Poles at the University of St. Vladimir (1834-1839): problems of cultural adaptation

Using previously unknown archival and historiographical materials, author, for the first time,made a study of problems of cultural adaptation of Polish professors at the University of St.Vladimir from 1834 to 1839. After suppression of November uprising, in 1832 all Polish schoolsin Ukraine, including Lyceum in Krzemienic, were closed. On the base of liquidated Lyceum, in1834 the University of St. Vladimir was opened in Kiev. It had to be the instrument of russificationpolicy of the tsarist regime. Till 1839 36% of its teaching staff consisted of former Lyceumprofessors: I. Ablamovich, G. Grechina, S. Zenovich, M. Yakubovich, V. Besser, J. Kozhenovsky,A. Mickiewicz, and others. They found themselves in new for them social and national environmentthat caused radical changes of their living conditions. Focusing on the fate of ProfessorAleksandr Mickiewicz, author describes in detail the dramatic vicissitudes of life path of Polishteachers under the circumstances of hard choices between national sentiments and loyalty to thegovernment, which offered financial stability and social status