The plaque reads:
IN MEMORY OF THE FIRST POLISH, POSTWAR, BOLESŁAWIEC TEACHERS AND ORGANIZERS OF EDUCATION IN 1945–1947. The residents of Bolesławiec. October 2021.
The plaque also features outlines of two pupils sitting on a school bench characteristic of that period.
The memory of the first postwar Bolesławiec teachers and organizers of education in 1945–47 is also preserved by an inscription at the municipal cemetery, containing a list of the teachers by name together with notes on their burial places. The plaque lists: Stefania Tajcher, Eugenia Mazur, Bronisław Mazur, Maria Markowska, Wilhelmina Borysiewicz, Maria Spryszyńska, Władysław Kobielnik, Maria Piwowarska, Helena Tyrankiewicz, Wincenty Tyrankiewicz, Wiktoria Gałkiewicz, Janina Chojnowska, Zbigniew Chojnowski, Olga Zyzoń.
The idea of commemorating Bolesławiec’s pioneer teachers came from the Bolesławiec Senior Citizens’ Council. A ten-member Commission for Commemorating the First Postwar Bolesławiec Teachers and Organizers of Education in 1945–47 operated under the mayor of Bolesławiec. Its members were:
- Helena Strzelczak-Kunicka – chairwoman of the Commission;
- Łukasz Jaźwiec – deputy chair of the Commission and chair of the Education, Culture and Sport Committee of the Bolesławiec City Council;
- Wiesława Olczyk – secretary of the Commission and representative of the Bolesławiec Senior Citizens’ Council;
- Dr Adam Baniecki – head of the Bolesławiec Branch of the State Archives in Wrocław;
- Anna Bober-Tubaj – director of the Museum of Ceramics in Bolesławiec;
- Kornel Filipowicz – director of the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre – International Ceramics Centre;
- Beata Sulska – head of the Social Affairs Department of Bolesławiec City Hall;
- Kazimierz Łomotowski – director of the Municipal Housing Management Company;
- Jerzy Zieliński – city secretary;
- Dr Edmund Maliński – editor-in-chief of the “Bolesławiec Yearbook”.
“When I look at the symbolic image carved on this Memorial Plaque—the children, the pupils sitting on a school bench—I think they could have been you or your ancestors, relatives or friends. It is 1945. Poles are arriving from different parts of the country, including children. But there is also an extraordinary person—Stefania Tajcher—who dreams of opening a Polish school. She succeeds. She meets three other female teachers, and together they begin difficult work. There is already the first school inspector, Marian Dziubiński. The teaching staff of postwar Bolesławiec and its surroundings quickly grows. Polish education is being organized intensively in the city and county. This memorial plaque honors their pioneering efforts,” said during the ceremony Helena Strzelczak-Kunicka, chairwoman of the Commission for Commemorating the First Postwar Bolesławiec Teachers and Organizers of Education in 1945–47 and chairwoman of the Bolesławiec Senior Citizens’ Council, also representing the “Carpe Diem” Teachers’ Club. “With great respect, I express my satisfaction that, 76 years after the beginning of the first school year at the postwar Bolesławiec school, the first Polish postwar Bolesławiec teachers and organizers of postwar Bolesławiec education are being commemorated. This historic date is October 1, 1945. ‘A date written in golden letters in the history of education in Bolesławiec.’ Stefania Tajcher recorded this in her memoirs. At today’s ceremony, expressing respect and recognition for the achievements of that period, the term Bolesławiec refers to both the city and the county,” H. Strzelczak-Kunicka added.
The plaque was unveiled by pupils of Primary School No. 2: Maja Danilewicz and Michał Matkowski. The unveiling was preceded by an address from Bolesławiec mayor Piotr Roman, who recalled the beginnings of settlement in the city and Bolesławiec County after World War II. The mayor drew attention to the plaque’s symbolic location, next to a commemorative inscription honoring the lasting contribution of pioneers of Polish crafts and merchants to Bolesławiec’s development. A brief history of education in Bolesławiec, subsequently expanded during a community meeting with a lecture entitled “The Beginnings of Education in Postwar Bolesławiec (1945–1950),” was presented by Dr Edmund Maliński.
Members of the Commission for Commemorating the First Postwar Bolesławiec Teachers and Organizers of Education in 1945–47, the city’s local-government authorities, county head Tomasz Gabrysiak, Bolesławiec City Council members (participating online), representatives of senior citizens’ groups, Krystyna Dudak—the daughter of one of the first postwar Bolesławiec teachers—and Kamilla Dudek—author of an article about pioneer teachers and organizers of Polish education in Bolesławiec, which will appear in the forthcoming “Bolesławiec Yearbook”—attended the intimate plaque-unveiling ceremony, held due to the pandemic.