The opening of the academic year in Aula Leopoldina

The first Polish schools of higher education in Wrocław – universities and polytechnics – were convened in summer 1945. Initially they had common directorship, their rector being Prof. Stanisław Kulczyński, who before the war worked at Jan Kazimierz University in Lviv. Pictured is the opening of the academic year in Aula Leopoldina (1946).

The solemn opening of the University and Polytechnic, with participation of central-authority representatives, was performed on 9 June 1946 in Aula Leopoldina. Participants in the ceremony included Władysław Gomułka, Minister of the Recovered Territories; Jakub Berman, political-bureau member in the Polish Worker’s Party; Gen. Stanisław Popławski, commander of the Silesian Military District; and diplomatic representatives of Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, Holland, Yugoslavia, Romania, Sweden and Italy. And, of course, the Ambassador of the USSR.
Due to a lack of the required insignias and gowns, the Rector and Senate members performed in civilian attire.
The celebration was preceded by a mass by an apostolic administrator, Father Karol Milik.

From: the University's 1945 chronicle, History of the University
http://www.mbd.muzeum.uni.wroc.pl/dzieje-uniwersytetu/kronika-uniwersytecka