Left to right: Józef Swejka, Zygmunt Łukomski, Marian Liber, Alfred Piechawiak, Jan Rajfura, Józef Zglinicki (Association Mémoire du lycée polonais - Polish High School Memorial Association).

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The participants
Teenagers

Teenagers

Charpters

1. Before
2. Origins
3. The participants
4. Daily life
5. ”A school unlike any other”
6. Fighting
7. Twilight
8. The aftermath
9. Today

It was not long before the children of pre-war emigrants, from the region and mining areas throughout France, began being sent to the school. These students sometimes had difficulty expressing themselves in Polish and gradually became the majority with the passing years.

In the early years, most of the students were soldiers. The numbers were supplemented by the children of war refugees - soldiers, civil servants, small landowners or city dwellers - who had come to France in 1939 and 1940 - but mostly the children of pre-war emigrants living in the region or coming from the mining areas in Lorraine, Pas-de-Calais, Gard, and Corrèze. Some of them were more comfortable speaking French than Polish. Over the years, they became more numerous until they gradually became the majority.

These teenagers would speak poor Polish interspersed with Gallicisms that made the student-soldiers wince. Being at the school helped to strengthen their Polish identity and their sense of patriotism. For these students, who often came from working-class families, this re-immersion in Polish language and culture was synonymous with social and cultural advancement.

3.5.1 “He was an excellent student with a particular talent for languages.”

Jerzy Delinger (Association Mémoire du lycée polonais - Polish High School Memorial Association).

—Wanda Delingier, student. Polish Resistance fighters in the Vercors, 2011.

When Jerzy Delingier – my brother – was born in 1924 in Pont-à-Mousson, our father Wladysław worked at the town ‘s foundry. Later, he worked escorting miners coming from Poland for a Strasbourg travel agency, then at the Polish bank PKO (Polska Kasaï Opieki) in Metz.

Just before the war, Jerzy was studying at the high school in Metz and at the Polish school in the parish of Sainte-Ségolène. He was an excellent student, particularly gifted in languages – English, and German – and business. He also spoke Polish, the language we used at home. He belonged to the Polish scout organisation, Harcerstwo. When the war broke out, our father, a great patriot, immediately enlisted in General Sikorski ‘s Polish army.

That summer of 1940, the Germans annexed Alsace and Lorraine and invaded Metz. One morning in September, they knocked on our door and gave us two hours to each take a suitcase and 60 francs (30 euros in 2022). They took us to the station and we joined a convoy without knowing where we were going. At the time, Jerzy was on holiday with an aunt in Pont-à-Mousson. How could we warn him not to come home? Fortunately, the train passed through this town. When it slowed down to go through the station, we threw a note out of the window, which the stationmaster picked up and passed on to Jerzy. In Lyon, they ordered us off the train. Our father had refused to go to England as long as we were in France. At the Polish consulate in Lyon, we learned that he was working in Toulouse for the Polish Red Cross. We found him in that city, known as the Ville Rose. Later, again through the Polish Red Cross, Jerzy was able to cross the demarcation line and joined the family. At the start of the 1942 school year, on the advice of the Red Cross director, Jerzy left for the Polish high school in Villard. I followed him in 1943.

3.5.2 “Dirty Pole, because of you my father has to go to war.”

April 1943 — Edouard Renn between Irena Zabrocka and Rena Markiewicz (Association Mémoire du lycée polonais - Polish High School Memorial Association).

—Édouard Renn, student. Interview conducted in 2011.

Immediately after the First World War, French delegations went to Poland to look for workers to replace all those who had died at Verdun and the other battles. My father came to France in 1922 and my mother in 1924, both under contract.

I was born on 5 April 1926 in Lyon. I had a very pleasant youth. At school, I was doing well. I skipped several grades. In 1937, I went to the Lycée du Parc (high school), which I didn ‘t leave until 1942. Everything was fine until the war. Classes began that year on 5 October. War had been declared. Many of the students in my class said to me: “Dirty Pole, because of you my father has to go to war.”

The Polish Resistance formed in Lyon between 1940 and 1941. It was called POWN Monika. They had direct contact with London and passed on messages. One fine day they said to me, “Listen Edouard, here ‘s a letter.” The sealed envelope had no name or address. “Go to 3 Rue Cuvier, on the second floor, third door on the left. Knock three times, count to three, knock twice, count to two, knock once and if they open it for you, give them the letter.” Or something like that. There were other messages that I passed on until the end of September 1942. My parents then found out that there was a Polish high school in Villard-de-Lans and I was sent there for the start of the school year.

3.4Student-soldiers

The chaplains3.6