Ludwik Fleck was born in Lwów on July 11, 1896. His father Maurycy ran a middle class painting establishment there. Fleck grew up in the atmosphere of the relatively extensive cultural autonomy of Galicia: Since 1867 the Polish culture which had developed during the long period of Polish division had found favorable conditions here in the Austrian-occupied territory (cf. e.g., Hartmann, 1962, 1966). The multinational state of Austria-Hungary allowed its regions a certain measure of cultural independence. There were Polish schools, and the city boasted an old university at which classes had again been held in the Polish language since 1879 (Dobrowolski, 1960). It was precisely because of these liberal politics that the culture of German-speaking territories met with great understanding: science and culture here were closely related to those of Vienna — which was also the case for the period following Poland's becoming independent in 1918.