ALMA MATER VILNENSIS
STEPHANUS BATHOREUS UNIVERSITY IN VILNIUS
1919 – 1939/45
At the end of the great war the Russian empire dissolved. The symptoms of the fall had become apparent on its western outskirts, namely the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Between 1915 and 1920 Vilnius changed hands nine times. It was seized by Russians, Germans, Lithuanians, Poles, Bolsheviks, Poles again, Bolsheviks again and again by Lithuanians. And finally once more by Poles. Both Lithuanians and Poles thought of reviving the University of Vilnius, almost simultaneously. On December 5, 1918, the Lithuanian State Council (Lith. Tariba) adopted the Statute of the University of Vilnius and planned its reestablishment for January 1, 1919. On December 13, 1918, the Warsaw Council for the Revival of the Polish University in Vilnius (Komitet Warszawski Odrodzenia Wszechnicy Polskiej w Wilnie) was created in Warsaw under the leadership of Prof. Alfons Parczewski, later a rector of Stephanus Bathoreus University in Vilnius. The meeting report states that the decision was taken to open a Polish university ‘no later than the fall of 1919’. On December 28, 1918, the Polish National Committee in Vilnius (Komitet Narodowy Polski w Wilnie) passed the same resolution appointing Prof. Józef Ziemacki Rector Interim and selecting Academic Senate Interim for the university to be.
The events of April and May of 1919 were a decisive factor in the establishment of the Polish university in Vilnius. After the dislodgment of Bolsheviks from Vilnius by the Polish army, Józef Piłsudski drew up federal projects for a future country (akin to the political structure of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), in which establishing a university in Vilnius was a priority. On May 7 he appointed Prof. Ludwik Kolankowski the commissioner for the restoration of the Vilnius University and designated the Executive Committee for the Restoration of the University (Komitet Wykonawczy Odbudowy Uniwersytetu) led by Prof. Józef Ziemacki.
The Committee also included Prof. Alfons Parczewski, Prof. Ferdynand Ruszczyc, Prof. Stanisław Władyczko, engineers – Zygmunt Nagrodzki, Ludwik Wasilewski, Bolesław Stankiewicz, count Bronisław Umiastowski, Konrad Niedziałkowski, Jan Latwis, Ludwik Czarkowski and Władysław Zahorski. In accordance with the Academic Senate Interim which had been operating in Vilnius since December 1918, the Committee began the essential preparations for the academic year inauguration in October 1919 at the University. A letter was sent to Polish university senates requesting them to reinforce the staffing of the future University of Vilnius. The Ministry of Denominations and Public Enlightenment took responsibility for the assembly of academic staff for the new university.
The newly opened university was conceived as a successor to the University of Vilnius closed in 1832. That was emphasized in every document. Hence the founding fathers were the citizens of the former Great Duchy of Lithuania and the alumni of Russian universities in Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Moscow, Dorpat, Kazan and Kharkiv. Professors from the Jagiellonian University of Cracow joined the staff, Prof. Michał Siedlecki, the first rector of SBU among them.
On August 28, 1919, the Chief of State pronounced a decree establishing Stephanus Bathoreus University (lat. Universitas Batoreana Vilnensis) along with first appointments to university authorities. First members of the senate received nominations: rector Prof. Michał Siedlecki, vice-rector prof. Józef Ziemacki, Dean of Faculty of Theology, Fr. Prof. Bronisław Żongołłowicz, Dean of Faculty of Mathematics and Nature Studies Prof. Piotr Wiśniewski, Dean of Faculty of Fine Arts Prof. Ferdynand Ruszczyc and Prof. Emeritus Władysław Mickiewicz. Soon after Prof. Józef Kallenbach became Dean of Faculty of Humanities, Prof. Emil Godlewski became Dean of Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Alfons Parczewski became Dean of Faculty of Law and Social Studies.
The Polish-Lithuanian dispute over whom Vilnius belongs to, the unstable situation on the Polish-Bolshevik front, as well as extensive war damages in the city itself, unfavorable housing conditions and supply difficulties – all contributed to the fact that in 1919 only 36 professorial tenures were assumed, including 17 so-called deputy professors i.e. formally not completely eligible. The first group of nine teachers arrived in Vilnius from Warsaw on September 12, 1919. Amongst them were Michał Siedlecki, Fr. Bronisław Żongołłowicz, Jerzy S. Alexandrowicz, brothers Władysław and Wacław Dziewulski, Stanisław Ptaszycki, Piotr Wiśniewski, Józef Patkowski and Jan. Z Wilczyński. Despite coming from diverse academic centers and having been formed by their respective local traditions, the teachers integrated quickly. Prof. Michał Siedlecki, the first rector and an organizer of many social gatherings, played an important part in the process. His efforts eventually led to founding the Professors’ Club.
SBU activity was halted for a few months toward the end of the first academic year due to war operations and the Red Army’s seizure of Vilnius. Early July, part of the senior staff and some equipment were evacuated to Warsaw and Poznan. The rest of the immovable objects and chattels were taken care of by Ludwik Abramowicz and Jerzy Alexandrowicz. Both the staff and the students were drafted into the Polish army. After the Battle of Warsaw, when Bolsheviks schemed to pull Poles into conflict with Lithuania, and on August 27 handed Vilnius over to Lithuanians, Abramowicz pleaded with the Lithuanian authorities to preserve the university assets. The circumstances altered after the so-call ‘Żeligowski revolt’ (Lith. Želigovskio maištas) and the October 1920 seizure of Vilnius by the Polish army. The staff began to return on October 9. Year two of the SBU activity started with a delay. Recruitment took place from November 30 until December 14, 1920, and classes commenced in mid-January of 1921.
It was not until the 1921-22 academic year, however, that the university life began to run smoothly. On September 30, 1921, the Polish House of Representatives decided that an election would determine the nationality of the Vilnius region. The election took place in February 1922 and contributed to stabilizing the situation at SBU.
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On October 11, 1919, with Józef Piłsudski and Władysław Mickiewicz in attendance, rector Prof. M. Siedlecki inaugurated the University. The presence of Adam Mickiewicz’s son in the SBU Senate and his attending the most important university events was of symbolic value. Władysław Mickiewicz came to Vilnius twice – on October 11, 1919, for the first academic year inauguration when he received an SBU honorary doctorate and in May 1922 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of issuing Adam Mickiewicz’s first volume of Poetry. SBU cherished the memory of the distinguished poet. Weekly ‘Literary Wednesdays’ started in 1921 originally taking place on university grounds, later moved to the Conrad Cell in the former Basilian monastery. Great authors and thinkers attended. In 1926 SBU authorities petitioned to the Ministry of Denominations and Public Enlightenment for a pension for the late Władysław Mickiewicz’s wife or daughter.
In October 1919 Józef Piłsudski presented the Rector with the academic insignia – scepter and rector’s chain, carved from pear tree after F. Ruszczyc’s design. Piłsudski wished all Quod felix faustum fortunatumque sit. Ruszczyc also designed the SBU coat of arms, logo, togas, caps and flags. The symbols, insignia, garments and the university ceremonial all referred to the 19th C University of Vilnius traditions; the rector’s toga was fashioned after the late 16th C Petrus Skarga’s toga. The faculties received their symbols and insignia in the following years. Customarily the insignia were donated by institutions from outside the university. On October 9-11, 1929, SBU celebrated 350 years since the University foundation and 10 years since its reestablishment. On this occasion the university reconstructed the Petrus Skarga Courtyard and the facades of the Poczobutt, Sarbiewski and Mickiewicz Courtyards. The Smuglewicz Hall was restored as well. The transfer of Joachim Lelewel’s ashes to the Rasos Cemetery was the main event of the celebrations. The president of the Republic of Poland, church and government officials, ministers, university delegates and guests from abroad attended the festivities. Among the gifts presented to SBU were a scepter from the Jagiellonian University, a ring from the Polish government, rectorial chains from the city of Vilnius and John II Casimir Lviv University, as well as a dean’s chain from the Vilnius Bar for the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences.
SBU occupied a number of buildings in the city of Vilnius and its precincts. The main campus consisting of academic institutions, the administration, the Faculty of Theology, the Faculty of Humanities and the Library were situated in the old University of Vilnius buildings between Uniwersytecka St., Świętojańska St., Zamkowa St. and Skopówka St.; the Faculty of Fine Arts was on Św. Anna St.; the Faculty of Law and Social Studies on Uniwersytecka St. and Wielka St.; the Observatory, the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Agriculture on Zakrętowa St.; the hospitals and clinics in Antakalnis; the Hall of Residence on Bouffałowa Góra; the Men’s Dormitory and Śniadeckich Liceum on Bakszta St.; the Women’s Dormitory on Augustiańska St. and the Faculty of Mathematics and Nature Studies on Zamkowa St., Nowogródzka St. and Zakrętowa St. The State Vrublevskiai Library building housed the Eastern Europe Research Institute. The Academic Health Center in Pohulanka and Wielka St. The holiday camp was originally located in Nowicze (Święciański District) and in June 1930 moved to Legaciszki on the right bank of the Neris not far from Vilnius.
The academic life
Between 1919 and 1939 SBU had 13 rectors: Michał Siedlecki, Wiktor E. Staniewicz, Alfons J. Parczewski, Władysław Dziewulski, Marian Zdziechowski, Stanisław Pigoń, Czesław, Falkowski, Aleksander Januszkiewicz, Kazimierz Opoczyński, Witold C. Staniewicz, Władysław M. Jakowicki, Aleksander Wóycicki and Stefan Ehrenkreutz. Up until 1932, the rector, one deputy rector and deans were elected for one year. In the following years the term would occasionally last longer. The Rector, deputy rector, deans and deputy deans constituted the Senate.
Numerous national and international congresses, conventions, conferences and scientific and academic meetings have been organized at SBU. Among the most important have been the following: the 4th and 9th Polish Physicists Convention (in 1928 and 1938 respectively), the 6th Polish Historians Convention (1935), the 6th Polish Orientalists Convention (1937), the 1st Chemists Convention (1938) and the International Astrophysicists Conference (1939). The University has maintained scientific cooperation with the entire academia by means of participation in congresses and conventions, as well as fellowships and internships, e.g. in the academic year of 1937/1938 Fr. Prof. Aleksander Wóycicki, SBU rector, presented a paper entitled The Freedom of Trade Unions in Poland at the International Social Progress Union Congress and University researchers participated in a number of congresses in Rome, Cairo, Bagdad, Strasburg, Amsterdam, Berlin, Zurich and Oxford.
The rector’s office and research institutes, student clubs and academic societies issued their own publications. The University published lecture lists and programs, textbooks and scientific papers, congress and commemorative materials. It issued periodicals and book series: SBU Annual, Vilnius Law Annual, Theological Quarterly, Observatory Bulletin, Theological Studies, as well as student periodicals Hippogriff, Alma Mater Vilnensis, The Wanderer, Our Form and many others. Library of Polish Writings and Biological Library were also published. Fraternal and student clubs issued teaching aids and textbook summaries. Books and university periodicals were printed mainly in the Józef Zawadzki publishing house on 3 Św. Anna St. Between 1919 and 1939 SBU researchers published ca. 7500 papers in Polish and other languages.
When the University launched in 1919 there were 6 faculties: Humanities, Theology, Law and Social Studies, Mathematics and Nature Studies, Medicine and Fine Arts. The Faculty of Agriculture opened in 1939. The University operated according to the provisions of Statute Interim passed on October 11, 1919. The Statute consolidated a university composition unique on Polish soil. Separating the traditional Faculty of Philosophy into Humanities and Mathematics and Nature Studies, as well as combining Social Studies with Law were innovative solutions.
The Faculty of Humanities opened on October 9, 1919, under the management of Prof. Józef Kallenbach. 158 students (32 men and 126 women) took courses in the first year. In 1938 there were 313 (112 men and 201 women). It was the largest faculty at SBU, situated at 5 Uniwersytecka St., but classes also took place at 11 Zamkowa St. and 11 Bernardyński Lane. In 1919 the following professors were on staff: Józef Kallenbach, Marian Zdziechowski, Ludwik Janowski, Jan Dąbrowski, Wincenty Lutosławski, Włodzimierz Szyłkarski, Michał K. Bogucki, Stefan Glixelii, Władysław F. Horodyski, Stanisław Ptaszycki, Feliks Koneczny and Władysław Tatarkiewicz. Later the staff was augmented by professors: Marian Massonius, Manfred Kridl, Tadeusz Czeżowski, Jan Oko, Henryk Elzenberg, Stanisław Pigoń, Stanisław Kościałkowski, Konrad Górski, Ryszard Mienicki, Henryk Łowmiański and Stefan Srebrny.
The Faculty of Law and Social Sciences opened on October 9, 1919, on the decision of dean Prof. Alfons Parczewski. 119 students (95 men and 24 women) took courses in the first year. In 1938 there were 953 (737 men and 216 women). It was second largest faculty at SBU housed at 7 Uniwersytecka St. with classes taking place at 11 Zamkowa St. and 24 Wielka St. In 1919 Jerzy Fiedorowicz, Alfons Parczewski and Władysław Zawadzki, as well as professors from other faculties were on staff. Stefan Ehrenkreutz, Iwo Jaworski, Jerzy Lande, Stanisław Świaniewicz, Wacław Komarnicki, Bronisław Wróblewski, Bolesław Wilanowski, Wiktor Sukiennicki, Seweryn Wysłouch, Jan Adamus, Mieczysław Gutkowski and Stefan Glaser joined later. By 1939 there were 1577 Law graduates, and 37 PhD dissertations and 12 postdoctoral papers successfully presented. Gen. Lucjan Żeligowski received an honorary doctorate at the Faculty of Law and Social Studies in 1923.
The Faculty of Mathematics and Nature Studies opened on September 15, 1919. It included the Astronomy Institute and the Meteorological Station, and since 1924, the Agricultural College. The Observatory was built in 1919. In 1921 it moved to a wooden pavilion near Las Zakrętowy and in 1936 to a completely new set of buildings. The seat of the Faculty was at 11 Zamkowa St., but classes took place in many locations: 22 Nowogródzka St., 23-23a Zakrętowa St. and 15 Słowackiego St. Eighty-seven students (56 men and 31 women) took courses in 1919. In 1938 there were 566 students (282 men and 284 women). Professors Piotr Wiśniewski, Wiktor Staniewicz, Michał M. Siedlecki, Kazimierz Sławiński, Witold Staniewicz, Stefan Bazarewski, Wacław M. Dziewulski, Władysław Dziewulski and Józef Patkowski were on staff in 1919. In the following years Mieczysław Limanowski, Marian Hłasko, Antoni Zygmund, Jan Dembowski, Stanisław Małkowski, Edward Passendorfer, Wilhelmina Iwanowska, Kazimierz Jantzen, Jan Prüffer, Stefan Kempisty and Szczepan Eugeniusz Szczeniowski joined. Marshal Józef Piłsudski received an honorary doctorate at the Faculty of Mathematics and Nature Studies on November 2, 1922.
The Faculty of Medicine opened on October 9, 1919. It included a ‘Pharmaceutical College’, later converted into the Pharmaceutical Department directed by Prof. Jan Muszyński while it was in operation. The Faculty occupied buildings at 23 Zakrętowa St. and 2 Objazdowa St., and a number of clinics was situated in Antakalnis. 142 students (91 men and 51 women) took courses in 1919. In 1938 there were 832 students (588 men and 244 women). The original staff were professors Emil Godlewski, Stanisław Władyczko, Józef K. Ziemacki, Jerzy S. Alexandrowicz and Jan Z. Wilczyński, later joined by Stanisław Trzebiński, Zenon Orłowski, Aleksander Januszkiewicz, Kornel Michejda, Wacław Jasiński, Michał Reicher, Kazimierz Pelczar, Rafał Radziwiłłowicz, Ignacy Abramowicz, Tadeusz Pawlas, Maksymilian Rose, Jan Szmurło, Władysław Jakowicki, Kazimierz Opoczyński, Stanisław Kazimierz Hiller, and others. In 1927 the Faculty began publishing a scientific periodical The Diaries of Vilnius Medical Society.
The Faculty of Fine Arts opened on October 12, 1919, in the former Bernardine monastery buildings at 4 Św. Anna St. The buildings also housed painting studios and the Colleges of Art History, Architecture and Graphics, as well as a library. The Departments of Sculpture, Applied Arts, Artistic Photography and Printing were found at 11 Zamkowa St. Architecture courses terminated in 1927. Thirty-three students (15 men and 8 women) took classes in the academic year of 1919-1920. In 1938 there were 85 (48 men and 37 women). The staff was composed of professors Ferdynand Ruszczyc, the actual founder of the Faculty, Józef Czajkowski, Wojciech T. Jastrzębowski, Benedykt Kubicki, Stanisław Bohusz-Siestrzencewicz and Bolesław Bałzukiewicz, as well as Jan Bułhak. They were later joined by Ludomir Sleńdziński, Bronisław Jamontt, Henryk Kuna, Jerzy Hoppen, Juliusz Kłos, Jerzy Remer, Tymon Niesiołowski and Aleksander Szturman.
The Faculty of Theology did not open until November 21, 1919, with but three father professors – Bronisław Żongołłowicz, Kazimierz Zimmermann and Bolesław Wilanowski. 10 students (both laymen and priests) took courses in 1919. In 1938 there were 132 students (including 5 women). In the late 1930s there were already 15 staff, Fr. Prof. Czesław Falkowski, Fr. Prof. Aleksander Wóycicki, Fr. Prof. Ignacy Świrski, Fr. Prof. Michał Klepacz, Fr. Antoni Pawłowski, PhD, Fr. Walerian Meysztowicz and Fr. Michał Sopoćko among them. Classes took place at 7 Uniwersytecka St. April 1947 saw the final sessions of the SBU Faculty of Theology in Białystok, when Fr. Bp. Michał Klepacz reveived an honorary doctorate.
The Faculty of Agriculture opened on April 9, 1938, following a transition from the Agricultural College, which had operated since January 14, 1924 by the Faculty of Mathematics and Nature Studies, into an independent facility. Prof. Kazimierz Rogóyski was the first head of the College (until January 1929). In 1938 there were 229 students (140 men and 89 women). Professors Witold Staniewicz, Janusz Jagmin, Zygmunt Jaworski, Edmund Lelesz, Wacław Łastowski and Wacław Moycho staffed the Faculty.
Between 1919 and 1939 the number of professors and auxiliary researchers increased from 36 to 245. Except for the Lithuanian and Belarusian courses, all the faculties were always fully staffed. The Professors’ Club and various societies and scientific unions were active at SBU. The University organized events to mark its anniversaries and feature its graduates, ceremonial funerals, academic concerts, exhibitions, rallies and Senate sessions. There was an Academic Choir and between 1921 and 1933 students, chiefly Fine Arts majors, organized the annual ‘Vilnius Academic Pagents’ (Wileńskie Szopki Akademickie).
The University Library and independent institutes
The University Library opened on November 20, 1919. It was converted from a Vilnius public library that had occupied a former University building at 5 Uniwersytecka St. since mid-19th C. It was the largest library in Lithuania. From 1921 it was entitled to a legal deposit. In 1939 there was ca. 600,000 prints, including 254 incunabula, 2,500 prints from 16th C, 12,000 manuscripts, 6,000 etchings and 900 atlases. Among the most precious, there stood out the Joachim Lelewel cartographic collection (over 300 atlases, a few hundred maps and about 1,200 geographical books) brought from Kórnik in 1926. The Library issued The Official Regional Bibliography. In 1938 the Library employed 47 people. Over the years it was directed by Stanisław Ptaszycki (1919-20), Ludwik Janowski (1920-21), Witold Nowodworski (1921-23), Stefan Henryk Rygiel (1924-30) and Adam Łysakowski (1930-39).
Apart from the Library, SBU consisted of independent institutes, research centers and foundations. In 1920 the University was enriched by the addition of the Botanical Garden. In 1925 the Ethnographic Museum was set up by the Faculty of Humanities. At one point it was managed by Cezaria Ehrenkreutz. The Museum was located at 11 Zamkowa St. The Natural Museum, for many years directed by Jan Prüffer, opened in June 1931 at 23 Zakrętowa St. The Observatory, founded and from 1919 managed by Władysław Dziewulski, received an additional wooden pavilion in 1921 at 15 Zakrętowa St. and until 1936 also a set of buildings at 23a Zakrętowa St. After 1936 efforts were made to establish an SBU Museum of Marshal Józef Piłsudski Memorabilia at the Library. Clinics in the city hospitals and the military hospital in Antakalnis as well as the Zakręt Grange, where agricultural studies were practiced, were all part of the University. In March 1922 countess Janina Umiastowska donated her land (Ašmenos district) to the University for educational purposes. In 1927 the count Władysław and countess Janina Zemloslaw Research Foundation was set up by SBU.
Following an initiative of the Faculty of Humanities and Faculty of Mathematics and Nature Studies, an experimental secondary school was created in 1938 aiming for ‘an appropriate preparation of the youth for university education’. The Minister of Denominations and Public Enlightenment’s April 9, 1938, resolution led to establishing the Jan and Jędrzej Śniadecki Secondary School. The School opened on July 1, 1938, under the pedagogical supervision of Prof. Władysław Dziewulski (on behalf of the SBU rector). Wacław Staszewski was the Headmaster. The School was situated at 15 Bakszta St. in a University building. Lithuanian educational authorities shut the School on December 7, 1939.
In the early 1930s the Eastern Europe Research Institute was created with support of the SBU Faculty of Law and Social Studies staff. It was the biggest Polish facility dealing with soviet issues. A private Social Studies School by the Institute specialized in soviet and eastern affairs. It was the only such institution in the second Republic of Poland. The School and the Institute occupied the State Vrublevskiai Library building at 8 Arsenalska St. Among the Institute staff were Stefan Ehrenkreutz, Stanisław Arnold, Henryk Łowmiański, Witold Staniewicz, Bronisław Wróblewski, Wiktor Sukiennicki, Marian Zdziechowski, Jan Kucharzewski, Czesław Bobrowski, Stefan Glaser, Ludwik Kolankowski, Zygmunt Szempliński, Stanisław Baczyński, Leon Wasilewski, Henryk Kawecki, Aleksander Hertz, Władysław Studnicki, Mykoła Kowalewski, Stanisław Zabiełło and researchers from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Germany. After the September 1939 defeat the Institute and the School never resurrected. The Soviets took over the Institute’s collection and shipped it out to the USSR.
Student life and corporations
The University was a multinational facility, including a large number of students of Jewish origin. In the academic year of 1919-20 there were 547 students in Vilnius (472 Poles, 53 Jews, 6 Lithuanians, 5 Belorussians, 2 Germans, 6 Russians and 3 people of other backgrounds). The students came from various parts of Poland, predominantly from the eastern regions: 392 from the former Lithuania and Belorussia, 118 from Poland and 37 from other countries (Russia). In late 1920s, however, there were already 3,100 students and this number hardly altered through the years. Thus SBU counted among the largest schools of the second Republic of Poland with the universities of Cracow, Warsaw and Lviv, and the Warsaw Politechnic. The students created their own council, corporations, tour societies, clubs and parties. They had student homes, medical facilities and sport clubs at their disposal. In 1939 there were 3,110 students (including 417 Jews, 212 Russians, 94 Belorussians, 85 Lithuanians, 28 Ukrainians, 13 Germans and 3 others). 14,044 students graduated between 1919 and 1939, and ,4619 Master and 778 Doctoral degrees were awarded.
Student life focused around aid associations, political organizations, academic clubs, unions and student corporations. The Academic Clubs Federation was founded in November 1923. It published the Alma Mater Vilnensis periodical. In late 1930s there were 70 different academic associations with the biggest being the SBU Fellow Aid Association and the SBU Jewish Students Mutual Aid Association. Among the social and political organizations the following were most active: The SBU Academic Legion of Youth, ‘Revival’ – the Catholic Students’ Association, The Sodality, The Academic Club of Vilnius Wanderers, Lithuanian Academicians Association, The Belorussian Academic Association and The Association for Academic Life Restoration. Academic clubs and sport unions: Philology Club, Philosophy Club, History Club, Humanist Jews Club, Polish Scholars’ Club, Lawyers’ Club, Jewish Lawyers’ Club, Fine Arts Students’ Club, Academic Sports Union and Jewish Academic Sports Club. Altogether between 1919 and 1939 there were 107 academic organizations.
Students were also active in cultural and social organizations. Having arrived from various parts of the Republic of Poland, they would start regional clubs. Still, the largest were societies and academic corporations. There was 12 such organizations at SBU: Academic Society ‘Polonia’, Academic Society ‘Batoria’, Polish Academic Corporation ‘Polesia’, Polish Academic Corporation ‘Vilnensia’, Polish Academic Corporation ‘Cresovia’, Academic Corporation ‘Sniadecia’, Academic Corporation ‘Leonidania’, Academic Corporation ‘Concordia Vilnensis’, Polish Academic Corporation ‘Piłsudia’, Academic Society ‘Ruthenia Vilnensis’, Academic Corporation ‘Filomatia’ and Academic Corporation ‘Conradia’. The societies and corporations boasted their own ceremonials, nomenclature, outfits, insignia and coats of arms. They would celebrate with their own festivities as well as participate in city events.
Student life also thrived outside the University grounds. One of the more interesting recurring events were the so-called ‘dragon Olympics’, conceived by Mieczysław Limanowski and organized on St. John’s Day, April 24 by the City Hall at Bakszta, which was said to have contained the dragon’s cave. The Olympics referred to the legend which has it that the basilisk dropped dead upon facing its own reflection. In brief, the festivities went like this: the knight, i.e. a costumed student, would arrive from the direction of The Gate of Dawn and kill the dragon to rescue maidens. The dead dragon was ceremonially carried across the city where it was cheered with songs, dance and music. The event was immensely popular with local schools and people participating in the flamboyant parade. In the end the dragon was torn apart and burned at the stake.
The most renowned SBU graduate was Czesław Miłosz – a poet, author, university lecturer and Nobel Prize winner (1980). Miłosz studied Law between 1929 and 1934. He then worked for a Vilnius radio station. He was a member of The Academic Club of Vilnius Wanderers. In 1951 he emigrated to France, and later to the U.S., where he worked as a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He debuted in Alma Mater Vilnensis (vol. 9/1930). Among many others he authored Poem of Frozen Time (1933), The Captive Mind (1953), The Light of Day (1953), The Issa Valley (1955), The Unencompassed Earth (1984) and The Year of The Hunter (1991). The following people also graduated SBU: Stanisław Cat-Mackiewicz (author and journalist), Wiktor Trościanko (author and Radio Free Europe journalist), Paweł Jasienica (author), Stanisław Świaniewicz (economist), Juliusz Bardach (law historian), Henryk Łowmiański (historian), Józef Marcinkiewicz (mathematician), Wilhelmina Iwanowska (astronomer), Leonid Żytkowicz (historian), Antoni Basiński (chemist), Wiktor Sukiennicki (lawyer and economist), Teodor Bujnicki (poet), Henryk Niewodniczański (physicist), Maria Znamierowska-Prüfferowa (ethnologist).
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The University was the scientific, cultural and artistic hub of Polish Lithuania. It was also an initiating factor in establishing unions, artistic and research societies in Vilnius. Academic life flourished both on and off campus. Since 1919 SBU organized open lectures for the Vilnius people, as well as special radio broadcasts. The SBU rectorial authorities, the Senate, the staff and students all participated in religious and national celebrations that took place in Vilnius. Many a university event occurred in municipal buildings. Members of staff worked for the City Council and many Vilnius organizations and associations, e.g. Society of Friends of Science in Vilnius or Vilnius Medical Association.
The University was unable to avoid political turmoil. It closed for the first time in July 1920, moments before Bolsheviks seized Vilnius. SBU was not reopened until the Russian army suffered defeat by the Neman and the city was taken by the Polish army on October 9, 1920. In the fall of 1931 anti-Jewish riots too place and consequently classes were put on hold for almost 3 weeks. In November 1936 disturbances on the campus ended with the so-called Dormitory blockade and closing of the University. The then rector Prof. Władysław Jakowicki did not allow the students to go to the city center but he had to resign. In January 1937 a new rector, Witold Staniewicz restarted the classes. On March 13, 1937, the bench ghetto was suspended at SBU.
The University partook in many political events with the highest-ranking dignitaries in the Republic of Poland. The SBU rectors were part of national delegations during official visits to Vilnius by representatives of other countries; they also hosted guestsfrom abroad. A number of SBU staff were part of national governing bodies – Stefan Ehrenkrtreutz (senator), Władysław Komarnicki (MP), as well as Bronisław Żongołłowicz. Władysław Zawadzki and Adam Chełmoński (ministers).
Soon after September 17, 1939, the Soviet army took over Vilnius. In late October the Republic of Lithuania annexed the city. The authorities allowed SBU to function through mid-December with an appointed Lithuanian University administrator, Prof. Ignas Končiusa. End-of-term examinations were hastened and graduating students received Polish diplomas. A celebrative service officiated on December 15 in St. John’s academic church terminated the University’s activity. Between 1940 and 1944 SBU carried on underground. The Senate was in session; fellow support for the staff and their families was arranged; professors taught classes in concealment and continued to examine students. Stefan Ehrenkreutz was the ‘underground’ rector, elected for the office in June 1939. Part of staff obtained official employment with various Lithuanian institutions. Faculties of Humanities, Theology, Law, Mathematics and Nature Studies, and Medicine continued operating underground. Classes took place in private apartments, usually in the suburbs.
All through the war many SBU professors died or left Vilnius. Arrests, deportations, emigrations and exile all contributed to depletion of the academic staff. Students were not permitted to return and resume courses once the war was over. Vilnius was now part of the Soviet Union. A few professors and senior lecturers remained abroad after 1945. The SBU Academic Community, a university society, was set up in London. They issued the periodical Alma Mater Vilnensis. Prof. Stanisław Kościałkowski was the first rector of the Community.
A vast majority of the surviving staff, administration and students repatriated to Toruń, where a new university was being established. Rector Władysław Dziewulski and Tadeusz Czeżowski, Jan Prüffer, Henryk Elzenberg, Janina Hurynowicz, Tymon Niesiołowski, Jerzy Hoppen, Konrad Górski, Wilhelmina Iwanowska, Stefan Srebrny and many others, including librarians and even janitors all came to Toruń. Prof. Ludwik Kolankowski, the founder of SBU, became the first rector of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. NCU is proud to carry on the Vilnus Alma Mater’s legacy.
