Scholarships for Poles in the ‘Vormärz’ period: Julian Szotarski

Poles in Heidelberg and Baden after 1832
 

In Heidelberg, meanwhile, the political climate was changing for the Poles. After political agitations in the 1830s, in which Poles also took part, their hero status waned and they were increasingly perceived as subversive elements; examples include the Hambach Festival in 1832 and the Frankfurter Wachensturm in 1833, in which Poles were also involved. The Wachensturm in particular also made waves in Baden, as Polish units from Besançon were supposed stage a coordinated action with students to force a coup in Baden – which ultimately did not materialise, but was certainly noted. Heidelberg University felt the overall impact in the decline in student numbers, but Polish students were also directly affected:

“The involvement of Poles in the Frankfurt riots and the efforts of the émigrés to spark a new uprising in the country did not go unnoticed and we came under suspicion that every Pole was a revolutionary agent. Everywhere they tried to get rid of us, and although we were not deported, they made it difficult for us to stay by the Rhine so that we would leave on our own.” (Wiktor Feliks Szokalski: Wspomnienia z przeszłości [Memories from the past], Vol. 1.2: 1830–1837, Wilno 1921, p. 151)

This was felt by the Polish physician Wiktor Feliks Szokalski, who came to Heidelberg in 1835 just a few years after the first wave of Polish students to continue the studies he had begun in Giessen in the Grand Duchy of Hesse. However, he was not issued a residence permit, was not permitted to enrol and left Heidelberg again after six months of being granted temporary leave to remain.

Filip Emanuel Schuffert, April 2024

Further reading:

• Brudzyńska-Němec, Gabriela: Polenvereine in Baden. Hilfeleistung süddeutscher Liberaler für die polnischen Freiheitskämpfer 1831–1832, Heidelberg 2006.
• Hackmann, Jörg / Marta Kopij-Weiß: Nationen in Kontakt und Konflikt. Deutsch-polnische Beziehungen und Verflechtungen 1806–1918, Darmstadt 2014.
• Hein-Kircher, Heidi: Der Novemberaufstand 1830/31 und seine Folgen, in: Müller, Michael G. a. o. (ed.): Polen in der europäischen Geschichte. Vol. 3: Die polnisch-litauischen Länder unter der Herrschaft der Teilungsmächte (1772/1795–1914), Stuttgart 2020, p. 197–205.
• Kamela, Małgorzata: Szotarski, Julian Walenty, in: Polski słownik biograficzny, Vol. 48, Warszawa/Kraków 2012–2013, pp. 585
• Leiserowitz, Ruth: W poszukiwaniu wiedzy. Polscy studenci na uczelniach niemieckich w XVIII i XIX wieku, in: Mówią Wieki 704 (2018), p. 34–27.
• Molik, Witold: Polscy studenci na uniwersytetach niemieckich od końca XVIII do początku XX wieku, Poznań 2016.
• Strobel, Georg W.: Die deutsche Polenfreundschaft 1830–1834. Vorläuferin des organisierten politischen Liberalismus und Wetterzeichen des Vormärz, in: Rainer Riemenschneider (ed.): Die deutsch-polnischen Beziehungen 1830–1848. Vormärz und Völkerfrühling, Braunschweig 1979, p. 126–147.