Published: 2016-11-19

Teachers’ pilgrimage movement to Jasna Góra monastery in the 1960s and 1970s in the documents of the Security Service

Jarosław Durka
Pedagogical Forum
Section: Articles and essays
https://doi.org/10.21697/fp.2016.2.35

Abstract

The first teachers' pilgrimages to Jasna Góra were organized at the turn of 19th and 20th centuries. Despite numerous obstacles associated with political divisions, attempts were made to intensify this movement after the restoration of Polish independence. The first all-Polish pilgrimage of teachers took place in 1937. However, the organization of such journeys was impossible during the Second World War. After the war teachers' pilgrimages to Jasna Góra were in turn regarded as serious threats for the secularization and indoctrination of the society in a People’s Poland controlled by the communist party. The number of pilgrims along with their age and sex were thus under constant surveillance. The sermons and papers presented at the conferences were also carefully analyzed. They almost always related to current social issues, relations between the state and the Church, and the internal policies of the Polish People's Republic government. In the conditions of strong censorship and information monopoly of the state authorities, the pilgrimages arranged as rallies or days of prayers were breaking the exclusivity of the communist party in shaping the image of socio-political reality in the group of teachers and educators. The Security Service kept records of their actions.

Keywords:

Pilgrimages, Church, communist party, Security Service, teachers, monastery

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Citation rules

Durka, J. (2016). Teachers’ pilgrimage movement to Jasna Góra monastery in the 1960s and 1970s in the documents of the Security Service. Pedagogical Forum, 6(2/2), 161–175. https://doi.org/10.21697/fp.2016.2.35

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