time stressed their separate national goals. This was facilitated by the situation in the Kingdom of Poland, especially in Warsaw, where preparations had already been under way for a future armed rising. Polish students at Russian universities formed separate organisations (the so-called student bodies) and pursued their own activity independently of the Russians. While the Russian students demanded a restoration of autonomy to universities, their Polish colleagues had patriotic objectives in mind as well. The student agitation reached its peak in 1861. In the opinion of the educational authorities and the police, Poles were the “evil spirit” causing unrest at universities. The material gathered by the police suggested that the Polish students had their own library which housed books banned by the censors. The Polish students in Petersburg decided on a political demonstration when they ordered a mass to be celebrated at the Church of St. Catherine in memory of demonstrators killed in Warsaw. Those present at the mass included both Poles and Russians. Some controversy among Polish students was caused by the participation of some Poles in Taras Sevchenko’s funeral. Representatives of Polish students from the capital took part in the January 1861 convention in Warsaw. An interesting and mysterious figure in the Polish student circles in Warsaw was Władysław Krzyżanowski — a graduate of the University of Petersburg, who in March 1861 was arrested and in July 1862 exiled to Siberia. Worthy of note is a propaganda campaign conducted by the Polish students. A good opportunity for it was provided by religious feasts and summer holidays. Polish students took an active part in student protests in the autumn of 1861. Some of them were even arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. After the closure of the university in the capital, some Poles quickly sat their final exams, while others went to their homeland in order to become involved in clandestine activ-ities in the Kingdom of Poland and in Lithuania.

• Publisher: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Wroclawskiego
• Journal: Wrocławskie Studia Wschodnie
• Year: 2013
• Volume: 17
• Pages: 47 - 78

Contributors

author

Franciszek Nowiński

• Uniwersytet Gdański