Polish culture in the Interbellum

[1] Aside from the economic paralysis caused by the century of partitions,[2] one of the most severe consequences of foreign rule was illiteracy, affecting 33.1% of Poland's citizens in 1921, with the worst situation existing in the former Russian Empire.

By the time of the Nazi-Soviet invasion of 1939, some 90% of children were in schools across the country, the number limited only by the shortage of qualified staff and lack of adequate locales especially in the villages.

[1] In 1921 a major trade fair was established in Lwów right after the end of hostilities there; designed to facilitate new business partnerships from within Poland but also from Greater Romania, Hungary and the Soviet Union among other places.

[1] The Kraków Philharmonic Concert Hall inspired by the Brussels' Maison du Peuple,[6] was completed in 1931 thanks to the generous sponsorship by Prince and Cardinal Adam Stefan Sapieha.

Throughout the interwar period, the Kraków Philharmonic maintained also the Polish Professional Musicians Trade Union set up to protect the welfare of its members as well as the artistic level of their performances.

[8] The film industry received major boost around 1934 when a generation of new actors joined in including Stefan Jaracz, Mieczysława Ćwiklińska, Elżbieta Barszczewska, Kazimierz Junosza-Stępowski and Adolf Dymsza.

[1] The period saw the introduction of the studio system of filmmaking with Sfinks of Warsaw, founded by Aleksander Hertz, becoming the biggest film production company locally.

The Academy awarded two highest national honors for contribution to the development of Polish literature: the Gold and the Silver Laurel (Złoty, and Srebrny Wawrzyn).

At Warsaw University the seminars on Ukrainian history were held by renowned scholar, prof. Myron Korduba who taught Jerzy Giedroyc among others.

However, the Ukrainian attempts at forming a Ukrainian-language-only university did not succeed, attesting to the lack of perspective on the part of various political entities, before the Nazi-Soviet invasion.

Other renowned Jewish authors included Bruno Schulz, Julian Tuwim, Marian Hemar, Emanuel Schlechter, Jan Brzechwa, Zuzanna Ginczanka and Bolesław Leśmian.

[18] Among the painters known for their depictions of Jewish life in Poland, were Leopold (Leib) Pilichowski trained by Samuel Hirszenberg, Artur Markowicz, award-winning master-painter Maurycy Trębacz, Izrael Lejzerowicz (pl) – one of the most promising expressionists of the new generation – killed at Auschwitz, and numerous others.