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The Polish grammar school in Bytom

The referendum in Upper Silesia in 1921 sealed the partition of the province into Polish and German sections. In the following years the efforts of the Union of Poles in Germany (Związek Polaków w Niemczech), led to the successful creation of a Polish secondary school in the area of the German Reich, providing tuition up to A-level. In 1930, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the school strike in the Prussian and Russian sectors the Committee for Celebrating the 21st Anniversary of the Struggle for a Polish School (Komitet Obchodu 25-lecia Walki o Szkołę Polską) was called in to life. The idea behind it was to erect a private Polish Grammar School in Germany. The official opening of the Grammar School in Bytom took place on 8th November 1932. From then on the school existed until the outbreak of the Second World War.

The Polish grammar school in Beuthen/Bytom

Muzeum Górnośląskie w Bytomiu, Sign. MGB/H/ZF/1134

Number of school students in the Polish Grammar School between 1932 and 1939 according to where they lived.

Province	Place	Number of students
Upper Silesia	Bytom (Bytom) Opole (Oppeln) Racibórz (Ratibor) Zabrze (Hindenburg) Gliwice (Gleiwitz) Strzelce Opolskie (Groß Strehlitz) Olesno (Rosenberg) Koźle (Cosel) Prudnik (Neustadt) Dobrodzień (Guttentag) Niemodlin (Falkenberg) Kluczbork (Kreuzburg)	62 57 50 23 22 21 15 12 10 4 2 1
Pomerania	Złotów (Flatow) Bytów (Bütow) Babimost (Bomst) Sulechów (Züllichau)	61 3 1 1
Easterm Prussia and Warmia	Olsztyn (Allenstein) Sztum (Stuhm) Szczytno (Ortelsburg) Królewiec (Königsberg)	15 14 1 1
Rhineland	Duisburg Oberhausen Essen Düsseldorf Cologne Rheinhausen	22 4 6 1 1 1
Westphalia	Bottrop Dortmund Wanne – Eickel Bochum Kastrop Recklinghausen Gladbeck Wattenscheid	14 7 7 6 5 4 1 1
Saxony (Lausitz)	Kamenz Meseritz	8 7
Berlin	Berlin	14
Hanover	Hamburg Harburg	1 3
Vienna	Vienna	2
Lower Silesia	Wrocław (Breslau) Legnica (Liegnitz)	2 1
Others	-	9
Gesamt	-	503

Source: APK, 683, Prywatne gimnazjum z polskim językiem wykładowym w Bytomiu (1932–1939) [Private Grammar School with lessons in Polish in Bytom (1932-1939)], Sign. 202, Spis uczniów (1932–1935) [List of students (1932-1935)]; Sign. 203, Spis uczniów (1937–1938) [List of students (1937-1938)]; Sign. 204, Spis uczniów (1938) [List of students (1938)]; Sign. 205, Spis uczniów (1938–1939) [List of students (1938-1939)]; A. Konieczny, Profesorowie i uczniowie Polskiego Gimnazjum Prywatnego w Bytomiu (1932–1939), [in:] „Studia Śląskie” 1959, vol. 2; J. Lubos, Dzieje polskiego gimnazjum w Bytomiu w świetle dokumentów i wspomnień, Opole 1971, p. 84; J. Popkiewicz, Kampf um die Gründung und Erhaltung des Beuthener Gymnasiums, p. 202 [Typescript, Forschungsstelle Ostmitteleuropa, Universität Dortmund].