After the creation of the German Empire in 1871, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck set about uniting society morally and moulding a tolerably uniform German consciousness among the inhabitants of all the federated states that made up the Empire. The civil service and the education system intensified their activities when the “Kulturkampf” policy failed to deliver. A regulation designed to halt the further Polonisation of settlers from Bamberg had the Polish language removed from religious instruction and chanting in Rataje, outside Poznań, in 1882. German was systematically introduced as the sole language of instruction in all other subjects as well. This soon led to widespread protests among pupils, the most famous of which were the events that took place in Września in 1901. The children refused to accept German textbooks, answered their teachers in Polish and even said their prayers in their native language. The pupils were punished with canings and after school detentions, which was standard practice in the educational system of the day. School pupils in Miłosław, Pleszew, Buk, Gostyń and Krobia soon joined in the strike.

The parents of the Września children, particularly those involved in the events of May, were tried in Gniezno on 14-19 November 1901. Most were given prison sentences and fined, which was especially onerous on those not so well endowed materially. This was the trial that mobilised public opinion in all three regions. The French, British and Russian press all exploited the Września affair to show the true face of German barbarity.