Massacre of Lwów professors
Encyclopedia
In July 1941, 25 Polish academics from the city of Lwów, Poland
; now in Ukraine
) were killed by Nazi German
occupation forces along with their families and guests. By targeting prominent citizens and intellectuals for elimination, the Nazis hoped to prevent anti-Nazi activity and to weaken the resolve of the Polish resistance.
(Lwów in Polish
), then in the Second Polish Republic
, had 318,000 inhabitants of different ethnic groups and religions, 60% of whom were Poles
, 30% Jews and about 10% Ukrainians
and Germans
. The city was one of the most important cultural centers of prewar Poland
, housing five tertiary educational facilities including Lwów University and Lwów Polytechnic. It was the home for many Polish and Jewish intellectuals, political and cultural activists, scientists and members of Poland's interwar elite.
After Lviv was occupied by the Soviets in September 1939, Lwów University was renamed in honor of Ivan Franko
, a major Ukrainian literary figure who lived in Lviv, and the language of instruction was changed from Polish to Ukrainian
. Lwów was then captured by German forces on June 30, 1941 after the German invasion of the Soviet Union
in June 1941. Along with the German Wehrmacht
units, a number of Abwehr
and SS formations entered the city.
During the Nazi occupation, almost all of the 120,000 Jewish inhabitants of the city were killed, within the city's ghetto or in Bełżec extermination camp. By the end of the war, only 200-800 Jews survived.
In order to control the population, prominent citizens and intellectuals of all ethnic groups, but particularly Jews and Poles, were either closed in ghettos or transported to the execution sites such as the Gestapo
prison on Pełczyńska Street, the Brygidki
Prison, the former military prison at Zamarstynów and to the fields surrounding the city—in the suburb of Winniki, the Kortumówka hills and the Jewish Cemetery. Many of the people killed were prominent leaders of Polish society: politicians, artists, aristocrats, sportsmen, scientists, priests, rabbis and other intelligentsia
. The mass murder of people suspected of potential anti-Nazi activity was seen as a pre-emptive measure to keep the Polish resistance scattered and to prevent the Poles from revolting against Nazi rule. It was a direct continuation of the infamous AB Action (Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion ) and one of the early stages of Generalplan Ost
, after the German campaign against the USSR started and the eastern half of prewar Poland fell under German occupation in place of that of the Soviet Union. One of the earliest Nazi crime
s in Lviv was the mass murder of Polish professors together with some of their relatives and guests, carried out at the beginning of July 1941.
was arrested by one of the Einsatzgruppen
operating in the area.
During the night from 3 to 4 of July, several dozen professors and their families were arrested by German detachments - each one consisting of an officer, several soldiers, Ukrainian guides and interpreters. The lists were prepared by their Ukrainian
students associated with OUN
. Some of the professors mentioned on the lists were already dead, specifically Adam Bednarski and Roman Leszczyński. Among arrested was professor Roman Rencki, a director of the Clinic for Internal Diseases at Lwów University, who was kept in NKVD prison and whose name was also on the list of Soviet prisoners sentenced to death.
The detained were transported to the Abrahamowicz's dormitory, where despite the preconceived intention to kill them, they were tortured and interrogated. The head of the department in the Jewish hospital, professor Adam Ruff was shot while having an epileptic attack.
In the early morning of July 4 one of the professors and most of his servants were set free while the rest were either brought to the Wulka hills or shot dead in the courtyard of the Bursa Abrahamowiczów building. The victims were buried on the spot, but several days after the massacre their bodies were exhumed and transported by the Wehrmacht to an unknown place.
According to a Polish historian the victims were not involved in politics in any way. According to a Ukrainian historian, out of approximately 160 Polish professors living in Lviv in June 1941, the professors chosen for execution were specifically those who actively cooperated with the Soviet regime in some way between 1940-1941.
, killed with a hammer, or shot to death.
The professors themselves were shot to death, although it is highly probable that some of them were buried alive.
unit (Einsatzkommando zur besonderen Verwendung) under the command of SS-Brigadeführer
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
with the participation of Ukrainians translators, who were dressed in German uniforms.
The decision was taken by the highest level of the Third Reich
authorities. The direct decision maker concerning the massacre was the commander of the Sicherheitspolizei
(Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD- BdS) in Krakau District Generalgouvernement
, Brigadeführer
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
. The following Gestapo
officers also participated: Heinz Heim (Chief of Staff Schöngarth), Hans Krüger
, Walter Kutschmann, Kurt Stawizki, and Felix Landau
. They were never punished for that crime. Walter Kutschmann lived under a fake identity in Argentina
until January 1975, when he was found and exposed by journalist Alfredo Serra in the resort town of Miramar
. He was arrested ten years later in Florida, Buenos Aires
by Interpol
agents, and died of myocardial infarction
in jail before he could be extradited, on 30 August 1986.
Some sources contend that members of the Ukrainian auxiliaries from the Nachtigall Battalion
were responsible for the murders. According to others, this claim originated with the Soviet sources (Soviet propaganda campaign against the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
) and has been disputed. Memorial
has published documents which claim to document the Nachtigall participation in those events as a KGB
disinformation. Stanisław Bogaczewicz from the Institute of National Remembrance
said that Nachtigall soldiers took part in the arrests, but not in the murders, and that their role in this event needs further investigation. Tadeusz Piotrowski
notes that while Nachtigall role is disputed, they were present in the town during the events, their activities are not properly documented, and that at the very least they are guilty of the passive collaboration in this event, for not opposing the atrocities.
According to Lviv historian Vasyl Rasevych, the statement that Ukrainians participatied in the massacre of the Polish professors is nonsense and that no archival evidence exists regarding this.
made attempts to diminish the Polish cultural and historic legacy of Lviv. Crimes committed east of the Curzon line
could not be prosecuted by Polish courts. Information on the atrocities that took place in Lviv was restricted.
In 1960 Dr. Helena Krukowska, the widow of Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Krukowski, launched an appeal to the court in Hamburg
. After five years the German court closed the judicial proceedings. Public prosecutor von Beelow argued that the people responsible for the crime were already dead. This however was not true since at the same time SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger
, commander of the Gestapo unit supervising the massacres in Lviv in 1941, was being held in Hamburg prison (he was sentenced to life imprisonment
for the mass murder of Jews and Poles in Stanisławów
, committed several weeks after his unit was transferred from Lviv). As a result no person has ever been held responsible for this atrocity.
In the 1970s Abrahamowicz Street in Lviv
was renamed Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński
Street.
Various Polish organisations have made deputations to remember the victims of the atrocity with a monument or a symbolic grave in Lviv.
The case of the murder of the professors is currently under investigation by the Institute of National Remembrance
.
In May 2009, the monument to the victims in Lviv was defaced with red paint bearing the words "Death to the Lachs (Poles)".
On July 3, 2011 a memorial dedicated to the 39 Polish professors murdered by the Gestapo on July 4, 1941 was opened in Lviv.
Prison is a prison in Lviv.
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
; now in 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...
) were killed by Nazi German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
occupation forces along with their families and guests. By targeting prominent citizens and intellectuals for elimination, the Nazis hoped to prevent anti-Nazi activity and to weaken the resolve of the Polish resistance.
Background
Prior to September 1939 and the joint Nazi-Soviet invasion of Poland, LvivLviv
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...
(Lwów in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
), then in the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, had 318,000 inhabitants of different ethnic groups and religions, 60% of whom were Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
, 30% Jews and about 10% Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
and Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
. The city was one of the most important cultural centers of prewar Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, housing five tertiary educational facilities including Lwów University and Lwów Polytechnic. It was the home for many Polish and Jewish intellectuals, political and cultural activists, scientists and members of Poland's interwar elite.
After Lviv was occupied by the Soviets in September 1939, Lwów University was renamed in honor of Ivan Franko
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language....
, a major Ukrainian literary figure who lived in Lviv, and the language of instruction was changed from Polish to Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. Lwów was then captured by German forces on June 30, 1941 after the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
in June 1941. Along with the German Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
units, a number of Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
and SS formations entered the city.
During the Nazi occupation, almost all of the 120,000 Jewish inhabitants of the city were killed, within the city's ghetto or in Bełżec extermination camp. By the end of the war, only 200-800 Jews survived.
In order to control the population, prominent citizens and intellectuals of all ethnic groups, but particularly Jews and Poles, were either closed in ghettos or transported to the execution sites such as the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
prison on Pełczyńska Street, the Brygidki
Brygidki
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...
Prison, the former military prison at Zamarstynów and to the fields surrounding the city—in the suburb of Winniki, the Kortumówka hills and the Jewish Cemetery. Many of the people killed were prominent leaders of Polish society: politicians, artists, aristocrats, sportsmen, scientists, priests, rabbis and other intelligentsia
Intelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
. The mass murder of people suspected of potential anti-Nazi activity was seen as a pre-emptive measure to keep the Polish resistance scattered and to prevent the Poles from revolting against Nazi rule. It was a direct continuation of the infamous AB Action (Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion ) and one of the early stages of Generalplan Ost
Generalplan Ost
Generalplan Ost was a secret Nazi German plan for the colonization of Eastern Europe. Implementing it would have necessitated genocide and ethnic cleansing to be undertaken in the Eastern European territories occupied by Germany during World War II...
, after the German campaign against the USSR started and the eastern half of prewar Poland fell under German occupation in place of that of the Soviet Union. One of the earliest Nazi crime
Nazi crime
Nazi crime or Hitlerite crime is a legal concept used in some legal systems .In the Polish legal system a Nazi crime is an action carried out by, inspired by or tolerated by public functionaries of the Third Reich that also classifies as a crime against humanity or other persecutions of people...
s in Lviv was the mass murder of Polish professors together with some of their relatives and guests, carried out at the beginning of July 1941.
History
By July 2, 1941, many of the initial terror actions were halted, yet the individual, planned executions continued. At approximately 3 o'clock in the evening Prof. Kazimierz BartelKazimierz Bartel
Kazimierz Władysław Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland three times between 1926 and 1930....
was arrested by one of the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
operating in the area.
During the night from 3 to 4 of July, several dozen professors and their families were arrested by German detachments - each one consisting of an officer, several soldiers, Ukrainian guides and interpreters. The lists were prepared by their Ukrainian
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...
students associated with OUN
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
. Some of the professors mentioned on the lists were already dead, specifically Adam Bednarski and Roman Leszczyński. Among arrested was professor Roman Rencki, a director of the Clinic for Internal Diseases at Lwów University, who was kept in NKVD prison and whose name was also on the list of Soviet prisoners sentenced to death.
The detained were transported to the Abrahamowicz's dormitory, where despite the preconceived intention to kill them, they were tortured and interrogated. The head of the department in the Jewish hospital, professor Adam Ruff was shot while having an epileptic attack.
In the early morning of July 4 one of the professors and most of his servants were set free while the rest were either brought to the Wulka hills or shot dead in the courtyard of the Bursa Abrahamowiczów building. The victims were buried on the spot, but several days after the massacre their bodies were exhumed and transported by the Wehrmacht to an unknown place.
According to a Polish historian the victims were not involved in politics in any way. According to a Ukrainian historian, out of approximately 160 Polish professors living in Lviv in June 1941, the professors chosen for execution were specifically those who actively cooperated with the Soviet regime in some way between 1940-1941.
Methods of killing
There are accounts of four different methods used by the German troops. The victims were either beaten to death, killed with a bayonetBayonet
A bayonet is a knife, dagger, sword, or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit in, on, over or underneath the muzzle of a rifle, musket or similar weapon, effectively turning the gun into a spear...
, killed with a hammer, or shot to death.
The professors themselves were shot to death, although it is highly probable that some of them were buried alive.
Responsibility
According to an eyewitness the executions were made by an EinsatzgruppenEinsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen were SS paramilitary death squads that were responsible for mass killings, typically by shooting, of Jews in particular, but also significant numbers of other population groups and political categories...
unit (Einsatzkommando zur besonderen Verwendung) under the command of SS-Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
Eberhard Karl Schöngarth was a German Nazi, appointed SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei on Himmler’s orders in 1943. He was a war criminal who perpetrated mass murder and genocide in occupied Poland during the Holocaust.Schöngarth was born in Leipzig, Saxony...
with the participation of Ukrainians translators, who were dressed in German uniforms.
The decision was taken by the highest level of the Third Reich
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
authorities. The direct decision maker concerning the massacre was the commander of the Sicherheitspolizei
Sicherheitspolizei
The Sicherheitspolizei , often abbreviated as SiPo, was a term used in Nazi Germany to describe the state political and criminal investigation security agencies. It was made up by the combined forces of the Gestapo and the Kripo between 1936 and 1939...
(Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD- BdS) in Krakau District Generalgouvernement
General Government
The General Government was an area of Second Republic of Poland under Nazi German rule during World War II; designated as a separate region of the Third Reich between 1939–1945...
, Brigadeführer
Brigadeführer
SS-Brigadeführer was an SS rank that was used in Nazi Germany between the years of 1932 and 1945. Brigadeführer was also an SA rank....
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
Karl Eberhard Schöngarth
Eberhard Karl Schöngarth was a German Nazi, appointed SS-Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei on Himmler’s orders in 1943. He was a war criminal who perpetrated mass murder and genocide in occupied Poland during the Holocaust.Schöngarth was born in Leipzig, Saxony...
. The following Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
officers also participated: Heinz Heim (Chief of Staff Schöngarth), Hans Krüger
Hans Krüger
Hans Krüger was a former member of the NSDAP party and other Nazi organizations who served as a judge in occupied Poland during Second World War. After the war he became West German politician of the Christian Democratic Union...
, Walter Kutschmann, Kurt Stawizki, and Felix Landau
Felix Landau
Felix Landau , was a SS Hauptscharführer, a member of an Einsatzkommando during World War II, based first in Lwów, Poland , and later in Drohobycz. He was a "central figure in the Nazi program of the extermination of Galician Jews"...
. They were never punished for that crime. Walter Kutschmann lived under a fake identity in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
until January 1975, when he was found and exposed by journalist Alfredo Serra in the resort town of Miramar
Miramar, Buenos Aires Province
Miramar is an Argentine city located on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in Buenos Aires Province, south of Buenos Aires. It is the capital of General Alvarado Partido...
. He was arrested ten years later in Florida, Buenos Aires
Florida, Buenos Aires
Florida is a mostly residential neighborhood of the Vicente López Partido in the northern suburbs of Gran Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is principally a middle class neighbourhood and is located between the neighborhoods of Olivos and Vicente López, also in the same partido .The city is located...
by Interpol
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
agents, and died of myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in jail before he could be extradited, on 30 August 1986.
Some sources contend that members of the Ukrainian auxiliaries from the Nachtigall Battalion
Nachtigall Battalion
The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the subunit under command of the Abwehr special operation unit Lehrregiment "Brandenburg" z.b.V. 800...
were responsible for the murders. According to others, this claim originated with the Soviet sources (Soviet propaganda campaign against the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists is a Ukrainian political organization which as a movement originally was created in 1929 in Western Ukraine . The OUN accepted violence as an acceptable tool in the fight against foreign and domestic enemies particularly Poland and Russia...
) and has been disputed. Memorial
Memorial (society)
Memorial is an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states. It focuses on recording and publicising the Soviet Union's totalitarian past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states....
has published documents which claim to document the Nachtigall participation in those events as a KGB
KGB
The KGB was the commonly used acronym for the . It was the national security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 until 1991, and was the premier internal security, intelligence, and secret police organization during that time.The State Security Agency of the Republic of Belarus currently uses the...
disinformation. Stanisław Bogaczewicz from the Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
said that Nachtigall soldiers took part in the arrests, but not in the murders, and that their role in this event needs further investigation. Tadeusz Piotrowski
Tadeusz Piotrowski (sociologist)
Tadeusz Piotrowski or Thaddeus Piotrowski is a Polish-American sociologist. He is a Professor of Sociology in the Social Science Division of the University of New Hampshire at Manchester in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he lives....
notes that while Nachtigall role is disputed, they were present in the town during the events, their activities are not properly documented, and that at the very least they are guilty of the passive collaboration in this event, for not opposing the atrocities.
According to Lviv historian Vasyl Rasevych, the statement that Ukrainians participatied in the massacre of the Polish professors is nonsense and that no archival evidence exists regarding this.
Aftermath
After World War II the leadership of the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
made attempts to diminish the Polish cultural and historic legacy of Lviv. Crimes committed east of the Curzon line
Curzon Line
The Curzon Line was put forward by the Allied Supreme Council after World War I as a demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and Bolshevik Russia and was supposed to serve as the basis for a future border. In the wake of World War I, which catalysed the Russian Revolution of 1917, the...
could not be prosecuted by Polish courts. Information on the atrocities that took place in Lviv was restricted.
In 1960 Dr. Helena Krukowska, the widow of Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Krukowski, launched an appeal to the court in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
. After five years the German court closed the judicial proceedings. Public prosecutor von Beelow argued that the people responsible for the crime were already dead. This however was not true since at the same time SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger
Hans Krüger
Hans Krüger was a former member of the NSDAP party and other Nazi organizations who served as a judge in occupied Poland during Second World War. After the war he became West German politician of the Christian Democratic Union...
, commander of the Gestapo unit supervising the massacres in Lviv in 1941, was being held in Hamburg prison (he was sentenced to life imprisonment
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
for the mass murder of Jews and Poles in Stanisławów
Ivano-Frankivsk
Ivano-Frankivsk is a historic city located in the western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast, municipality....
, committed several weeks after his unit was transferred from Lviv). As a result no person has ever been held responsible for this atrocity.
In the 1970s Abrahamowicz Street in Lviv
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...
was renamed Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński
Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński was a Polish stage writer, poet, critic above all, and translator of over 100 French literary classics into Polish...
Street.
Various Polish organisations have made deputations to remember the victims of the atrocity with a monument or a symbolic grave in Lviv.
The case of the murder of the professors is currently under investigation by the Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance
Institute of National Remembrance — Commission for the Prosecution of Crimes against the Polish Nation is a Polish government-affiliated research institute with lustration prerogatives and prosecution powers founded by specific legislation. It specialises in the legal and historical sciences and...
.
In May 2009, the monument to the victims in Lviv was defaced with red paint bearing the words "Death to the Lachs (Poles)".
On July 3, 2011 a memorial dedicated to the 39 Polish professors murdered by the Gestapo on July 4, 1941 was opened in Lviv.
Victims
Abbreviations used:- UJK = Uniwersytet Jana Kazimierza (Lwów University, now Ivan Franko National University of LvivLviv UniversityThe Lviv University or officially the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv is the oldest continuously operating university in Ukraine...
) - PSP = Państwowy Szpital Powszechny (National Public Hospital)
- PL = Politechnika Lwowska (Lwów Polytechnic, now Lviv Polytechic National UniversityLviv PolytechnicLviv Polytechnic National University is the largest scientific university in Lviv. Since its foundation in 1844, it was one of the most important centres of science and technological development in Central Europe. In the interbellum period, the Polytechnic was one of the most important technical...
) - AWL = Akademia Weterynaryjna we Lwowie (Academy of Veterinary Sciences in Lwów)
- AHZ = Akademia Handlu Zagranicznego we Lwowie (Academy of Foreign Trade in LwówAcademy of Foreign Trade in LwówAcademy of Foreign Trade in Lwów was one of four colleges in the city of Lwów in the interbellum period, when it belonged to the Second Polish Republic...
)
Murdered on the Wulkeckie (Wulka) hills
- Prof. Dr. Antoni CieszyńskiAntoni CieszynskiAntoni Cieszyński was a Polish physician, dentist and surgeon.Antoni was professor and head of the Institute of Stomatology at the Lviv University...
, Professor of Stomatology UJK - Prof. Dr. Władysław Dobrzaniecki, head of the ord. Oddz. Chirurgii PSP
- Prof. Dr. Jan Grek, Professor of Internal Medicine, UJK
- Maria Grekowa, wife of Jan Grek
- Doc. Dr. Jerzy Grzędzielski, head of the Institute of OphthalmologyOphthalmologyOphthalmology is the branch of medicine that deals with the anatomy, physiology and diseases of the eye. An ophthalmologist is a specialist in medical and surgical eye problems...
, UJK - Prof. Dr. Edward Hamerski, Chief of Internal MedicineInternal medicineInternal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
, AWL - Prof. Dr. Henryk HilarowiczHenryk HilarowiczHenryk Hilarowicz was a Polish surgeon, and a professor at the Jan Kazimierz University in Lwów. He was murdered by the Nazis in the Massacre of Lwów professors.-Further reading:...
, Professor of Surgery, UJK - Rev. Dr. Władysław Komornicki, theologian, a relative of the Ostrowski family
- Eugeniusz Kostecki, husband of Prof. Dobrzaniecki's servant
- Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Krukowski, Chief of the Institute of Electrical Measurement, PL
- Prof. Dr. Roman Longchamps de BérierRoman Longchamps de BérierRoman Longchamps de Bérier was a Polish lawyer and university professor, one of the most notable specialists in civil law of his times and the last rector of the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów...
, Chief of the Institute of Civil LawCivil law (legal system)Civil law is a legal system inspired by Roman law and whose primary feature is that laws are codified into collections, as compared to common law systems that gives great precedential weight to common law on the principle that it is unfair to treat similar facts differently on different...
, UJK - Bronisław Longchamps de Bérier, son of Prof. Longchamps de Bérier
- Zygmunt Longchamps de Bérier, son of Prof. Longchamps de Bérier
- Kazimierz Longchamps de Bérier, son of Prof. Longchamps de Bérier
- Prof. Dr. Antoni Łomnicki, Chief of the Institute of Mathematics, PL
- Adam Mięsowicz, grandson of Prof. Sołowij
- Prof. Dr. Witołd Nowicki, Dean of the Faculty of Anatomy and Pathology, UJK
- Dr. Med. Jerzy Nowicki, assistant at the Institute of Hygiene, UJK, son of Prof. Nowicki
- Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Ostrowski, Chief of the Institute of Surgery, UJK
- Jadwiga Ostrowska, wife of Prof. Ostrowski
- Prof. Dr. Stanisław Pilat, Chief of the Institute of Technology of PetroleumPetroleumPetroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
and Natural GasNatural gasNatural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
es, PL - Prof. Dr. Stanisław Progulski, pediatrician, UJK
- Andrzej Progulski, son of Prof. Progulski
- Prof. Dr. Roman Rencki, Chief of the Institute of Internal Medicine, UJK
- Dr. Med. Stanisław Ruff, Chief of the Department of Surgery of the Jewish Hospital
- Anna Ruffowa, Dr. Ruff's wife
- Inż. Adam Ruff, Dr. Ruff's son
- Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Sieradzki, Dean of the faculty of Court Medicine, UJK
- Prof. Dr. Adam Sołowij, former Chief of the Department of GynaecologyGynaecologyGynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
and ObstetricsObstetricsObstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
of the PSP - Prof. Dr. Włodzimierz Stożek, Dean of the Faculty of MathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, PL - Inż. Eustachy Stożek, assistant at the Politechnika Lwowska, son of Prof. Stożek
- Emanuel Stożek, son of Prof. Stożek
- Dr. Tadeusz Tapkowski, lawyer
- Prof. Dr. Kazimierz Vetulani, Dean of the Faculty of Theoretical MechanicsMechanicsMechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behavior of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effects of the bodies on their environment....
, PL - Prof. Dr. Kacper Weigel, Chief of the Institute of Measures, PL
- Mgr Józef Weigel, son of Prof. Weigel
- Prof. Dr. Roman Witkiewicz, Chief of the Institute of Machinery, PL
- Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Boy-ŻeleńskiTadeusz Boy-ZelenskiTadeusz Kamil Marcjan Żeleński was a Polish stage writer, poet, critic above all, and translator of over 100 French literary classics into Polish...
, writer and gynaecologist, Chief of the Institute of French LiteratureFrench literatureFrench literature is, generally speaking, literature written in the French language, particularly by citizens of France; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of France other than French. Literature written in French language, by citizens...
Murdered in the courtyard of Bursa Abrahamowiczów
Bursa Abrahamowiczów is a former school in Lviv, now a hospital.- Katarzyna Demko, English language teacher
- Doc. Dr. Stanisław Mączewski, head of the Department of GynaecologyGynaecologyGynaecology or gynecology is the medical practice dealing with the health of the female reproductive system . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"...
and ObstetricsObstetricsObstetrics is the medical specialty dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children during pregnancy , childbirth and the postnatal period...
of the PSP - Maria Reymanowa, nurse
- Wolisch (name unknown), merchant
Murdered on July 12
- Prof. Dr. Henryk KorowiczHenryk KorowiczHenryk Korowicz – Polish economist, professor and rector of the Academy of Foreign Trade in Lwów....
, Chief of the Institute of EconomicsEconomicsEconomics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, AHZ - Prof. Dr. Stanisław Ruziewicz, Chief of the Institute of Mathematics, AHZ
Murdered on July 26 in Brygidki Prison
BrygidkiBrygidki
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...
Prison is a prison in Lviv.
- Prof. Dr. Kazimierz BartelKazimierz BartelKazimierz Władysław Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as Prime Minister of Poland three times between 1926 and 1930....
, former Prime Minister of Poland, former Rector of PL, Chairman of the Department of GeometryGeometryGeometry arose as the field of knowledge dealing with spatial relationships. Geometry was one of the two fields of pre-modern mathematics, the other being the study of numbers ....
, PL
See also
- IntelligenzaktionIntelligenzaktionIntelligenzaktion was a genocidal action of Nazi Germany targeting Polish elites as part of elimination of potentially dangerous elements. It was an early measure of the Generalplan Ost. About 60,000 people were killed as the result of this operation...
- Sonderaktion KrakauSonderaktion KrakauSonderaktion Krakau was the codename for a German operation against professors and academics from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II....
- Ponary massacrePonary massacreThe Ponary massacre was the mass-murder of 100,000 people, mostly Polish Jews, by German SD and SS and Lithuanian Nazi collaborators Sonderkommando collaborators...
- NKVD prisoner massacres
- Anti-Polonism
- Jakub Karol ParnasJakub Karol ParnasJakub Karol Parnas, also known as Yakov Oskarovich Parnas was a prominent Jewish-Polish–Soviet biochemist who contributed to the discovery of the Embden–Meyerhof–Parnas pathway, together with Otto Fritz Meyerhof and Gustav Georg Embden...
- List of massacres
- Czarny Las MassacreCzarny Las MassacreCzarny Las Massacre was a mass murder of around 250 Poles, carried out by Gestapo, on order of SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger in Czarny Las near Stanisławów, in the night of August 14/15, 1941....
Further reading
Available online. Section 5.4 Between two totalitarianisms. The question of collaboration: an attempt at analysisExternal links
- Murder of Lwow professors report of an ongoing investigation by IPNIPNIPN may refer to:* Intuit PaymentNetwork* Independent Practitioners Network* Infectious pancreatic necrosis, disease in fishes* Instant Private Network, type of VPN...
Zygmunt Albert - Mord Profesorów Lwowskich w lipcu 1941 roku