Schools Run by the Nuns of the Order of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Warsaw in 1919-1944

Abstract

The main reason why the nuns of the Order of the Holy Family of Nazareth came to Warsaw in 1918 was to undertake didactic-educational work. To this end, first in Litewska Street and then in Czerniakowska Street they opened a secondary boarding school for girls that could be attended by schoolgirls from all over Poland. The structure and organization of the school was changed several times. At first it was an 8-year grammar-school from which in 1932 a 6-year primary school, a 4-year grammar-school and a 2-year secondary school (liceum) emerged. During the Nazi occupation the nuns' school worked as a 7-year primary school and Preparatory Courses for Technical School and Technical Tailoring School. On the basis of these schools the nuns organized clandestine education on the grammar-school and secondary school levels.

The schools, although private, enjoyed the confidence of the education authorities – which was expressed in awarding them public rights every year, - the Church authorities, as well as the confidence of the society. They had a modern building, very well furnished and equipped. The teaching staff, consisting of lay teachers and nuns, had full professional qualifications and many years' experience. The schools taught girls who mainly came from intelligentsia and gentry families, but they were also open to poor girls, and during the war also to Jewish children. During the 25 years of the school's existence it was attended by over five thousand pupils of which 395 passed the maturity exam (116 of them during the occupation). Besides the intellectual formation the nuns emphasized a proper education and preparing the girls to their future adult life. The ideal of a good wife and mother guided by the religious values and principles of the Christian ethics was stressed. The educational methods characterictic of the Order's schools helped achieve these aims. The methods included individual treatment of the pupils, a constant presence of a nun and a constant contact between the pupils and the sister preceptress, a family atmosphere, mutual sincerity, openness and respect.

The schools established by the nuns of the Order of the Holy Family of Nazareth at the beginning of the 20^th century, called “the fortress in Czerniakowska Street” survived the most stormy periods of Polish history after the partitions, cherishing and handing down to several generations the imperishable human values, the Christian culture and the national tradition.