Editing Second Polish Republic (section)

==Education and culture==
{{main|Polish culture in the Interbellum}}
[[File:Kazimierz Bartel 1929.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.8|[[Prime Minister of Poland|Prime Minister]] [[Kazimierz Bartel]], also a scholar and mathematician]]

In 1919, the Polish government [[Education in the Second Polish Republic|introduced compulsory education]] for all children aged 7 to 14, in an effort to limit illiteracy, which was widespread, especially in the former [[Russian Partition]] and the [[Austrian Partition]] of eastern Poland. In 1921, one-third of citizens of Poland remained illiterate (38% in the countryside). The process was slow, but by 1931 the illiteracy level had dropped to 23% overall (27% in the countryside) and further down to 18% in 1937. By 1939, over 90% of children attended school.<ref name="liberte.pl"/><ref name="Davies175">[[Norman Davies]] (2005), ''God's Playground A History of Poland: Volume II: 1795 to the Present''. Oxford University Press, p. 175. {{ISBN|0199253390}}.</ref> In 1932, [[Janusz Jędrzejewicz]], the Minister for Religion and Education, carried out [[Jędrzejewicz reform|a major reform]] which introduced two main levels of education: ''common school'' (''szkoła powszechna''), with three levels – 4 grades + 2 grades + 1 grade; and ''middle school'' (''szkoła średnia''), with two levels – 4 grades of comprehensive middle school and 2 grades of specified high school (classical, humanistic, natural and mathematical). A graduate of middle school received a ''small [[matura]]'', while a graduate of high school received a ''big matura'', which enabled them to seek university-level education.
[[File:Warsaw 1938.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|The [[National Museum in Warsaw]] ([[Polish language|Polish]]: ''Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie'') opened in 1938.]]

Before 1918, Poland had three universities: [[Jagiellonian University]], the [[University of Warsaw]] and [[Lviv University|Lwów University]]. The [[John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin|Catholic University of Lublin]] was established in 1918; [[Adam Mickiewicz University]], Poznań, in 1919; and finally, in 1922, after the annexation of the [[Republic of Central Lithuania]], [[Vilnius University|Wilno University]] became the Republic's sixth university. There were also three [[technical college]]s: the [[Warsaw University of Technology]], [[Lviv Polytechnic|Lwów Polytechnic]] and the [[AGH University of Science and Technology]] in Kraków, established in 1919. [[Warsaw University of Life Sciences]] was an agricultural institute. By 1939, there were around 50,000 students enrolled in further education. 28% of students at universities were women, which was the second highest share in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Bonnie G. |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History. Vol. 1 |date=2008 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-514890-9 |page=470}}</ref>

Polish science in the interbellum was renowned for its mathematicians gathered around the [[Lwów School of Mathematics]], the [[Kraków School of Mathematics]], as well as the [[Warsaw School of Mathematics]]. There were world-class philosophers in the [[Lwów–Warsaw school]] of logic and philosophy.<ref name="GaNeSt">{{cite book |title=European Philosophy of Science - Philosophy of Science in Europe and the Viennese Heritage |editor-first1=Maria Carla |editor-last1=Galavotti |editor-first2=Elisabeth |editor-last2=Nemeth |editor-first3=Friedrich |editor-last3=Stadler |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2013 |isbn=978-3-319-01899-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UE_CBAAAQBAJ&q=Lvov-Warsaw+School |pages=408, 175–176, 180–183 |access-date=11 September 2017 |archive-date=19 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200819235506/https://books.google.com/books?id=UE_CBAAAQBAJ&q=Lvov-Warsaw+School |url-status=live }} ''Also in:'' {{cite book |title=The Golden Age of Polish Philosophy: Kazimierz Twardowski's Philosophical Legacy |author=Sandra Lapointe |author2=Jan Wolenski |author3=Mathieu Marion |author4=Wioletta Miskiewicz |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2009 |isbn=978-90-481-2401-5 |pages=127, 56 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5u84tl5ux0gC&q=Tarski%27s+role+enormous |access-date=11 September 2017 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818182818/https://books.google.com/books?id=5u84tl5ux0gC&q=Tarski%27s+role+enormous |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Florian Znaniecki]] founded Polish sociological studies. [[Rudolf Weigl]] invented a vaccine against typhus. [[Bronisław Malinowski]] counted among the most important anthropologists of the 20th century.
[[File:Rejewski&Rozycki&Zygalski.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.6|[[Marian Rejewski]], [[Jerzy Różycki]] and [[Henryk Zygalski]], Polish [[mathematician]]s and [[cryptologist]]s who worked at breaking the German [[Enigma machine|Enigma ciphers]] before and during the Second World War]]
In [[Polish literature]], the 1920s were marked by the domination of poetry. Polish poets were divided into two groups – the [[Skamander]]ites ([[Jan Lechoń]], [[Julian Tuwim]], [[Antoni Słonimski]] and [[Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz]]) and the [[Futurism|Futurists]] ([[Anatol Stern]], [[Bruno Jasieński]], [[Aleksander Wat]], [[Julian Przyboś]]). Apart from well-established novelists ([[Stefan Żeromski]], [[Władysław Reymont]]), new names appeared in the interbellum – [[Zofia Nałkowska]], [[Maria Dąbrowska]], [[Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz]], [[Jan Parandowski]], [[Bruno Schultz]], [[Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz]], [[Witold Gombrowicz]]. Among other notable artists there were sculptor [[Xawery Dunikowski]], painters [[Julian Fałat]], [[Wojciech Kossak]] and [[Jacek Malczewski]], composers [[Karol Szymanowski]], [[Feliks Nowowiejski]], and [[Artur Rubinstein]], singer [[Jan Kiepura]].

Theatre was immensely popular in the interbellum, with three main centres in the cities of Warsaw, Wilno and Lwów. Altogether, there were 103 theatres in Poland and a number of other theatrical institutions (including 100 folk theatres). In 1936, different shows were seen by 5 million people, and main figures of Polish theatre of the time were [[Juliusz Osterwa]], [[Stefan Jaracz]], and [[Leon Schiller]]. Also, before the outbreak of the war, there were approximately one million radios (see [[Radio stations in interwar Poland]]).