The General Secondary School No. 1 in Bolesławiec welcomed unusual guests on 2 May 1994. Former students of this secondary school, now scattered throughout the Federal Republic of Germany, visited their old school. Siegburg, Frankfurt, Salzgitter, Leipzig—to name just a few of the cities from which often now venerable witnesses to bygone years had travelled. The occasion for the meeting was the 240th anniversary of the founding of the Gottfried Zahn Institute, a complex consisting of an orphanage and a school. Gottfried Zahn, a Bolesławiec townsman who had himself been an orphan in childhood, decided in adulthood to establish a shelter for the lonely, winning King Frederick II’s support for his idea. This led to the establishment of the institution in 1754. The school, which belonged to the complex of buildings of the former NOT, enjoyed great esteem in Lower Silesia.
The trip was organised by the indefatigable Klaus Rosenthal, already known to the people of Bolesławiec, from the Bolesławiec Group in Siegburg. In response to his appeal to commemorate the school’s anniversary, several dozen former classmates came forward. Around 50 people filled the assembly hall of General Secondary School No. 1, arriving either by coach or in private cars. Among the guests was Professor Aleksander Bolz, a retired professor of pedagogy from Leipzig and co-author of a work on the history of the Zahn Institution published for the occasion. In welcoming the distinguished guests, the school’s headmaster, Stanisław Małkowski, recalled that such a meeting would not have been possible just a few years earlier. The city’s mayor, Józef Król, stressed that a school is a place to which people gladly return throughout their lives. Speakers from the German side expressed themselves in a similar spirit, not concealing their emotion at being able to cross the old threshold now, in a uniting Europe. The meeting was accompanied by a concert prepared by secondary-school students who also attended music school. The school’s students kindly informed the guests about the school’s current situation, showing them around the classrooms and corridors. Evidence of their attachment to the old school often came in the form of memorabilia from bygone years: report cards, school identity cards and photographs. One of the reunion participants proved to be related to Zahn, the school’s founder. As a token of gratitude for the warm welcome, one of the students was invited to Siegburg. Although the guests’ main activity was visiting the former school, touring the city—especially the town hall and museum—also formed an important part of the programme, which was further expanded to include an excursion around Lower Silesia.