The Alumni of Sułkowscy School in Rydzyna – stuck between patriotic duty and emigration

Abstract

The goal of the All-Boys Sułkowscy Middle and High School, operating in Rydzyna between 1928 and 1939, was to raise the next generation of the Polish intelligentsia. The experimental curriculum aimed at creating a social class characterised by high moral standards, responsibility for others and selflessness. The creator of this educational experiment was Tadeusz Łopuszański, the head of the Ministy of Education in Władysław Grabski’s cabinet, the great reformer of the Polish school system and the author of curriculum for Polish secondary schools. Among the alumni of the school in Rydzyna were Professor Józef Zwisłocki, Konstanty Jeleński, Alesander Łempicki, Bolesław Biega, Franciszek Waicki, Zbigniew Ścibor-Rylski, Professor Władysław Górski, Professor Zbigniew Tadeusz Wierzbicki and Jan Sosnkowski. This paper presents the figures of some of the alumni, their stories and migratory experiences while analysing the factors which led to the creation of a strong bond between the students (the school in Rydzyna as “a place of memory”). The analysis of letters, biographies and memoirs proves that the school in Rydzyna acted as a binding agent for this particular group of Polish migrants. The paper focuses especially on the choice between the model of patriotic behaviour shaped during their school years and emigration and implementation of the said model during adulthood.