The State School of Higher Education in Oświęcim
History of the School
The State School of Higher Education in Oświęcim is a public higher education institution established on 1 July 2005 by virtue of the Ordinance adopted by the Council of Ministers on 7 June 2005. Since then, the School has been under the auspices of the Jagiellonian University. In 2005, the State Higher Vocational School in Oświęcim was awarded the title of Lider 2005 – The 2005 Best Enterprise in Małopolska by the Association of Communes, Municipalities and Districts of Małopolska. The European Commission has awarded the School with the Erasmus University Charter for the period 2007-2013, which entitles the School to participate in the Lifelong Learning Programme. The School offers three-year courses ending with a licentiate (B.A.) degree.
School Campus
Before the Second World War, the buildings of the State School of Higher Education had been occupied by the Polish Tobacco Monopoly. During the war, one of the structures was used to keep the first group of prisoners transported to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Among them were 728 young Poles from the prison in Tarnów. The day of their arrival in Oświęcim, 14 July 1940, is regarded as the beginning of the camp’s operation. With the courtyard in front of the building fenced off and guarded by corner watchtowers, it was here that the camp's first assembly took place. After the prisoners had been transferred to the main camp (now the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum), the so-called Stabsgebäude (staff building) accommodated camp administration offices for some time, and later on it served as quarters for superintendent SS women and an arms store.
In 2005, the building opened its doors to a few hundred students of the State School of Higher Education in Oświęcim; today it bears the name of Collegium Primum. A plaque commemorating the tragic events of 1940 can be seen on the elevation of the building. In the School’s corridors there is a permanent display depicting the fate of the first group of prisoners transported to KL Auschwitz. Moreover, two of the rooms serve as memorial halls. Every year, on the 14th of June, marking the anniversary of the arrival of the first group of political prisoners at KL Auschwitz, ceremonies attended by former prisoners and the School’s faculty and students are held in front of the building.
Since the second term of the 2009/2010 academic year courses have also been taught in the second School building called Collegium sub Horologio (The Clock College). During the repairs and finishing works an extraordinary wartime document was found. A piece of paper with pencilled names of seven prisoners working on the construction of an air-raid shelter for SS men had been put in a corked bottle, which was cemented in the shelter's wall. All the prisoners, six Poles and a Frenchman, were aged between 18 and 20. The piece of paper is dated 20 September 1944. Its copy is exhibited in a special display case at the same location where it was discovered. |
