and other educational materials. Union activities connected people of the same profession and gave them a chance to continue their vocations in at least a limited way.97 Perhaps the most explicit function of the trade unions was protection of a professional middle class whose future in exile was especially difficult and unclear, since emigration schemes openly favored blue-collar workers. Trade unions also were an arena in which to exchange ideas and to offer assistance to those in need.98
The first trade union to be established (November 1945), and in many ways the most active one, was Zrzeszenie Kół Techników Polskich (Association of Circles of Polish Technicians), which united engineers and others with technical and mechanical professions and trades in the American zone of occupation. The association verified the qualifications of about three hundred members in 1946 and focused on educational activities, considering them most beneficial for those emigrating abroad. Polish engineers taught in the Polish Technical College in Esslingen, organized courses in many DP centers through the association’s section for vocational training, and published textbooks prepared by the publishing section. The association also remained in close contact with a similar Polish organization of international scope in London.99
Two organizations with mass membership conducted their activities among skilled workers and farmers. Związek Rolników Polskich (Union of Polish Farmers) formed in April 1947 and in the summer of that year claimed a membership exceeding twenty-seven hundred people. Its headquarters in Durzyń coordinated the organization of agricultural courses for more than a thousand participants and provided professional literature on farming and agriculture.100 Beginning in 1947, Związek Rzemieślników i Robotników Polskich (Union of Polish Artisans and Workers) issued documents for more than fifteen hundred of its verified members. These documents became the basis of admission to labor unions in several countries of resettlement.101
Three other active professional associations—Zrzeszenie Prawników Polskich (Association of Polish Lawyers), Zrzeszenie Wydawców i Księgarzy (Association of Publishers and Booksellers), and Syndykat Dziennikarzy Polskich w Byłej Rzeszy (Syndicate of Polish Journalists), were all established in 1946. The Association of Polish Lawyers considered its major goal to be legal representation for Polish DPs and members of the Guards in the courts of the military governments. In addition, the lawyers, whose union was officially recognized by all administrative and occupation authorities, provided legal advice for Polish inmates in German prisons and for escapees from Poland who did not receive DP status and were charged with illegal crossing of the German border. In order to curtail crime among Poles, the lawyers worked on creating a register of Poles charged with crime in Germany. In 1947 the association had more than a hundred members.102
The Association of Publishers and Booksellers, although numerically considerably smaller (about thirty members in 1947), sustained a number of important activities, such as the organization of a network of retail bookstores and a wholesale business. Realizing the significance of documenting the history of the DP period, the association compiled a bibliography of all Polish publications in the territory of Germany and sent single issues of many of them to Polish libraries abroad.103
Members of the Syndicate of Polish Journalists initiated a similar action to preserve the historical documents and records of the Polish community in DP Germany by sending archival documents to Polish research centers in the United States. The syndicate controlled the quality of the Polish press in Germany and defended its interests, especially in the face of closings of Polish newspapers and their numerous financial and administrative problems.104
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