Flying University was an underground educational enterprise that operated from 1885 to 1905 in Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, then under the control of the Russian Empire, and that was revived between 1977 and 1981 in the People's Republic of Poland. The purpose of this and similar institutions was to provide Polish youth with an opportunity for an education within the framework of traditional Polish scholarship, when that collided with the ideology of the governing authorities. In the 19th century, such underground institutions were important in the national effort to resist Germanization under Prussian and Russification under Russian occupation. In the communist People's Republic of Poland, the Flying University provided educational opportunities outside government censorship and control of education.
History
Partitions
After the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth was partitioned in the late-18th century, its lands were divided among its neighbors: Imperial Russia, Prussia and Austro-Hungary. Warsaw, the historic Polish capital, fell under Russian control. In the Russian and Prussian partitions the situation of Poles progressively worsened. Particularly in the Russian sector, the initially moderate ethnic policies were revised in the aftermath of the Polish revolts aimed at overthrowing Russian control, the November Uprising and the January Uprising. Following the defeats of the uprising the autonomy of the Congress Poland was initially limited and finally abolished. Among the increasing policies of Germanization and Russification, it became increasingly difficult for Poles to obtain a Polish higher education. Also, like in most parts of Europe at the time, the higher education opportunities for women that existed in the Russian Empire were severely limited, and teaching or research into some fields, like Polish language, Catholicism or Polish history, ranged from difficult to illegal. As a response to such policies, and inspired by the Polish positivism movement, secret courses began in 1882 in private houses in Warsaw. At first it was a series of conspiratorial education courses for women, and among the first teachers were Józef Siemaszko, Stanisław Norblin, Piotr Chmielowski and Władysław Smoleński. In 1885 transformed due to the efforts of one of the students, Jadwiga Szczawińska, the various pro-education groups were united into a single, informal, and illegal, secret university open for both sexes known as the Flying University. The fees were used as gratification for the teachers, and to create a secret library. The curriculum of the Flying University covered 5–6 years with 8–11 hours per week and was divided into four main subjects: social sciences, pedagogy, philology and history, and natural sciences. Among the teachers of the university were the best contemporary Polish academics, such as Władysław Smoleński and Tadeusz Korzon, Bronisław Chlebowski, Ignacy Chrzanowski, Zofia Daszyńska-Golińska and Piotr Chmielowski, Jan Władysław David and Adam Mahrburg, Ludwik Krzywicki, Józef Nussbaum-Hilarowicz. During the twenty years of the existence of the university, its courses were attended by approximately 5,000 women and thousands of men. Among the most famous of its students was the futureNobel Prize winner, Maria Skłodowska-Curie, more commonly known as Madame Curie. Other well known students included Zofia Nałkowska and Janusz Korczak.
Legalization
Around 1905–1906 the Flying University was able to start legal activities, and was transformed into the Society of Science Courses, as Poland's partitioners, anticipating the coming war, sought to convert the Poles to their cause. Around 1918–1919, after Poland regained independence, the Association was transformed into the private university, Free Polish University. In 1927 it founded a branch in Łódź.
