74 ROSSIYA
the Warsaw School District from 1879 to 1897, political informers played an
established part in the maintenance of student discipline. Among the higher
institutions, the University of Wilno to 182.2., the Liceum at Krzemieniec to 1832,
the Main School in Warsaw, 1862—9, and from 1898, the Warsaw Polytechnic,
were important centres of Polish learning. At Dorpat in Estonia, at Kharkhov
from 1805, at St. Petersburg from 1819, at Kiev from 1834, at Odessa from 1865,
and at Warsaw from 1869, Russian universities contained strong contingents of
Poles among the staff and student body. In mid-century Kiev, two-thirds of the
university students were Poles.
Russification caused sorry effects for everyone concerned. Its pettiness infuri-
ated the Poles, and strengthened their sense of grievance; and its failures
disheartened Tsarist officials. Its leading proponent was Field Marshal losif
Hurko (1828-1911), Governor-General in Warsaw from 1883 to 1894. For a
Pole, it was mildly annoying to arrive at the station in Warsaw or Wilno and see
the platform signs written in Cyrillic characters, and to see all the street and
shop signs in both Russian and Polish. It was much more shocking to realize that
a person who did not learn -Russian could not defend himself in the courts, or
that thousands of literate Polish children could not follow the text of their native
literature. Books printed in Polish were available from abroad, but would not
be understood by children who had only been taught to read the Cyrillic alpha-
bet. Under Russian auspices, increasing literacy was a threat to Polish national-
ity. Increasingly, Poles could only make good in the Tsarist service by rejecting
their origins. A policy designed to promote assimilation generated a growing
sense of mutual alienation. Maria Sklodowska, whose childhood was spent in
Warsaw described the tension in her schoolroom in 1878:
On the threshold, laced into his fine uniform - yellow pantaloons and a blue tunic with
shiny buttons - appeared M. Hornberg, inspector of private boarding-schools in the city
of Warsaw. He was a thick-set fellow, sheared in the German fashion; his face was plump
and his eyes piercing behind their gold-rimmed glasses... The delay had been too short
today. The porter had just had time to sound the agreed signal when Hornberg, going
ahead of his guide, reached the landing and plunged into the classroom...
Hornberg advanced towards the teacher.- You were reading aloud. What is the book, mademoiselle?
- Krylov's Fairy Tales. We began them today...
As if absent-mindedly, Hornberg opened the lid of the nearest desk.
Nothing. Not a paper, not a book...
M. Hornberg, accepting the chair offered him by Melle Tupalska, seated himself
heavily. - Please call on one of these young people.
In the third row, Marya Sklodovska instinctively turned her frightened little face toward
the window... But she knew very well that the choice would fall upon her. She knew
that she was almost always chosen for the government inspector's questioning. At the
sound of her name, she straightened up. - Your prayer, snapped M. Hornberg.
Manya recited 'Our Father' in a voice without colour or expression. One of the subtlest