LET NOT ONLY STONES SPEAK...
he Polish poet Cyprian Kamil Norwid wrote that one’s country means one’s land and its graves, and that nations which lose their memory lose their life. I think we could replace the words “country” and “nation” in this maxim with another word without making it lose its deep sense. They could be exchanged for “university”. By definition every institution of higher education is more than just a community of the living; it is also a bridge linking its members across the generations – of its deceased with those who will come after us. So if we are to learn the history of a university, but also contribute to it, we should visit the graveyards where its professors and fellows lie. It can never be repeated enough that if we cannot express our remembrance of those who have departed from us, if we cannot transmit to others our concern for the preservation of their memory, we should not expect those who come after us in the relay of the generations to remember us. We keep the memory of the deceased professors and associates of the Jagiellonian University alive above all because without their mutual effort our Alma Mater would not be what it is now – one of the leading places of learning in Poland. The commemoration of the deceased staff of the Jagiellonian University is the task set for a special memorial committee founded on 4th December 2008 on the grounds of a decision issued by Rector Karol Musioł. The Komitet ds. Opieki nad Grobami Profesorów Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego (Committee for the Care of the Graves of Jagiellonian University Professors) is the first institution of its kind in Poland, and so far the only one, we understand. The Committee’s job is not only to look after the material condition of our professors’ graves, but also to cherish their memory, indeed sometimes to restore the memory of our professors and their achievements for the academic community, for our city, for our country. The Committee has drawn up a list of deceased Jagiellonian University professors since 1803, and its first instalment was published on the University website in late 2010 (http://www.uj.edu.pl/uniwersytet/ aktualnosci/odeszli/lista-pamieci). We believe that this kind of record is the best memorial and testimonial of our gratitude we can give them.
Anna Wojnar
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alma mater No. 166
Cover of the Pro Memoria volume
Another memorial showing our gratitude is Pro Memoria, a hardcopy publication we are issuing to mark the University’s 650th anniversary, containing a list of 687 professors and senior staff of the Jagiellonian University buried in the period from 1803 to 2003 in the Rakowicki Cemetery, Kraków’s largest burial ground and still in use. Our aim in this publication was not to reiterate the biographical information you can find in encyclopaedias, but instead to give an accurate location and photograph of the graves. It was more than a pioneering project, as no records have been kept of all the professors and staff of the Jagiellonian University for the whole of that period, so it was very hard to establish how many of them are buried in the Rakowicki Cemetery. The Committee works on a voluntary basis, but our operations would be impossible without the kind support of the Rector, Professor Wojciech Nowak, and the University’s central administrative Staff, the academic community, and all those who care and remember. Our correspondence is the best evidence of this. We get letters from well-wishers and people who tell us where to find the graves of Jagiellonian University staff, and also with recollections of a variety of biographical data, often unknown details, relating to the lives of our late colleagues. Whenever we get such letters we inevitably think of the Committee’s motto, “We continue to live in others; and that is a good thing: let not only stones speak.” How true it is!
Jan Wiktor Tkaczyński
President of the Committee for the Care of the Graves of Jagiellonian University Professors