In Defence of the Cross in Miętno

Abstract

In the Complex o f Agricultural Schools in Miętno near Garwolin from December 1983 on the school youth protested in defence of the crosses removed from their classrooms. The protest lasted several months and the school and state authorities exerted pressure on the students. The protest ended in April 1984 with a resolution that the cross would return to the school. The students could continue their studies without signing declarations that the school should have a secular character. This was possible because of strong determination on the part of parents, local priests, and the foreign media. The most important for the completion of the protest was the attitude of the Episcopate and the Siedlce Bishop Jan Mazur. Despite that facts active students and supporting teachers were repressed. The events in the defence of the cross are commemorated, above all, by the erection in 1992 of the Elevation o f the Holy Cross parish in Miętno.