Family and family education model in parish press of Great Poland in 2nd Polish Republic: „Tygodnik Parafji Zbąszynskiej” example
Authors: Piwowarczyk Mirosław 
Published: February 2024

Local press played a significant role in 2nd Polish Republic both from the
perspective if state administration, territorial autonomies, political parties and the
expectations of wide social environments and local communities. It fulfilled the need
of information on the social, political, educational, cultural and economical life of
specific environments. It also worked as a tool in propaganda and political agitation,
it familiarized ideologies of political parties and expressed views and idea of local
communities. It played an important part in local economy life; it educated and
actively took part in popularization of interests in regional issues.
Local press was both: a mirror of contemporary social relations, political and national
divisions and the important agent in initiatives such as cultural events. It registered
and pictured life of the town and its area citizens, gave pedagogical impact on the
young generation by giving them patterns and forms of positive social actions,
popularized specific ideologies, educational concepts, patterns of behavior, it created
and influenced the local communities attitudes and actions. Its role was especially
visible in Great Poland, where local press helped in creation of socio-cultural life in
small towns and education. In the group of magazines that specifically influenced
local communities cultural character and had an important educational impact we
should ( ) include the parish press.
Parish magazines in many cases played a role of the local community press. Beside the
information on the church and parish community problems they included a lot of news
from the life of the town and its area; they constituted a chronicle of local community
events and also propagated precise world-view and coherent with it concepts oft.
It was a case in Zbąszyń, were was published.
played a sagnificant educational role in its environment. It propagated
a homogenus, stright forward perspective (concept) of education, coherent with social
teaching of catholic chuch and ideology of nationalist parties. Magazine often
published articles on social pedagogy, citizenship, patriotic, religious, moral and family education in “the spirit of catholic and national values”. With great passion
magazine propagated catholic model of family, specific rules of family life, patterns
of family, education, wife and mother, husband and father, children, ideal of good
Polish woman and house wife, ideal of good Polish man, husband and father. Specific
roles and tasks were associated with them, obligations of parents towards children
were also expressed.
Very often articles included advises and canceling on mother-children relationship.
There were attempts of creation of positive attitudes of children towards parents based
on the use of examples. There were also articles stressing the meaning and
significance of shared responsibility and actions of school and home in education
towards child benefit.
Most of the articles published in had a didactic, ideologist and moralizing
character it was a tool for fulfillment of specific goals of “spiritual powers”. Despite
that kind of single-tract perspective on educational issues magazine gained a wide
popularity and respect within local community of Zbąszyń and its area. Presented
attitude remained coherent with politically and morally (religiously) educated
community and simply mirrored ideas shared by the majority of citizens. There is no
doubt tat it played a significant role in construction of specific cultural character of
Zbąszyń in the Interwar Period and education of its citizens.