Marzec 1968 roku w województwie katowickim

Abstract

The opinion that the youth of the former Katowice voivodship, except for the academic environment of the Technical University in Gliwice, was one of passive student environments during the 1968 March days, proved to be widely-held till the end of the1990s or even longer. Mainly, it derived from the lack of access to documents of that time, and the fact that the mass media in the voivodship did not transmit any information on the events taking place in Silesian higher schools in March 1968. It was only when the Institute of National Memory received the materials of the Security Services and made them available to the researchers, making it possible to fully report the March events in all higher schools, and, at the same time, reveal the names of the majority of activists and participants of demonstrations and protests in the Katowice voivodship at that time. The truth is that the student environment in Gliwice, Częstochowa and Katowice reacted to a brutal defeat of student demonstrations in Warsaw by marshal forces on 8 and 9 March 1968 a bit late, but fairly violently, which resulted from its dispersion. As early as on 11 March they demonstrated at Krakowski Square in front of the edifice of the Technical University in Gliwice Mickiewicz monument, the PZPR local committee, and the building of the president of the Technical University in Gliwice, sympathising with the students from Warsaw. In the demonstration participated students from Katowice representing the branch of the Jagiellonian University, Higher School of Pedagogy and other higher schools in Katowice. The attempt to organize the next demonstration in Gliwice on 12 March ended up with an extremely brutal intervention of militia forces and arrest of several students. At night preceding 12 March the students from the Technical University in Częstochowa demonstrated in a march through the streets of the city under the slogans of solidarity with the youth from Warsaw, however, the attempt to organize a protest rally on 12 March did not succeed as a result of decicive and protective measures taken by the university authorities. After 14 March, an uproar among the students was seemingly weaker, however, the students stepped out from the branch of the Jagiellonian University, Higher School of Pedagogy, Higher School of Economics, Higher School of Music and the Academy of Medicine located at that time in Rokitnica having been informed that the students and the staff of the Jagiellonian University had been beaten by the militia officers on 13 March, as well as as a sign of sympathy with the students from Gliwice and Warsaw. The manifestation organized on 14 March resulted in beating up demonstrators at Wolności Square. On 15 March, after a stormy rally in the hall of the Faculty of Law, the militia officers intervened again, which ended up with the so called battle at the Rawa River. Irrespective of that, the next attempt to organize a manifestation was taken in the afternoon. This time, it was on the market square and caused the ZOMO forces to intervene. On 16 March, with few students engaged, demonstrations took place again on the streets of Katowice. On 14 March, the students from the Technical University in Częstochowa made themselves felt, but the attempt to organize a march through the streets of the city was only partially successful. Similarly, the students from the Teacher College in Cieszyn, managed to only accentuate their sympathy with the students from Warsaw by means of a minute’s silence in one of cafes in Cieszyn and in front of Adam Mickiewicz Theatre. Within the next days, the atmosphere of rebellion was gradually weakening, also as a result of threats of exempting the students from higher schools and informing their parents. The last note of fears among the youth in the voivodship was a demonstration of higher school students in Bielsko-Biała in front of Adam Mickiewicz monument dispersed by militia on 21 March.