WARSAW POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A047300320001-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 10, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 17, 1959
• Content Type: REPORT

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A
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INFORMA ? ? 1201 ? FORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is' prohibited by law.
INFO.
PLACE &
Warsaw Polytechnic Institute:
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES
7 MAR Mill
1
A report on the Warsaw Polytechnic Institute'(Politechnika Warszawska)
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The report contains information on the location of the
institute, its various departments, student enrollment, the curricu-
lum - including data on secret notebooks issued for military studies;
employment of graduates - voluntary and. involuntary; student member-
ship in Party organizations, activities of the Polish Students'
Association and the League of Soldiers! Friends; student attitudes
toward the Soviet government and people, towards Communist ideology
and towards Polish national affairs; student behavior and moral
standards; and staff members at the institute.
STATE I X ARMY X NAVY X AIR
~{ FBI
AEC
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1. The Warsaw Polytechnic Institute (Politechnika Warszawska)
is composed of two sections: the main section is located at
No. 1 Plac Jednosci Robotniczej, and the other at No. 86 Narbuta
Street. The school's official address is No. 12 Wolowska Street.
2. The Plac Jednosci Robotniczej section has the following
departments: electricity, mechanical construction, aircraft
engineering, geology or geodesy, building, transportation,
t
architecture, and chemistry. The Narbu~a Street section contains
the technological department, the department for automobiles and
tractors, and the department for mechanical equipment, which is
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essentially a military department. The agricultural department
holds some of its classes at Plac Jednosci Robotniczej and others
in the Narbuta Street buildings.
3. The total enrollment of the college is estimated at
12,000. In 1955 the economic engineering section of the techno-
logical department had 70 second-term students. By 1957, i.e.,
the fourth term for this group of students, there were only 50
students, and in 1958, the graduation year, they had dwindled
to 22. The following are details on the course of study in
this period:
a. The academic year consisted of nine months. Of
the three vacation mpnths (July, August and September),
one month was spent at a factory where the students worked
in order to gain practical experience.
b. In the first year.of study there were 1.6 class hours
per week. Of these, six hours consisted of laboratory work;
eight hours were devoted to military instruction, including
drill exercises, small arms training and tactics up to
company level;l and the rest of the time was spent in
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theoretical instruction, including four to six hours of
political lectures, such as Marxism-Leninism and political
economy. From time to time, political lectures were also
given as part of the militaty instruction, especially on
the anniversaries of famous battles.
c. In the second year of studies, there were 42 hours
per week, of which six were spent in the laboratories and
eight on military instruction. The latter consisted
entirely of theoretical training in the operation of T-3t
tanks. At this period all the students of the institute
belonged to the armored corps. (This is not always the case
since freshmen were sometimes enrolled in other branches,
such as the infantry or artillery.) The rest of the time
in the second year was taken up with theoretical lectures,
including four to five hours of political instruction.
d. The third year of study consisted of 36 hours per
week, including four to five hours for design, 16 hours
for lectures (including three to four hours of political
instruction), eight hours military training and the rest
laboratory work. The military training included, in
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addition to the study of armored vehicles, instruction in
the use of light weapons, heavy machine guns (CKM), and
anti-chemical defense, the latter subject taking up not
more than one hour a month. Instruction was also given
in signals equipment and communications up to company
level, which dealt particularly with the use of tank radio
equipment, such as the RW-9 set. The latter could both
receive and transmit, but not simultaneously.
e. The fourth year of study consisted of 36-38 hours
of instruction per week, of which 18 were devoted to
theoretical lectures, four to military training, two hours
to work in the electrical laboratory (first semester only),
and two hours in the laboratory for plastic materials
(second semester only). The military studies continued
with the subjects taken up in the third year; the practical
training reached company level and the lectures dealt with
units up to regimental level, including organizational
methods. There were also lectures on weapons and other
aspects of enemy armies, but these were not included in
the material required for the examinations. Military studies
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were discontinued altogether after the first semester of
this term and the rest of the time was spent on projects
design.
f. For their military studies, the students were
issued a secret notebook, stamped and bound in a manner
designed to prevent the removal of pages. These notebooks
were kept at school, locked up in special closets. They
were used, for making notes on lectures in chemical warfare,
military tactics, mines, and atomic warfare. (The economic
engineering section did not receive any instruction in the
latter subject.) For other lectures the students used
ordinary notebooks which they were permitted to take home.
At the end of the fourth year of study, all students
participated in summer exercises in the field (Poligon)
which lasted from one to two months. At the end of the
exercises examinations were held. Most students took
little interest in their military training, partly because
of the instructors, who were, on the whole, ignorant non-
commissioned officers. The students, therefore, studied
only the minimum necessary to pass the examinations and,
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despite their low caliber in this field, most of them did
pass the final tests. If a student failed his military
examinations, he had to undergo an additional two-week
training period, after which he usually managed to pass.
If a student failed the second examination, he would not
receive his diploma.
g. The fifth year of study lasted for only one
semester and consisted of 26 hours of lectures per week.
At the end of the semester the students were given six
weeks to prepare their diploma theses, the subject of
which was assigned to each student.
4. Prior to 1957 there existed a system whereby the college
administration could direct a graduate to a specific place of
employment by issuing him a work order (Nakaz Pracy). The work
orders were issued-on the basis of industrial requirements for
qualified technical personnel submitted by the various ministries
concerned to the Ministry of Higher Education, which in turn
passed on the requirements to the college administration. Since
the salary paid to personnel directed to their jobs by a work
order was much lower (700 zloty) than that paid for the same job
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obtained independently, the students did their best to avoid
receiving a work order. Generally; the students tried to find
a job as soon as they had completed their studies, and before
handing in their theses. If a student had not yet received. a
work order, he could apply to the college administration for
a certificate attesting to the fact that his thesis was due for
presentation within six months. Such a certificate would
usually enable him to find a job in a factory; in exceptional
cases the college authorities would add a recommendation to the
certificate which was of great help to the student in getting
a job. If a student could prove he had a job waiting for him,
he was permitted to accept it and was not given a. work order.
Ignoring a work order was a serious offense, punishable by a
prison sentence.
5. The system of work orders was later abolished and since
early 1957 the Ministry of Higher Education has not, as a rule,
assigned jobs to graduating students. Now the factories advise
the college administration of their requirements and the students
are offered jobs, but they are not compelled to accept. The
students usually succeed in finding jobs with better conditions
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on their own. Work orders are still issued by the Ministry of
Higher Education for the graduates of those departments where
there is a danger of unemployment.
6. Until 1956 the Communist Party had exercised a decisive
influence in work orders, ensuring that graduates who were Party
members received the more lucrative appointments. Even then,
however, every graduate would not necessarily receive a work
order. Today the Party has little to do with employment of
college graduates, since most of them have no difficulty in
finding jobs through their own efforts.
7. Since 1957 the Party has had little influence on the
students themselves, and it appears that the number of Party
members among them is rather low. About 80 percent of the
students had belonged to the Communist Youth Organization (ZMP),
which was disbgnded in 1956. About 90 percent of its members
had joined, not for ideological reasons, but because of the
material advantages it would offer, or because they had been
subjected to moral pressure. In 1957 the Socialist Youth Union
(ZMS), which had been founded after the dissolution of the ZMP,
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succeeded in maintaining its own point of view and in serving as
an outlet for student expression; the students would attend
meetings even though they did not become actual members. Later,
however, the ZMS' independence and freedom of expression were
curtailed and it lost is importance as an organization, retaining
very few members.
8. The Polish Students Associatio7r (ZSP) is very popular.
This organization is similar to a trade union in that its main
concern is for the students' social and economic situation. It
arranges for the student's vacation, renders financial assist-
ance. and medical care, has a say in the granting of scholarships,
obtains theatre tickets at low prices, etc. Furthermore, the
seniority of a college graduate in the professional union which
he joins after graduation is calculated from the date of his
joining the students association. Generally, the students associa-
tion conducts its work in a fair manner, without undue influence
or "pull".
9. There is a.Solda:ers Friendship League-(L-.411z)-at Polish
institutions of higher learning, which aims to instruct its members
in gliding, automobile driving, and other such activities. At
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the Warsaw and Wroclaw Polytechnic Institutes, the League is of
no importance and does not engage in any noteworthy activities.
10. Students generally like the Russian people. Very few
admire Communist ideology, however, and most students are bitterly
antagonistic to the Soviet regime, its leaders, and their modus
operandi. Since the suppression of the newspaper Po Prostu, the
students have become completely indifferent to the state of affairs
in Poland. The only way they are likely to express their atti-
tude is by telling a}joke about the Polish or Soviet regime which
by implication shows their hostility to both. National feeling
among the students runs high and it may be assumed that they
would show strong resistance to any attack on their country, from
whatever side it might come. Hooliganism, excessive drinking, and
the use of foul language is widespread among the students; parties
taking place in the city often end in fights. The students are
guilty of outrageous behavior in the streets, which omen takes
the form of unprovoked attacks on passersby. Relations between
male and female students at the Institute are of a very low moral
standard.
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Warsaw Polytechnic Institute:
a. Prof. Bukowski (fnu), an expert in plastic process-
ing of metals, is one of the professors in that faculty at
the Institute.)
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b. Docent Sewerin Hajtanan is head of the economic
engineering section of the mechanical-technological depart-
ment.
c. Prof. Grzegorz Halak is professor of industrial
organization in the mechanical-technological department.
He is also Director of the Institute for the Organization
of Machine Industry (Instytut Organizacji Przemyslu
Mae ziynowego) .
d. Prof. Kunstetter (fnu), an expert in machine tools,
is deputy dean of the mechanical-technological department.
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e. flof. Pelczinski (fnu), an expert in the plastic
processing of metals, has been dean of the mechanical.-techno-
logical department since 1957. In addition he retains the
chair of plastic Processing of metals.
f. Prof. Janusz Tymowski holds the chair of technology
of machine construction at the Institute.
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Comment: This applies to the Warsaw Institute only;
the Wroclaw Polytechnic Institute students belong exclusively
to the corps of engineers.
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