Year 1940
February
Start of deportations of the Polish population to Soviet camps in Siberia and Kazakhstan. Beginning of the extermination of Polish prisoners of war: officers and policemen, mainly in Katyn, Kozelsk and Starobielsk.
10 May
Germany invades the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium.
13 May
Beginning of the Battle of France. The Polish army takes part in the fighting alongside the French forces
12 June
The Polish government in exile moves to London.
Part of the Polish army manages to reach Great Britain. With more than 250,000 men, it became the fourth Allied army after the Americans, the British and the Canadians.
14 June
The Germans enter Paris.
The students at the lycée frantically take their exams. They disperse towards the Pyrenees. The first Cyprian Norwid high school is closed.
16 June
Formation of the Pétain government.
18 June
Based in London, General de Gaulle calls for resistance.
22 June
Signing of the armistice at Compiègne.
August
At the Germans’ demand, the Polish embassy and consulates in France are closed. Pétain's government breaks off diplomatic relations with the Polish government in exile in London.
A Polish diplomat, Stanisław Zabiełło, becomes the Polish government's unofficial representative in France. His main objective is to organise the protection of Poles through the Polish Red Cross in France, financed by the Polish government in exile.
(Early ) September
Stanisław Zabiełło entrusts Professor Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski with the task of setting up a new high school.
11 September
Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski meets Wacław Godlewski, who agrees to assist him.
From 11 to 23 January
Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski looks for places to set up the school; he visits university towns where there are Polish teaching staff: Toulouse, Montpellier, Clermont-Ferrand and Lyon.
24 September
Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski goes to Grenoble. He meets the academic authorities. The project takes shape. A plan is established to set up a school in Villard-de-Lans, near Grenoble.
28 September
Zygmunt Lubicz-Zaleski and Wacław Godlewski meet the Polish and French authorities in Vichy. They approve the decision to create a Polish high school in Villard-de-Lans, based at the “Hôtel du Parc et du Château”. To facilitate administrative procedures, it keeps the name Cyprian Norwid. Officially, it is Polish Red Cross Reception Centre No. 56 bis.
30 September
Wacław Godlewski is in Villard, developing contacts and approving choices. He starts to organise everything.
18 October
The Cyprian Norwid Polish High School in Villard-de-Lans opens its doors with around forty students.