Historian Patrice Dabrowski writes in her book “Poland: The First Thousand Years” about the Wrzesnia strike “In this town pupils at the local school rebelled and went on strike when they were told their religion classes would now be conducted in German. This reaction of Poles is worth noting. Since the Kulturkampf, instruction in most subjects had been taught in German. Now in 1901 pressure was being put on the schools to remove the last impediment to education being wholly in the language of state: the instruction of religion in a pupils native tongue.

… Parents as well as pupils feared that they would be taught Protestantism instead of their Roman Catholic faith. Given the Kulturkampf (that is, the persecution of both Poles and their faith) of the 1870’s, perhaps this was not an irrational fear.While the average village Pole may have cared little about education in German, it did not mean that he cared little about his prospects for eternal life. This was a threat the fiercely faithful Polish Catholics in the German Empire could not countenance – hence the protests.

The protests struck a raw nerve. The striking pupils were punished for being disobedient. Their parents who came to the school to defend their children, fared no better: they were beaten, put on trial, and given sentences that seemed way out of proportion, given the infraction.

Famous Poles across the partitioned lands rallied in defense of these poor Poles under German rule”. Ignacy Paderewski in late 1901 declared that the the proceeds of a concert he gave in Germany would be given to the Wrzesnia activists. He was booed and boycotted by German audiences. As a result he refused to perform in Germany.

TEKLA TOMASZEWSKA (MARRIED NAME: DEMBINSKI) WAS BORN 12 SEPT. 1888 IN WRZESNIA (WRESCHEN) IN POLAND. SHE CAME TO AMERICA IN 1909. TEKLA’S BROTHER FRANCISZEK X. TOMASZEWSKI WAS A POLISH JOURNALIST IN DETROIT AND HER BROTHER ALEKSANDER WAS A VIRTUTI MILITARI CAVALIER (1921). IN 1912 SHE MARRIED TOMASZ DEMBINSKI. TEKLA IS ONE OF THE CHILDREN FROM A “SCHOOL STRIKE” IN MAY 1901 IN WRZESNIA: SCHOOL STRIKE BY POLISH CHILDREN IN MAY 1901 IN WRZESNIA (WRESCHEN) WAS A RESPONSE TO THE INTENSIFICATION OF GERMANIZATION (I.E. PROHIBITION OF POLISH LANGUAGE AT SCHOOL). FOR REFUSING TO STOP SPEAKING POLISH, POLISH CHILDREN WERE FLOGGED AND BEATEN FOR SEVERAL HOURS BY PRUSSIAN TEACHERS, IN A MANNER SO SEVERE THAT SOME OF THE CHILDREN HAD THEIR FLESH STRIPPED FROM THEIR ARMS. PARENTS WHO TRIED TO BREAK INTO THE SCHOOL AND PROTECT THEIR CHILDREN FROM PRUSSIAN TEACHERS WERE PUNISHED LATER BY PRUSSIAN COURT STATING THAT THEIR ACTIONS WERE “ATROCIOUS ACTS AGAINST THE STATE”.