Wroclaw University
Encyclopedia
The University of Wrocław is one of nine universities
in Wrocław, Poland
. Former, German university was founded in 1702 as Leopoldina, and re-founded in 1811 as Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau. History of a contemporary Polish university started in 1945, after the area passed to Poland, the university was established primarily by academics from the former University of Lwów
. From 1952 to 1989, it was officially named in honour of Bolesław Bierut, The First Secretary of the Polish Communist Party and so known as Uniwersytet Wrocławski im. Bolesława Bieruta.
signed the foundation deed on July 20, 1505. Due to numerous wars and fierce opposition from near Cracow Academy, however, the new academic institution wasn't built.
The predecessor facilities, which existed since 1638, were converted into Jesuit school, and finally, upon instigation of the Jesuits and with the support of the Silesian Oberamtsrat (Second Secretary) Johannes Adrian von Plencken, donated as a university in 1702 by Emperor Leopold I
as a School of Philosophy and Catholic Theology with the designated name Leopoldina. On 15 November 1702, the university opened. Johannes Adrian von Plencken also became chancellor of the University. As a Catholic institute in Protestant Breslau the new university was a important instrument of the Counter-Reformation
in Silesia. After Silesia passed to Prussia
the university lost its ideological character but remained a religious institution for the education of Catholic clergy in Prussia.
Viadrina University, previously located in Frankfurt (Oder)
and re-established in Breslau as the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau. At first, the conjoint academy had five faculties: philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology, and Catholic
theology.
Connected with the university were three theological seminars, a philological seminar, a seminar for German Philology, another seminar for Romanic and English philology, an historical seminar, a mathematical-physical one, a legal state seminar, and a scientific seminar. From 1842, the University also had a chair of Slavic Studies. The University had twelve different scientific institutes, six clinical centers, and three collections. An agricultural institute with ten teachers and forty-four students, comprising a chemical veterinary institute, a veterinary institute, and a technological institute, was added to the university in 1881. In 1884, the university had 1,481 students in attendance, with a faculty numbering 131.
The library in 1885 consisted of approximately 400,000 works, including about 2,400 incunabula, approximately 250 Aldines, and 2840 manuscripts. These volumes came from the libraries of the former universities of Frankfurt and Breslau and from disestablished monasteries, and also included the oriental collections of the Bibliotheca Habichtiana and the academic Leseinstitut.
In addition, the university owned a observatory; a five-hectare botanical garden; a botanical museum and a zoological garden founded in 1862 by a joint stock company; a natural history museum; zoological, chemical, and physical collections; the chemical laboratory; the physiological plant; a mineralogical institute; an anatomical institute; clinical laboratories; a gallery (mostly from churches, monasteries, etc.) full of old German works; the museum of Silesian antiquities; and the state archives of Silesia.
In the late nineteenth century, numerous internationally renowned and historically notable scholars lectured at the University of Breslau, Johann Dirichlet, Ferdinand Cohn
, and Gustav Kirchhoff
among them.
According to Polish professor of history Henryk Barycz in the academic year of 1813/1814 Polish youth constituted the majority of students at the University.
Following decisions made at the Congress of Vienna
, the Kingdom of Prussia
was ceded the former territories of the Duchy of Warsaw
and established the autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen. In contrast to the other provinces of Prussia
, these territories did not possess universities of their own.
In 1817 Poles made around 16% of the student body and 10% in 1871. The percentage of Jewish students was around 16% in 1817. This situation reflected the multiethnic and international character of the University. Both minorities, as well as the German students, established their own student organisations, called Burschenschaft
en.
In 1827 Hieronim Zakrzewski petitioned Prussian authorities to fund University in Poznan during the first meeting of local parliament in Poznań in 1827.
The Prussian government chose to not found universities there because of concerns about creating "bastions of Poledom", but instead to have the Lower Silesian Breslau university also serve the Grand Duchy of Posen (60% Polish majority) and the East Prussian University of Königsberg
also serve West Prussia (30% Poles).
Polish student organisations included Concordia, Polonia, and a branch of the Sokol
association. Many of the students came from other areas of partitioned Poland. The Jewish students unions were the Viadrina (founded 1886) and the Student Union (1899). Teutonia, a German Burschenschaft founded in 1817, was actually one of the oldest student fraternities in Germany, founded only two years after the Urburschenschaft
. The Polish fraternities were all eventually disbanded by the German professor Felix Dahn
, and in 1913 Prussian authorities established a numerus clausus law that limited the number of Jews from non-German Eastern Europe (so called Ostjuden) that could study in Germany to at most 900. The University of Breslau was allowed to take 100.
As Germany turned to Nazism
, the university became influenced by Nazi ideology
. Polish students were beaten by NSDAP members just for speaking Polish. In 1939, all Polish students were expelled and a official university declaration stated, "We are deeply convinced that [another] Polish foot will never cross the threshold of this German university". In that same year, German scholars from the university worked on a scholarly thesis of historical justification for a "plan of mass deportation in Eastern territories"; among the people involved was Walter Kuhn
, a specialist of Ostforschung
. Other projects during World War II
involved creating evidence to justify German annexation of Polish territories, and presenting Kraków
and Lublin
as German cities.
took the city in May 1945 and subsequently handed it over to the People's Republic of Poland
. The German population fled or was expelled
. The Polish Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów, complete with library and Ossolineum Institute, which was about to be handed over to
the Soviet Ukrainian SSR
, was moved to Wrocław with thousands of staff, employees and their belongings. Many of the buildings were partially destroyed during the defence of the city. Parts of the collection of the university library was burned by soldiers of the Red Army
on 10 May 1945, four days after the German garrison surrendered the city.
The first Polish team of academics arrived in Wrocław in late May 1945 and took custody of the university buildings, and started to rearrange the university buildings, which were 70% destroyed. Very quickly some buildings were repaired, and a cadre of professors was built up, many coming from prewar Polish universities in Wilno
and Lwów
.
The university as we known today was originally founded under its current name as a Polish state university by a decree issued on August 24, 1945. Its first lecture was given on November 15, 1945 by Ludwik Hirszfeld. From 1952 to 1989 the University of Wrocław was known as Uniwersytet Wrocławski im. Bolesława Bieruta, after Bolesław Bierut, the former president and prime minister of Poland.
In 2002 the university celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding.
winners when the University was known as the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau:
Notable students and professors:
Honorary Doctorates
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
in Wrocław, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. Former, German university was founded in 1702 as Leopoldina, and re-founded in 1811 as Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau. History of a contemporary Polish university started in 1945, after the area passed to Poland, the university was established primarily by academics from the former University of Lwów
Lviv University
The Lviv University or officially the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv is the oldest continuously operating university in Ukraine...
. From 1952 to 1989, it was officially named in honour of Bolesław Bierut, The First Secretary of the Polish Communist Party and so known as Uniwersytet Wrocławski im. Bolesława Bieruta.
Leopoldina
At the request of the town council King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and HungaryVladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary
Vladislaus II, also known as Ladislaus Jagiellon ; was King of Bohemia from 1471 and King of Hungary from 1490 until his death in 1516...
signed the foundation deed on July 20, 1505. Due to numerous wars and fierce opposition from near Cracow Academy, however, the new academic institution wasn't built.
The predecessor facilities, which existed since 1638, were converted into Jesuit school, and finally, upon instigation of the Jesuits and with the support of the Silesian Oberamtsrat (Second Secretary) Johannes Adrian von Plencken, donated as a university in 1702 by Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
as a School of Philosophy and Catholic Theology with the designated name Leopoldina. On 15 November 1702, the university opened. Johannes Adrian von Plencken also became chancellor of the University. As a Catholic institute in Protestant Breslau the new university was a important instrument of the Counter-Reformation
Counter-Reformation
The Counter-Reformation was the period of Catholic revival beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War, 1648 as a response to the Protestant Reformation.The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort, composed of four major elements:#Ecclesiastical or...
in Silesia. After Silesia passed to Prussia
Prussia
Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
the university lost its ideological character but remained a religious institution for the education of Catholic clergy in Prussia.
Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität
After the defeat of Prussia by Napoleon and the subsequent reorganisation of the Prussian state, the academy was merged on August 3, 1811, with the ProtestantProtestantism
Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...
Viadrina University, previously located in Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, located on the Oder River, on the German-Polish border directly opposite the town of Słubice which was a part of Frankfurt until 1945. At the end of the 1980s it reached a population peak with more than 87,000 inhabitants...
and re-established in Breslau as the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau. At first, the conjoint academy had five faculties: philosophy, medicine, law, Protestant theology, and Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
theology.
Connected with the university were three theological seminars, a philological seminar, a seminar for German Philology, another seminar for Romanic and English philology, an historical seminar, a mathematical-physical one, a legal state seminar, and a scientific seminar. From 1842, the University also had a chair of Slavic Studies. The University had twelve different scientific institutes, six clinical centers, and three collections. An agricultural institute with ten teachers and forty-four students, comprising a chemical veterinary institute, a veterinary institute, and a technological institute, was added to the university in 1881. In 1884, the university had 1,481 students in attendance, with a faculty numbering 131.
The library in 1885 consisted of approximately 400,000 works, including about 2,400 incunabula, approximately 250 Aldines, and 2840 manuscripts. These volumes came from the libraries of the former universities of Frankfurt and Breslau and from disestablished monasteries, and also included the oriental collections of the Bibliotheca Habichtiana and the academic Leseinstitut.
In addition, the university owned a observatory; a five-hectare botanical garden; a botanical museum and a zoological garden founded in 1862 by a joint stock company; a natural history museum; zoological, chemical, and physical collections; the chemical laboratory; the physiological plant; a mineralogical institute; an anatomical institute; clinical laboratories; a gallery (mostly from churches, monasteries, etc.) full of old German works; the museum of Silesian antiquities; and the state archives of Silesia.
In the late nineteenth century, numerous internationally renowned and historically notable scholars lectured at the University of Breslau, Johann Dirichlet, Ferdinand Cohn
Ferdinand Cohn
Ferdinand Julius Cohn was a German biologist.Cohn was born in Breslau in the Prussian Province of Silesia. At the age of 10 he suffered hearing impairment. He received a degree in botany in 1847 at the age of nineteen at the University of Berlin. He was a teacher and researcher at University of...
, and Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Kirchhoff
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects...
among them.
According to Polish professor of history Henryk Barycz in the academic year of 1813/1814 Polish youth constituted the majority of students at the University.
Following decisions made at the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
, the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
was ceded the former territories of the Duchy of Warsaw
Duchy of Warsaw
The Duchy of Warsaw was a Polish state established by Napoleon I in 1807 from the Polish lands ceded by the Kingdom of Prussia under the terms of the Treaties of Tilsit. The duchy was held in personal union by one of Napoleon's allies, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony...
and established the autonomous Grand Duchy of Posen. In contrast to the other provinces of Prussia
Provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
, these territories did not possess universities of their own.
In 1817 Poles made around 16% of the student body and 10% in 1871. The percentage of Jewish students was around 16% in 1817. This situation reflected the multiethnic and international character of the University. Both minorities, as well as the German students, established their own student organisations, called Burschenschaft
Burschenschaft
German Burschenschaften are a special type of Studentenverbindungen . Burschenschaften were founded in the 19th century as associations of university students inspired by liberal and nationalistic ideas.-History:-Beginnings 1815–c...
en.
In 1827 Hieronim Zakrzewski petitioned Prussian authorities to fund University in Poznan during the first meeting of local parliament in Poznań in 1827.
The Prussian government chose to not found universities there because of concerns about creating "bastions of Poledom", but instead to have the Lower Silesian Breslau university also serve the Grand Duchy of Posen (60% Polish majority) and the East Prussian University of Königsberg
University of Königsberg
The University of Königsberg was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as second Protestant academy by Duke Albert of Prussia, and was commonly known as the Albertina....
also serve West Prussia (30% Poles).
Polish student organisations included Concordia, Polonia, and a branch of the Sokol
Sokol
The Sokol movement is a youth sport movement and gymnastics organization first founded in Czech region of Austria-Hungary, Prague, in 1862 by Miroslav Tyrš and Jindřich Fügner...
association. Many of the students came from other areas of partitioned Poland. The Jewish students unions were the Viadrina (founded 1886) and the Student Union (1899). Teutonia, a German Burschenschaft founded in 1817, was actually one of the oldest student fraternities in Germany, founded only two years after the Urburschenschaft
Urburschenschaft
The Urburschenschaft was the first Burschenschaft, a special type of German Studentenverbindung . Burschenschaften were founded in the early 19th century as associations of university students inspired by liberal and nationalistic ideas.It was founded in 1815 in Jena, Thuringia, in Germany...
. The Polish fraternities were all eventually disbanded by the German professor Felix Dahn
Felix Dahn
Felix Ludwig Julius Dahn was a German lawyer, author and historian.-Biography:Julius Sophus Felix Dahn was born in Hamburg as the oldest son of Friedrich and Constanze Dahn who were notable actors at the city's theatre. The family had both German and French roots...
, and in 1913 Prussian authorities established a numerus clausus law that limited the number of Jews from non-German Eastern Europe (so called Ostjuden) that could study in Germany to at most 900. The University of Breslau was allowed to take 100.
As Germany turned to Nazism
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
, the university became influenced by Nazi ideology
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
. Polish students were beaten by NSDAP members just for speaking Polish. In 1939, all Polish students were expelled and a official university declaration stated, "We are deeply convinced that [another] Polish foot will never cross the threshold of this German university". In that same year, German scholars from the university worked on a scholarly thesis of historical justification for a "plan of mass deportation in Eastern territories"; among the people involved was Walter Kuhn
Walter Kuhn
Walter Kuhn , was a Nazi party member and Ostforschung researcher interested in linguistics and German minorities outside Germany, particularly in the area of Ukraine. During the war he was involved with Nazi re-settlement policies aimed at Jews, Poles and Germans...
, a specialist of Ostforschung
Ostforschung
Ostforschung in general describes since the 18th century any German research of areas to the East of Germany. Since the 1990s, the Ostforschung itself is a subject of historic research, while the names of institutes etc. were changed to more specific ones. For example, the journal „Zeitschrift für...
. Other projects during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
involved creating evidence to justify German annexation of Polish territories, and presenting Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
and Lublin
Lublin
Lublin is the ninth largest city in Poland. It is the capital of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 350,392 . Lublin is also the largest Polish city east of the Vistula river...
as German cities.
Founding of today's Polish university
After the Siege of Breslau, the Soviet Red ArmyRed Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
took the city in May 1945 and subsequently handed it over to the People's Republic of Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. The German population fled or was expelled
Flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland during and after World War II
The flight and expulsion of Germans from Poland was the largest of a series of flights and expulsions of Germans in Europe during and after World War II...
. The Polish Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów, complete with library and Ossolineum Institute, which was about to be handed over to
Kresy
The Polish term Kresy refers to a land considered by Poles as historical eastern provinces of their country. Today, it makes western Ukraine, western Belarus, as well as eastern Lithuania, with such major cities, as Lviv, Vilnius, and Hrodna. This territory belonged to the Polish-Lithuanian...
the Soviet Ukrainian SSR
Ukrainian SSR
The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...
, was moved to Wrocław with thousands of staff, employees and their belongings. Many of the buildings were partially destroyed during the defence of the city. Parts of the collection of the university library was burned by soldiers of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
on 10 May 1945, four days after the German garrison surrendered the city.
The first Polish team of academics arrived in Wrocław in late May 1945 and took custody of the university buildings, and started to rearrange the university buildings, which were 70% destroyed. Very quickly some buildings were repaired, and a cadre of professors was built up, many coming from prewar Polish universities in Wilno
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....
and Lwów
Lviv University
The Lviv University or officially the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv is the oldest continuously operating university in Ukraine...
.
The university as we known today was originally founded under its current name as a Polish state university by a decree issued on August 24, 1945. Its first lecture was given on November 15, 1945 by Ludwik Hirszfeld. From 1952 to 1989 the University of Wrocław was known as Uniwersytet Wrocławski im. Bolesława Bieruta, after Bolesław Bierut, the former president and prime minister of Poland.
In 2002 the university celebrated the 300th anniversary of its founding.
Notable alumni and faculty
Nobel PrizeNobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winners when the University was known as the Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau:
- Friedrich BergiusFriedrich BergiusFriedrich Karl Rudolf Bergius was a German chemist known for the Bergius process for producing synthetic fuel from coal, Nobel Prize in Chemistry in recognition of contributions to the invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods...
- Max BornMax BornMax Born was a German-born physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 30s...
- Hans Georg DehmeltHans Georg DehmeltHans Georg Dehmelt is a German-born American physicist, who co-developed the ion trap technique with Wolfgang Paul, for which they shared one-half of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1989...
- Paul EhrlichPaul EhrlichPaul Ehrlich was a German scientist in the fields of hematology, immunology, and chemotherapy, and Nobel laureate. He is noted for curing syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, calling it "horror autotoxicus"...
- Philipp LenardPhilipp LenardPhilipp Eduard Anton von Lenard , known in Hungarian as Lénárd Fülöp Eduárd Antal, was a Hungarian - German physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1905 for his research on cathode rays and the discovery of many of their properties...
- Theodor MommsenTheodor MommsenChristian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
- Erwin SchrödingerErwin SchrödingerErwin Rudolf Josef Alexander Schrödinger was an Austrian physicist and theoretical biologist who was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, and is famed for a number of important contributions to physics, especially the Schrödinger equation, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1933...
- Otto SternOtto SternOtto Stern was a German physicist and Nobel laureate in physics.-Biography:Stern was born in Sohrau, now Żory in the German Empire's Kingdom of Prussia and studied at Breslau, now Wrocław in Lower Silesia....
- Eduard BuchnerEduard BuchnerEduard Buchner was a German chemist and zymologist, awarded with the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry thanks to his work on fermentation.-Early years:...
- Fritz HaberFritz HaberFritz Haber was a German chemist, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for synthesizing ammonia, important for fertilizers and explosives. Haber, along with Max Born, proposed the Born–Haber cycle as a method for evaluating the lattice energy of an ionic solid...
Notable students and professors:
- Adam AsnykAdam AsnykAdam Asnyk , was a Polish poet and dramatist. Born September 11, 1838 in Kalisz to a szlachta family, he was educated for an heir of his family's estate. As such he received education at the Institute of Agriculture and Forestry in Marymont and then the Medical Surgeon School in Warsaw. He...
- Robert BunsenRobert BunsenRobert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen was a German chemist. He investigated emission spectra of heated elements, and discovered caesium and rubidium with Gustav Kirchhoff. Bunsen developed several gas-analytical methods, was a pioneer in photochemistry, and did early work in the field of organoarsenic...
- Florian CeynowaFlorian CeynowaFlorian Ceynowa was a doctor, political activist, writer, and linguist. He undertook efforts to identitfy Kashubian language, culture and traditions. He awakened Kashubian self-identity, thereby opposing both Germanisation and Prussian authority, and Polish nobility and clergy...
- Stephan Cohn-VossenStephan Cohn-VossenStefan or Stephan Cohn-Vossen was a mathematician, now best known for his collaboration with David Hilbert on the 1932 book Anschauliche Geometrie, translated into English as Geometry and the Imagination. The Cohn-Vossen transformation is also named for him.He was born in Breslau...
- Jan DzierżonJan DzierzonJohann Dzierzon, in Polish Jan Dzierżon or Dzierżoń , also John Dzierzon , was a pioneering apiarist who discovered the phenomenon of parthenogenesis in bees and designed the first successful movable-frame beehive.Dzierzon came from a Polish family in Silesia...
- Heinz von FoersterHeinz von FoersterHeinz von Foerster was an Austrian American scientist combining physics and philosophy. Together with Warren McCulloch, Norbert Wiener, John von Neumann, Lawrence J. Fogel, and others, Heinz von Foerster was an architect of cybernetics.-Biography:Von Foerster was born in 1911 in Vienna, Austria,...
- Jan KasprowiczJan KasprowiczJan Kasprowicz was a poet, playwright, critic and translator; a foremost representative of Young Poland.-Life:...
- Bronisław Knaster
- Wojciech KorfantyWojciech KorfantyWojciech Korfanty , born Adalbert Korfanty, was a Polish nationalist activist, journalist and politician, serving as member of the German parliaments Reichstag and Prussian Landtag, and later on, in the Polish Sejm...
- Hans LammersHans LammersDr.jur. Hans Heinrich Lammers was a German jurist and prominent Nazi politician. From 1933 until 1945 he served as head of the Reich Chancellery under Adolf Hitler....
- Kurt LischkaKurt LischkaKurt Werner Lischka was an SS Lieutenant Colonel and Gestapo chief assigned to Paris in Occupied France during World War II....
- Kazimierz MarcinkiewiczKazimierz MarcinkiewiczKazimierz Marcinkiewicz is a Polish conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland from October 31, 2005 to July 14, 2006...
- Edward MarczewskiEdward MarczewskiEdward Marczewski was a Polish mathematician. His surname until 1940 was Szpilrajn.Marczewski was a member of the Warsaw School of Mathematics...
- Jan MiodekJan MiodekJan Miodek , Professor of Wroclaw University, is a Polish linguist in the normative tradition....
- Karol ModzelewskiKarol ModzelewskiKarol Modzelewski is a Polish historian, writer and politician.He is the adopted son of Zygmunt Modzelewski. Professor at the University of Wroclaw and the University of Warsaw, he was a member of the Polish United Workers Party but was expelled from it in 1964 for opposition to some policies of...
- Jan NoskiewiczJan NoskiewiczJan Noskiewicz was a Polish entomologist specialising in Hymenoptera and Strepsiptera.He was Professor of Systematic Zoology and Zoogeography at Breslau now Wroclaw University....
- Barbara Piasecka JohnsonBarbara Piasecka JohnsonBarbara "Basia" Piasecka Johnson is a humanitarian, philanthropist, art connoisseur and collector.-Early life:...
- Karel SlavíčekKarel SlavíčekKarel Slavíček, , was a Jesuit missionary and scientist, the first Czech sinologist and author of the first precise map of Beijing.-Early life and studies in the Czech lands:...
- Władysław Ślebodziński
- Mieczysław Wolfke
- Seweryn WysłouchSeweryn WysłouchSeweryn Wysłouch was an influential legal historian and vice-rector of Wrocław University.-Biography:...
- Norbert EliasNorbert EliasNorbert Elias was a German sociologist of Jewish descent, who later became a British citizen.-Biography:...
- August Heinrich Hoffmann von FallerslebenAugust Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben' , who used Hoffmann von Fallersleben as his pen name, was a German poet. He is best known for writing "Das Lied der Deutschen", its third stanza now being the national anthem of Germany, and a number of popular children's songs.- Biography :Hoffmann was born in Fallersleben , Brunswick-Lüneburg,...
- Gustav FreytagGustav FreytagGustav Freytag was a German novelist and playwright.-Life:Freytag was born in Kreuzburg in Silesia...
- August FroehlichAugust FroehlichAugust Froehlich was a German Roman Catholic priest. In his pastoral activity he opposed National Socialism. He stood up for rights of German Catholics and of Polish forced labourers, martyred in Dachau concentration camp....
- Otto von GierkeOtto von GierkeOtto Friedrich von Gierke was a German historian. He was born in Stettin , Pomerania, and died in Berlin.-Scholar:...
- Fritz HaberFritz HaberFritz Haber was a German chemist, who received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for his development for synthesizing ammonia, important for fertilizers and explosives. Haber, along with Max Born, proposed the Born–Haber cycle as a method for evaluating the lattice energy of an ionic solid...
- Clara ImmerwahrClara ImmerwahrClara Immerwahr was a Jewish-German chemist and the wife of fellow chemist Fritz Haber.-Education:Immerwahr studied at the University of Breslau, attaining her degree and a Ph.D. in chemistry. She was the first woman Ph.D. at the University of Breslau.-Marriage and work:Immerwahr married Haber in...
- Gustav KirchhoffGustav KirchhoffGustav Robert Kirchhoff was a German physicist who contributed to the fundamental understanding of electrical circuits, spectroscopy, and the emission of black-body radiation by heated objects...
- Adolf KoberAdolf KoberAdolf Kober was a rabbi and a historian.- Life :Kober studied History, Philosophy and Oriental Languages at the University of Wrocław and received a PhD there in 1903 with a thesis on the medieval history of the Jews in Cologne...
- Emil KrebsEmil KrebsEmil Krebs was a German polyglot and sinologist. He mastered 68 languages in speech and writing and studied 120 other languages.-The early years:...
- Otto KüstnerOtto KüstnerOtto Ernst Küstner was a German gynecologist.Initially he studied medicine in Leipzig and Berlin, and during the Franco-Prussian War was a volunteer with the Garde-Füsilier-Regiment. Afterwards, he completed his studies at the University of Halle, obtaining his doctorate in 1873...
- Ferdinand LassalleFerdinand LassalleFerdinand Lassalle was a German-Jewish jurist and socialist political activist.-Early life:Ferdinand Lassalle was born on 11 April 1825 in Breslau , Silesia to a prosperous Jewish family descending from Upper Silesian Loslau...
- Eugen Rosenstock-HuessyEugen Rosenstock-HuessyEugen Rosenstock-Huessy was a historian and social philosopher, whose work spanned the disciplines of history, theology, sociology, linguistics and beyond...
- Joseph SchachtJoseph SchachtJoseph Schacht, born in Ratibor, 15 March 1902, died in Englewood, 1 August 1969, was a British-German professor of Arabic and Islam at Columbia University in New York. He was the leading Western scholar on Islamic law, whose Origins of Muhammadan Jurisprudence is still considered a centrally...
- Jan Evangelista PurkyněJan Evangelista PurkyneJan Evangelista Purkyně was a Czech anatomist and physiologist. He was one of the best known scientists of his time. His son was the painter Karel Purkyně...
- Hugo SteinhausHugo SteinhausWładysław Hugo Dionizy Steinhaus was a Polish mathematician and educator. Steinhaus obtained his PhD under David Hilbert at Göttingen University in 1911 and later became a professor at the University of Lwów, where he helped establish what later became known as the Lwów School of Mathematics...
- Edith SteinEdith SteinSaint Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, sometimes also known as Saint Edith Stein , was a German Roman Catholic philosopher and nun, regarded as a martyr and saint of the Roman Catholic Church...
(Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross) - Carl Wernicke
Honorary Doctorates
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...