Brygidki
Encyclopedia
Brygidki is the building of a former Bridgettine nunnery in Lviv
, Ukraine
. It was founded in 1614 at the behest of Anna Fastkowska and Anna Poradowska for girls from noble families. After the Partition of Poland the Austrian administration decided to secularise the convent. In 1784 the Brygidki building was turned into a prison
, where death sentence
s would be carried out on a regular basis until the 1980s.
Taken over by the Soviet Union
after Soviet invasion of Poland
in 1939, the prison was one of three sites of mass murder
of political prisoners by NKVD
in Ukraine in June 1941 as the Soviets were retreating before the Nazi German invasion. Approximately 7,000 prisoners - primarily Poles and Ukrainians - died in Lviv in that event.
Amongst those who perished on June 30, 1941, was Fr. Zynoviy Kovalyk
, whom the NKVD arrested in December for the sermon he gave on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). While they shot the rest of the prisoners, they decided to treat Fr. Kovalyk like his Lord by crucifying him in front of his fellow prisoners. When German troops had conquered Lviv, many people hastened to the prison in the hope of finding their relatives. According to witnesses, the most terrible sight was that of seeing the priest nailed to the prison wall. Even worse, someone had slit his belly open and placed a dead human fetus inside of it.
The prison courtyard still contains a Baroque
chapel from the former convent. There are plans to shut down the infamous prison or to move it out of the city.
Lviv
Lviv is a city in western Ukraine. The city is regarded as one of the main cultural centres of today's Ukraine and historically has also been a major Polish and Jewish cultural center, as Poles and Jews were the two main ethnicities of the city until the outbreak of World War II and the following...
, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. It was founded in 1614 at the behest of Anna Fastkowska and Anna Poradowska for girls from noble families. After the Partition of Poland the Austrian administration decided to secularise the convent. In 1784 the Brygidki building was turned into a prison
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
, where death sentence
Death Sentence
Death Sentence is a short story by the American science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the November 1943 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and reprinted in the 1972 collection The Early Asimov.-Plot summary:...
s would be carried out on a regular basis until the 1980s.
Taken over by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
after Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland can refer to:* the second phase of the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 when Soviet armies marched on Warsaw, Poland* Soviet invasion of Poland of 1939 when Soviet Union allied with Nazi Germany attacked Second Polish Republic...
in 1939, the prison was one of three sites of mass murder
Mass murder
Mass murder is the act of murdering a large number of people , typically at the same time or over a relatively short period of time. According to the FBI, mass murder is defined as four or more murders occurring during a particular event with no cooling-off period between the murders...
of political prisoners by NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in Ukraine in June 1941 as the Soviets were retreating before the Nazi German invasion. Approximately 7,000 prisoners - primarily Poles and Ukrainians - died in Lviv in that event.
Amongst those who perished on June 30, 1941, was Fr. Zynoviy Kovalyk
Zynoviy Kovalyk
-Family background:Zynoviy Kovalyk was born in the village of Ivachev, near Ternopil in western Ukraine. His family were peasant workers and like many of that time and place, were devout Christians. Perhaps it was due to his family’s devotion that Zynoviy developed a vocation to the Catholic...
, whom the NKVD arrested in December for the sermon he gave on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8). While they shot the rest of the prisoners, they decided to treat Fr. Kovalyk like his Lord by crucifying him in front of his fellow prisoners. When German troops had conquered Lviv, many people hastened to the prison in the hope of finding their relatives. According to witnesses, the most terrible sight was that of seeing the priest nailed to the prison wall. Even worse, someone had slit his belly open and placed a dead human fetus inside of it.
The prison courtyard still contains a Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
chapel from the former convent. There are plans to shut down the infamous prison or to move it out of the city.
Notable prisoners
- Kazimierz BartelKazimierz BartelKazimierz Władysław Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland three times between 1926 and 1930....
(1941)