EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES OF THE UNION OF THE CHURCHES OF THE EVANGELICAL AUGSBURG AND HELVETIC CONFESSIONS IN INTER-WAR GALICIA

Abstract

The article covers the activities of the Union of the Churches of the Evangelical Augsburg and Helvetic Confessions in Inter-war Galicia in the 20s–30s of the 20th century, aimed at satisfying the cultural and educational needs of German parishioners. It shows, that in the interwar years, the Polish state pursued such a national-educational and religious policy towards the German minority of the region, the result of which was supposed to be the denationalization and assimilation of the German population, given that Protestant pastors made significant efforts both to preserve the national separateness of the Germans of the region and to support continuous spiritual connection with the German culture. It confirms that education and culture specifically served as the unifying factors that protected the German colonists of Galicia from assimilation processes and strengthened their connection with the population of Germany. Likewise, it has been established that the Protestant clergy focused their activities on the religious upbringing of children and youth of German nationality, the development of private German-language primary and secondary schools, youth religious societies, and charitable organizations, which became the stronghold of German identity in interwar Galicia. The article reveals that primary private German-language educational institutions, which were attended by about 59.1 % of all German students in the region, operated with the help of the union. Those included two gymnasiums in Lviv and Stanislaviv, as well as the German National University. The author of the article asserts that the pastors’ active participation in the development of private national schooling was partly a response to the obstacles that the Polish authorities placed on the way to the development of German-language educational institutions. It was observed that through the organization of private German-language schools, the pastors tried to raise the level of national and religious consciousness of the devotees to some extent. The author suggests that through active pastoral and educational activities of the union’s clergy, the parishioners were closely connected with the German national culture, which contributed to the preservation of their ethnic identity. Keywords Protestantism, religious communities, German population, Galicia, the Polish state, educational institutions.