Gdansk University of Technology

Rebuilding and the first years

The Delegation entered the seriously ruined university. Their preliminary estimation showed that much effort and work would be necessary for coming the university into being. The Main Building suffered the most. According to estimation, its 60% of cubic content was found demolished. The fire destroyed the central part of the building including the main staircase and back routes with Assembly Hall, Rector's Office and Library where all ceilings collapsed.

The remained book collection was also damaged. The rest of the buildings was in better condition. In Chemistry building, only the part close to the Main Building was burnt, however, measuring apparatus and other scientific aids and equipment were destroyed to high degree. The building of Electrical Engineering Faculty was untouched, therefore the furnishings and equipment from the majority of different halls and rooms were stored here, in engine rooms and in basement. The neighbouring building of Hydro and Aerodynamic Faculty serving as a hospital during the war remained untouched as well. The old, outworn Machine Laboratory was preserved without major damages excluding glazing. In its rooms, the delegation opened its office. The building of Laboratory of Strength of Materials had its front wall broken, however, the machines there, were slightly damaged only. Totally, 16% of cubic content of all the university buildings were destroyed during the war. However, the glazing appeared to be mostly affected whose lack was estimated as 80%. The fences and broken gates needed the repair as well. Dead bodies were found in the area of the university.

Although the fast start of the university was doubtful, its protection and rebuilding were begun immediately. The volunteers - future students helped, too.]

The legal status of the University was regulated by the decision of the state authorities. The Technical University in Gdansk, on the basis of the Decree of Interim Government of Republic of Poland of May 24, 1945, became the Polish state academic school as Gdansk University of Technology (Art. 1 of the Decree stated "Gdansk University of Technology is becoming the Polish state academic school").

More and more scientists began to come, mostly from Lvov University of Technology and Warsaw University of Technology, among them many outstanding and recognized professors from prewar period. Officers and engineers returning from prisoner of war camps came, too, as well as the prewar Polish students and the university graduates. They all joined their efforts for rebuilding the university. During May and June the university power station started working which mainly served the port and the town. In July the reconstruction of walls and roof of Laboratory of Strength of Materials was begun. The machines used also for industrial objects being in the course of rebuilding on Pomerania region were protected as well. Then, the reconstruction of Chemical Laboratory followed. As the beginning of new academic year and the inauguration of lectures were coming nearer and nearer, the efforts were concentrated on preparing lecture halls, drafting rooms and laboratories. The matters concerning enrolments of candidates, teaching staff members and organization of faculty offices and the library had to be solved.

The first Rector Prof. Władysław Łukasiewicz, nominated by the Minister of Education came to Gdańsk. The Decree of the Cabinet provided for creation of 4 faculties: Civil Engineering Faculty, Mechanical Electrical Faculty, Shipbuilding Faculty and Chemical Faculty. However, there was also a need for creation of the Faculty of Architecture as well. Eventually, six faculties were organized. Their organizers and the first deans were: Prof. Marian Osiński (Faculty of Architecture), Prof. Włodzimierz Rylke (Shipbuilding Faculty), Prof. Włodzimierz Wawryk (Chemical Faculty), Prof. Karol Taylor (Faculty of Mechanical Engineering), Prof. Kazimierz Kopecki (Electrical Engineering Faculty) and Prof. Karol Pomianowski (Faculty of Civil and Hydro Engineering). The first vice-rector was Dr Stanisław Turski and later Prof. Edward Geisler, too.

In 1945 the teaching staff included 112 scientists, among them 8 full professors and 28 professors. The first professors' team included: Ignacy Adamczewski, Michał Broszko, Bronisław Bukowski, Władysław Czerny, Mieczysław Dębicki, Łukasz Dorosz, Władysław Florjański, Maksymilian Tytus Huber, Bogumił Hummel, Stanisław Kaniewski, Julian Kamecki, Antoni Kozłowski, Paweł Kułakowski, Władysław Lam, Ignacy Malecki, Feliks Markowski, Stefan Minc, Witold Minkiewicz, Jarosław Naleszkiewicz, Witold Nowacki, Stanisław Obmiński, Franciszek Otto, Zdzisław Pazdro, Adolf Polak, Aleksander Potyrała, Stanisław Puzyna, Tadeusz Sulma, Jan Szwarc, Leon Stankiewicz, Paweł Szulkin, Eustachy Tarnowski, Karol Taylor, Stanisław Trzetrzewiński, Wiktor Wiśniowski, Mieczysław Wolfke and Józef Wysocki.

Great effort of both professors and future students was fully successful. On October 22, 1945 the first and ceremonial lecture by Prof. Ignacy Adamczewski inaugurated the normal studies at all the faculties. The majority of lectures were taking place in the buildings of Machine Laboratory, Electrical Engineering Faculty, Strength Institute and Auditorium Maximum. However, due to the badly heated didactic rooms, the Rector ordered a longer Christmas break. So the official inauguration was postponed and took place on April 9, 1946 at Auditorium Maximum. After the inauguration speech of the Rector who was then Prof. Stanisław Turski, the audience heard the song Gaude Mater Poloniae which was sung for the first time within the walls of Gdansk University of Technology. The inauguration lecture entitled Contemporary technique and natural knowledge was delivered by one of the greatest respectful scientists of those days Prof. Maksymilian Tytus Huber. He was lecturing on technical progress during World War II, emphasizing the importance of trials of atom splitting. The lecture, filled with the love for Motherland was finished with the following words: Salus Rei Publicae Suprema Lex (the good of the country is the most important law).

In the first academic year 1945/1946 1647 students started their education at Gdansk University of Technology. The university, from the very beginning, became very attractive mostly due to the Shipbuilding Faculty but also owing to great need for highly qualified engineering staff in ruined Poland. The first academic year was ended on July 13, 1946 and two weeks later the examinations started. The entrance examinations for the second post-war academic year were held from September 23 to September 28, 1946.

The Library was opened in August 1945. First it acted in very modest conditions, in two rooms of 66 m2. The staff consisted of only three librarians. Its collection of books included the saved cathedral part and old prints which had been hidden in the Kashubian village of Swincz. Among total number of 26,000 volumes, mainly humanities, there remained only 8,000 volumes after being selected, which constituted the basis for new collection of books. The later systematic and consistent development of the Library was greatly influenced by the nomination of Dr Marian Des Loges to the post of the Head of Main Library in 1950.

Also, in the very beginning, the activity of the students' autonomous organization started, being the continuation of prewar students' "Bratnia Pomoc" whose founder and its first President had been Adam Doboszyński. Stanisław Szymański from Shipbuilding Faculty and the former prewar Students' "Bratnia Pomoc" member who came together with the operational group became the President of the reactivated, on August 25, 1945 Students' "Bratnia Pomoc" of Gdansk University of Technology. The "Bratnia Pomoc" was engaged in organizing students' life, including starting the first student canteen already in 1945. They also appealed to the academic environment to volunteer working 80 hours at removing the rubble and rebuilding both the town and the university itself.

Former Polish students

Professor Stanisław Hückel in a Guest Book of 1955 writes: "(…) traditions which Gdansk University of Technology followed, were the ones which had been brought by the people who were creating the university. They were the professors from Warsaw University of Technology and Lvov University of Technology as well as partly former students of Gdansk University of Technology".

However, it is worth mentioning that about 40 of former students and graduates of the University of period of Free City of Gdańsk started working here. Among them were: Prof. Stanisław Błaszkowiak, Prof. Bronisław Bukowski, Doc. Henryk Hadrian, Prof. Alfons Hoffman, Prof. Jerzy Doerffer, Prof. Józef Kazimierczak, Lecturer Alfons Kwiczor, Prof. Walerian Libura, Prof. Roman Lipowicz, Prof. Witold Nowacki, Prof. Wojciech Orszulok, Prof. Jerzy Pacześniak, Prof. Jan Piasecki, Prof. Aleksy Potocki, Prof. Aleksander Potyrała, Prof. Janusz Stanisławski, Prof. Janusz Staszewski, Prof. Mieczysław Rodkiewicz, Prof. Witold Urbanowicz and Doc. Roman Wieloch. Many of them became recognized specialists of rich scientific achievements.

Moreover, over 30 former students and graduates of the University of the Free City of Gdańsk period started scientific researches in other Polish universities. The examples are: Prof. Jan Anioła and Prof. Jerzy Glaser (Mining and Metallurgy Academy); Prof Krystian H. Eyman, Prof. Zygfryd Jung, Prof. Witold Szuman (Warsaw University of Technology); Prof Zbigniew Orzeszkowski and Prof. Jan Trojak (Wrocław University of Technology); Prof. Witold Kręglewski, Prof. Teobald Olejnik, Prof. Józef Węglarz, Doc. Kazimierz Szymański and Doc. Jarosław Ulatowski (Poznań University of Technology).

Many prewar students also joined, with great eagerness, the rebuilding and development of the industry which had been destroyed during the war time. Over 20 of them constituted the managing staff of scientific research institutes and state offices, 37 worked in key industry, 10 in mining industry, 3 in civil engineering, 8 in architecture, 9 in metallurgy, 8 in sugar industry, 4 in railways and 21 in power engineering. Most of them, i.e. about 40 joined the mission of creating Polish shipbuilding industry - as Prof. Witold Urbanowicz, Wacław Czarnowski and others - who, since the first moments of liberation started organising the running of Polish shipyards. As early as in 1945 Prof. Witold Urbanowicz became the first President and then Chief Engineer of Polish Shipyards' Association. In 1950 he formed a new departmental scientific research institute called first Maritime Technical Institute and then in 1951 Maritime Institute. He also initiated a new discipline naval architecture, and the Gdansk University of Technology, as the first university in the world was educating the professionals of this specialty. Former Polish students joined the preparation and education of specialists for shipbuilding industry. Prof. Aleksander Potyrała who still during the war in 1943 organized shipbuilding courses at secret Warsaw University of Technology, participated in organizing studies of shipbuilding after the war. In August 1945 he created state Shipbuilding Liceum "Conradinum" in Gdansk and he was its director till the end of 1949. He cooperated with Prof. Aleksander Rylke in organizing the Shipbuilding Faculty at Gdansk University of Technology.

Connections with economy

As the history of Gdansk University of Technology is recalled in this book, it is worth stressing its maritime character since the very first years after the war. As early as in 1945 the Shipbuilding Faculty concentrated all the disciplines necessary for shipbuilding industry, sailing and fishery. Close links with industry caused that Gdansk University of Technology became an irrevocable element of economic development of the seaside region. The efforts bound with rebuilding and development of the University were accompanied by the work at rebuilding and development of the city and industry including the growing shipbuilding industry, with the participation of both the staff and students of all the university faculties.

In the period of the past 60 years, the staff of the Gdansk University of Technology consisted of numerous outstanding representatives of science. Part of them have gone for ever, others still actively multiply the achievements of Polish and world science. In 1945-1949 Prof. Maksymilian Tytus Huber worked here. His work in the field of theory of elasticity made him stand together with the most eminent researchers in the world. Prof. Adolf Polak's activity was also recorded deeply in the memories. He was a constructor of steam engine which was later applied in the first Polish seagoing ship s/s "Sołdek". At the Shipbuilding Faculty, the technique of side launching was elaborated by Prof. Aleksander Rylke, and Prof. Jerzy Doerffer is an author of half shipbuilding method and other innovatory solutions connected with shipbuilding industry. The worldwide authority in the field of mechanics of shipbuilding was Prof. Józef Więckowski. The creator of the first postwar concept of urban planning and seaside zone planning was a famous town planner Prof. Władysław Czerny. The Gdansk University of Technology architects exerted great influence on rebuilding and historical reconstruction of Main City of Gdańsk. They performed historical documentation, under the supervision of an outstanding architect Prof. Marian Osiński, which became a basis of future work, reshaping our town as it used to be. The Department of Ports and Pomerania Design being the only one of the kind at Polish universities of technology, was directed by Prof. Wacław Tomaszewski who, before and after the war, was designing harbour objects. In the range of building hydrotechnic structures, such eminent professors should be mentioned: Wacław Balcerski, Romuald Cebertowicz, Stanisław Hückel and Karol Pomianowski. Their work dealing with hydrotechnic structures determined the constructing and development of Polish harbours, roads and water power plants, or as it was in case of Prof. Romuald Cebertowicz - ground petrifaction mainly under the threatened monumental objects. The enormous contribution to the development of Polish power engineering was put in by Prof. Robert Szewalski - a constructor of the first Polish steam turbine, Prof. Kazimierz Kopecki - a creator of scientific school of complex power engineering and Prof. Stanisław Szpor - an outstanding expert of lighting discharge and the protection against its results. One can also remember such professors as: Damazy Tilgner, Henryk Niewiadomski, Andrzej Ledóchowski and their achievements in the field of food chemistry and researches on medicines, or Prof. Witold Nowacki, the former President of the Polish Academy of Sciences, a professor of our University in 1947-1952, a distinguished specialist in the field of structural mechanics, theory of elasticity and thermo-elasticity.

Some names of scientists only were recalled here who, connected with Gdansk University of Technology, contributed to the development of science and economy. Within our scientific staff members, there are researchers of almost all fields and scientific specialties highly recognized in the world science. The following examples should be mentioned here as Prof. Edward Borowski and his achievements in the field of the development of the chemistry of drugs and Prof. Jerzy Konopa, especially in the anti-cancer drugs, or professors of younger generation who were awarded prestigious prizes and gained high recognition in the world of science (Prof. Zdzisław Kowalczuk - a laureate of the Foundation for Polish Science, Prof. Andrzej Czyżewski - a laureate of main award of Minister of Science and Information Technology "Oskar of Science" in INFO category). Professors of Gdansk University of Technology obtained the highest laurels in the competition for the Jan Heweliusz Scientific Award of the City of Gdansk (Edward Borowski, Edmund Wittbrodt, Jacek Namieśnik and Michał Mrozowski). It is very promising that, among the university scientists, there are also 30-year-old researchers of the recognized achievements including Krzysztof Giaro Ph.D. from the Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunication and Informatics (a laureate of Prime Minister's Award, and "Młody Heweliusz" Scientific Award in 2003) and the others.

In licence and implementation activities we have also been at the top list of universities of technology in Poland. There is no field of life in our region without the participation of the former or contemporary direct creators, designers or constructors of our Gdansk University of Technology acting as experts or consultants.

Hard times

The Gdansk University of Technology experienced also hard time connected with exerting political pressure and constraints. The activity of "Bratnia Pomoc" did not last long and was brutally interrupted after the well-known case of "The Leaflet" ("Jednodniówka"). On October 24, 1949 a disciplinary board appointed by the Minister of Education relegated four students due to their elaboration and publishing "The Leaflet" entitled "XXV years of Bratnia Pomoc". Its curator Prof. Wiktor Wiśniewski, as a penalty, was transferred out to Wrocław University of Technology.

The repression of the first postwar years reached also Prof. Hilary Sipowicz who was sentenced to many years of prison by military prosecutor's department on the turn of the forties.

Political repressions took place later, too, and were mostly bound with political crises in Poland, as it was in case of Prof. Damazy Tilgner who was wrongfully dismissed from the university at the end of the sixties. The case which was ended with restoring Professor to his honour and dignity by state authorities in the beginning of the nineties, or harmful question of Doc. Emil Taszner, also dismissed from the university, are not the only examples of the victims of totalitarian system which so badly touched the scientific staff members in this period of activity of Gdansk University of Technology. The events of March 1968 at the Gdansk University of Technology consequently resulted in oppressions of students, too, who actively participated in the events. There were arrests and disciplinary commissions.

Also, in the latest history of the university, especially after Martial Law had been introduced in 1981, there were numerous acts of repression. And they were touching not only staff members but students as well. They were persecuted, suspended, relegated from the university and sentenced to many years' imprisonment. Many staff members suffered from ceasing their scientific promotions and scientific visits abroad.