Abstract

Maria Opielińska was born in Zduńska Wola in 1902 and a graduate of Warsaw University. From 1925 until 1932 she was a biology teacher in Siedlce. Later she became headmaster of Blessed Kinga State Junior Secondary School and the Female Secondary School in Kielce. She was a member of the Polish Teachers’ Union. In the period of the occupation she was the forerunner of clandestine teaching in Kielce, activist of the Secret Teaching Organization and Military Service of Women. After the II World War, she once again became a principal of a school in Kielce. After the address at the Convention of Polish Teachers’ Union in Bytom in November 1945, she was harassed by communist authorities. Threatened with the arrest, she moved to Wrocław. In 1946–48 she established the People’s University in Borowa, then she worked in centre for girls repatriated from the USSR in Karpacz. After the shutdown of the center from 1950–64, Opielińska was employed as a teacher at schools for adults in Wrocław. Although she was rehabilitated in 1956, she was not allowed to return Kielce. From 1 September 1958 to the end of September or early October 1961, she worked as headmaster of a secondary school for adults, then fired without being given any reason. Maria Opielińska died on 30th April 1975 and was buried in New Cemetery in Kielce.

Authors and Affiliations