The tradition of the January Insurrection and its role in the patriotic education of the young generation (in the light of the memoirs from the territories of the Russian partition of Poland) - on the 150th anniversaryof the armed bid for independence in 1863

Abstract

Polish people living in the nineteenth century under the yoke of those who had partitioned their country, or at least that part of it which was characterized by strong patriotism, the nationally conscious and politically active,never reconciled themselves to the foreign rule and engaged in various forms of regaining independence throughout the whole period of national bondage. One of these forms, which seemed the most effective one, was the way of an armed struggle, i.e. national uprisings. The largest in the nineteenth century national bid for independence was the January insurrection. it consumed a few thousand casualties and greatly influenced the aspirations for independence of the generations that followed. The memoirs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries are often imbued with fragments on the January insurrection; almost all of the memoirs from the period include more or less extensive information related to the armed bid for independence of the Poles in 1863. The fragment sof memoirs and diaries presented in the following text allow us to track how the tradition of the January insurrection, which family members often had taken part in, was cultivated in Polish families as well as to indicate how the patriotic atmosphere of homes shaped the personality of the young generation, paying attention to national issues, raising hostile attitude towards the Russian Empire. According to the findings, the tradition of the January insurrection was an important factor in the patriotic education of the young generation. it bred respect for the family members involved – the insurgents, taught the history of the nation and the family, caused often increasing feelings of hatred towards the invader. The symptoms of cultivating that tradition were stories of the fate of insurgents, combatants, still lasting in Polish families,as well as secret anniversaries of the insurrection, singing rebel songs, widely reading banned literature, laying wreaths on the graves of insurgents.