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The murder of the Lviv professors was an organized execution of approximately 45 Polish professors from various tertiary educational establishments in Lviv
Lviv

Lviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main Ukrainian culture. In 2001, it had 725,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 per cent were Ukrainians, 9 per cent Russians and 1 per cent Poles....
 ('Lwów' in Polish and 'Lemberg' in German) along with their families and guests. It took place in July 1941, when the city was occupied by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 during World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a Theatre between the German Reich and the Soviet Union which encompassed Central Europe and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945....
. The organized murder of the civilian population was a continuation of the AB Action, or Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion, started in 1940.

r the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 kilometer front ....
 started in June 1941, Lviv
Lviv

Lviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main Ukrainian culture. In 2001, it had 725,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 per cent were Ukrainians, 9 per cent Russians and 1 per cent Poles....
 was captured on June 30.






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The murder of the Lviv professors was an organized execution of approximately 45 Polish professors from various tertiary educational establishments in Lviv
Lviv

Lviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main Ukrainian culture. In 2001, it had 725,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 per cent were Ukrainians, 9 per cent Russians and 1 per cent Poles....
 ('Lwów' in Polish and 'Lemberg' in German) along with their families and guests. It took place in July 1941, when the city was occupied by Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany and the Third Reich are the colloquial English names for Germany under the regime of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party , which established a Totalitarianism dictatorship that existed from 1933 to 1945....
 during World War II
Eastern Front (World War II)

The Eastern Front of World War II was a Theatre between the German Reich and the Soviet Union which encompassed Central Europe and eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945....
. The organized murder of the civilian population was a continuation of the AB Action, or Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion, started in 1940.

History

After the German invasion of the Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa

Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that commenced on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a 2,900 kilometer front ....
 started in June 1941, Lviv
Lviv

Lviv is a major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main Ukrainian culture. In 2001, it had 725,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 per cent were Ukrainians, 9 per cent Russians and 1 per cent Poles....
 was captured on June 30. Along with the Wehrmacht
Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
, a number of smaller Abwehr
Abwehr

The Abwehr was a Germany intelligence organization from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allies of World War I demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only....
 units entered the city.

During the Nazi occupation almost all of the 120,000 Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish inhabitants of the city were killed. All that survived at the end of the war were 200-800 Jewish inhabitants.

Members of other ethnic groups also suffered. In order to control the population, prominent citizens and intellectuals were transported to known execution sites such as the Gestapo
Gestapo

The was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Under the overall administration of the Schutzstaffel , it was administered by the Reichssicherheitshauptamt and was considered a dual organization of the Sicherheitsdienst and also a suboffice of the Sicherheitspolizei ....
 prison on Pelczynska Street, the Brygidki
Brygidki

File:Lwow-Brygidki.jpgBrygidki 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....
 Prison, the former military prison at Zamarstynów and to the fields surrounding the city: in the suburb of Winniky, the Kortumówky hills and the Jewish Cemetery. Many of the people killed were prominent Polish politicians, artists, sportsmen, scientists and priests.

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 Bartel
Kazimierz Bartel

Kazimierz Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as List of Polish Prime Ministers three times between 1926 and 1930.He was born in Lviv, Austria-Hungary March 3, 1882....
 was arrested by one of the Einsatzgruppen
Einsatzgruppen

Einsatzgruppen were paramilitary groups formed by Heinrich Himmler and operated by the Schutzstaffel before and during World War II. Their principal task, per SS General Erich von dem Bach, at the Nuremberg Trials: "was the annihilation of the Jews, Roma people, and Soviet Union political commissars"....
 operating in the area.

During the night of July 3 and July 4 several dozen professors and their families were arrested. The lists were prepared by their Ukrainian
Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavs ethnic group primarily living in Ukraine, or more broadly?citizens of Ukraine . Some 200 years ago and times prior to that, Ukrainians were usually referred to and known as Rusyny ....
 students . 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 to death in the courtyard of the Bursa Abrahamowiczów building. The victims were initially buried on the spot, but several days after the massacre their bodies were exhumed and transported by the Wehrmacht to an unknown place.

Methodology of the crime

There are accounts of four different methods used by the German troops. The victims were either beaten to death, killed with a bayonet
Bayonet

A bayonet is a knife-, dagger-, sword-' or spike-shaped weapon designed to fit on or over the muzzle of a rifle barrel 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 at least two of them were buried alive.

Victims

Abbreviations used:
  • UJK = Lviv University
    Lviv University

    The Lviv University or officially the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv was founded in 1661 and is the oldest continuously operating university in Ukraine....
     (Uniwersytet Jana Kazimierza, now Ivan Franko National University of Lviv)
  • PSP = National Public Hospital (Panstwowy Szpital Powszechny)
  • PL = Lviv Polytechnic
    Lviv Polytechnic

    Lviv 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....
     (Politechnika Lwowska, now Lviv Polytechnic National University)
  • AWL = Academy of Veterinary Sciences in Lwow (Akademia Weterynaryjna we Lwowie)
  • AHZ = Academy of Foreign Trade in Lwow
    Academy of Foreign Trade in Lwów

    Academy of Foreign Trade in Lw?w was one of four colleges in the city of Lw?w in the interbellum period, when it belonged to the Second Polish Republic ....
     (Akademia Handlu Zagranicznego we Lwowie)


Murdered on the Wulka hills
  1. Prof. Dr. Antoni Cieszynski
    Antoni Cieszynski

    Antoni Cieszynski was a Poland physician, dentist and surgeon.Antoni was professor and head of the Institute of Stomatology at the Lviv University....
    , Professor of Stomatology UJK
  2. Prof. Dr. Wladyslaw Dobrzaniecki
    Wladyslaw Dobrzaniecki

    Wladyslaw Dobrzaniecki was a Poland physician and surgeon.Wladyslaw was since 1936 head of the Saint Zofia Children Hospital in Lviv, and since 1938 titular professor of surgery at the Lviv University....
    , head of the ord. Oddz. Chirurgii PSP
  3. Prof. Dr. Jan Grek, Professor of Internal Medicine, UJK
  4. Maria Grekowa, wife of Jan Grek
  5. Doc. Dr. Jerzy Grzedzielski, head of the Institute of Ophthalmology
    Ophthalmology

    Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine which deals with the Eye diseases and Eye surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, brain, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids....
    , UJK
  6. Prof. Dr. Edward Hamerski, Chief of Internal Medicine
    Internal medicine

    Internal Medicine is the medical specialty concerned with the diagnosis, management and nonsurgical treatment of unusual or serious diseases. In North America, specialists in internal medicine are commonly called, "Internists." Elsewhere, especially in Commonwealth of Nations nations, such specialists are often called Physicians....
    , AWL
  7. Prof. Dr. Henryk Hilarowicz, Professor of Surgery, UJK
  8. Rev. Dr. Wladyslaw Komornicki, theologian, a relative of the Ostrowski family
  9. Eugeniusz Kostecki, husband of Prof. Dobrzaniecki's servant
  10. Prof. Dr. Wlodzimierz Krukowski, Chief of the Institute of Electrical Measurement, PL
  11. Prof. Dr. Roman Longchamps de Bérier
    Roman Longchamps de Bérier

    Roman Longchamps de B?rier was a Poland 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 Lviv....
    , Chief of the Institute of Civil Law
    Civil law (legal system)

    Civil law is a most prevalent legal system in the modern world and the oldest in human history. It is based on a code, or "a systematic collection of interrelated articles written in a terse, staccato style." The two other major legal systems in the world are common law and Islamic law....
    , UJK
  12. Bronislaw Longchamps de Bérier, son of Prof. Longchamps de Bérier
  13. Zygmunt Longchamps de Bérier, son of Prof. Longchamps de Bérier
  14. Kazimierz Longchamps de Bérier, son of Prof. Longchamps de Bérier
  15. Prof. Dr. Antoni Lomnicki
    Antoni Lomnicki

    Antoni Marian Lomnicki was a Poland mathematician.Antoni was educated at Lviv University and the University of G?ttingen. In 1920 he became professor of the Lviv University of Technology....
    , Chief of the Institute of Mathematics, PL
  16. Adam Miesowicz, grandson of Prof. Solowij
  17. Prof. Dr. Witold Nowicki, Dean of the Faculty of Anatomy and Pathology, UJK
  18. Dr. Med. Jerzy Nowicki, assistant at the Institute of Hygiene, UJK, son of Prof. Nowicki
  19. Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Ostrowski, Chief of the Institute of Surgery, UJK
  20. Jadwiga Ostrowska, wife of Prof. Ostrowski
  21. Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Pilat
    Stanislaw Pilat

    Stanislaw Pilat was a Poland Boxing who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.He was born and died in Nowy Targ.In 1936 he was eliminated in the second round of the Boxing at the 1936 Summer Olympics - Men's heavyweight after losing his fight to Jos? Feans....
    , Chief of the Institute of Technology of Petroleum
    Petroleum

    Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights, plus other organic compounds....
     and Natural Gas
    Natural gas

    Natural gas is a gas consisting primarily of methane. It is found associated with fossil fuels, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is created by methanogenic organisms in marshes, bogs, and landfills....
    es, PL
  22. Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Progulski, pediatrician, UJK
  23. Andrzej Progulski, son of Prof. Progulski
  24. Prof. Dr. Roman Rencki, Chief of the Institute of Internal Medicine, UJK
  25. Dr. Med. Stanislaw Ruff, Chief of the Department of Surgery of the Jewish Hospital
  26. Anna Ruffowa, Dr. Ruff's wife
  27. Inz. Adam Ruff, Dr. Ruff's son
  28. Prof. Dr. Wlodzimierz Sieradzki, Dean of the faculty of Court Medicine, UJK
  29. Prof. Dr. Adam Solowij, former Chief of the Department of Gynaecology
    Gynaecology

    Gynaecology or gynecology refers to the surgical specialty dealing with health of the female sex organ . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"....
     and Obstetrics
    Obstetrics

    Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
     of the PSP
  30. Prof. Dr. Wlodzimierz Stozek
    Wlodzimierz Stozek

    Wlodzimierz Stozek was a Poland mathematician of the Lviv School of Mathematics.Head of the Mathematics Faculty on the Lviv University of Technology....
    , Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics
    Mathematics

    Mathematics is the study of quantity, structure, space, change, and related topics of pattern and form. Mathematicians seek out patterns whether found in numbers, space, natural science, computers, imaginary abstractions, or elsewhere....
    , PL
  31. Inz. Eustachy Stozek, assistant at the Politechnika Lwowska, son of Prof. Stozek
  32. Emanuel Stozek, son of Prof. Stozek
  33. Dr. Tadeusz Tapkowski, lawyer
  34. Prof. Dr. Kazimierz Vetulani, Dean of the Faculty of Theoretical Mechanics
    Mechanics

    Mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the behaviour of physical body when subjected to forces or Displacement , and the subsequent effect of the bodies on their environment....
    , PL
  35. Prof. Dr. Kacper Weigel, Chief of the Institute of Measures, PL
  36. Mgr Józef Weigel, son of Prof. Weigel
  37. Prof. Dr. Roman Witkiewicz, Chief of the Institute of Machinery, PL
  38. Prof. Dr. Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
    Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski

    Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Zelenski was a Poland gynecology, writer, poet, critic, and above all a translator of French literature into Polish. A notable personality in the Young Poland movement, Boy was the enfant terrible of the Polish literary scene in the first half of the 20th century....
    , writer and gynaecologist, Chief of the Institute of French Literature
    French literature

    French 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 other traditional languages of France....


Murdered in the courtyard of Bursa Abrahamowiczów
  1. Katarzyna Demko, English language teacher
  2. Doc. Dr. Stanislaw Maczewski, head of the Department of Gynaecology
    Gynaecology

    Gynaecology or gynecology refers to the surgical specialty dealing with health of the female sex organ . Literally, outside medicine, it means "the science of women"....
     and Obstetrics
    Obstetrics

    Obstetrics is the surgery speciality dealing with the care of a woman and her offspring during pregnancy, childbirth and the puerperium . Midwifery is the non-medical equivalent....
     of the PSP
  3. Maria Reymanowa, nurse
  4. Wolisch (name unknown), merchant


Murdered on July 12
  1. Prof. Dr. Henryk Korowicz, Chief of the Institute of Economics
    Economics

    File:Ballard Farmers' Market - vegetables.jpgEconomics is the Social sciences that studies the Production theory basics, Distribution , and Consumption of Good and Service ....
    , AHZ
  2. Prof. Dr. Stanislaw Ruziewicz
    Stanislaw Ruziewicz

    Stanislaw Ruziewicz was a Poland mathematician and one of the founders of the Lviv School of Mathematics.He was a former student of Waclaw Sierpinski, a professor at the Lviv University and Lviv Academy of Foreign Trade....
    , Chief of the Institute of Mathematics, AHZ


Murdered on July 26 in Brygidki Prison
  1. Prof. Dr. Kazimierz Bartel
    Kazimierz Bartel

    Kazimierz Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as List of Polish Prime Ministers three times between 1926 and 1930.He was born in Lviv, Austria-Hungary March 3, 1882....
    , former Prime Minister of Poland, former Rector of PL, Chairman of the Department of Geometry
    Geometry

    Geometry 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


Aftermath


After World War II the government of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a Constitution of the Soviet Union socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991.The name is a translation of the , romanization of Russian Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik, abbreviated ????, SSSR....
 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 a demarcation line between the Second Polish Republic and Bolshevik Russia, first proposed on December 8, 1919 at the Allied Supreme Council declaration....
 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. Wlodzimierz Krukowski, launched an appeal to the court in Hamburg
Hamburg

Hamburg is the second-largest city in Germany , and is the Largest cities of the European Union by population within city limits. The city is home to approximately 1.8 million people, while the Hamburg metropolitan area has more than 4.3 million inhabitants....
. After five years the German court closed the judicial proceeding. 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 Kr?ger was a Germany politician in the Christian Democratic Union . He served from 17 October 1963 to 7 February 1964 as Federal Minister for Expellees and Refugees of the Federal Republic of Germany, resigning after having been attacked by German Democratic Republic sources for having been a Nazi Party activist....
, 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 or life incarceration is a sentence of prison for a serious crime, often for most or even all of the criminal's remaining life, but in fact for a period which varies between jurisdictions: many countries have a maximum possible period of time a prisoner may be incarcerated, or require the possibility of parole after...
 for the mass murder of Jews and Poles in Stanislaviv
Ivano-Frankivsk

Ivano-Frankivsk , is a historic city located in western Ukraine.It is the Capital of the Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast , and is designated as its own separate raion within the oblast....
, 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 major city in western Ukraine.It is regarded as one of the main Ukrainian culture. In 2001, it had 725,000 inhabitants, of whom 88 per cent were Ukrainians, 9 per cent Russians and 1 per cent Poles....
 was renamed Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski

Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Zelenski was a Poland gynecology, writer, poet, critic, and above all a translator of French literature into Polish. A notable personality in the Young Poland movement, Boy was the enfant terrible of the Polish literary scene in the first half of the 20th century....
 Street.

Various Polish organisations have made deputations to remember the victims of the atrocity with a monument or a symbolic grave in Lviv. These requests have been so-far rejected.

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 Polish law....
.

Controversy


Some Polish sources contend that members of the Nachtigall Battalion
Nachtigall Battalion

The Nachtigall Battalion , officially known as Special Group Nachtigall, was the first foreign legion of the Wehrmacht. Along with the Roland Battalion it was one of two military units formed in Germany prior to the outbreak of conflict with the Soviet Union....
 killed the Polish professors, including the ex-Polish Prime minister Kazimierz Bartel
Kazimierz Bartel

Kazimierz Bartel was a Polish mathematician and politician who served as List of Polish Prime Ministers three times between 1926 and 1930.He was born in Lviv, Austria-Hungary March 3, 1882....
, Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski
Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski

Tadeusz Kamil Marcjan Zelenski was a Poland gynecology, writer, poet, critic, and above all a translator of French literature into Polish. A notable personality in the Young Poland movement, Boy was the enfant terrible of the Polish literary scene in the first half of the 20th century....
 and others.

Russian sources state "That on June 30 in Lviv the German administration started mass repressions. The commander of the Einzatzgruppen C Dr. Rasch had incriminated the death of those incarcerated in the Lviv jails to the "Jews from the NKVD" which became the spark for the terror against the Jews and Poles of Lviv. In the bloody murder of the Jews the Einsatzgruppen under the command of brigadeerfuhrer SS Karl Eberhard Schenhardt took prominence. Sections of this group under the command of H. Kruger and W. Kutshman on July 4 murdered 23 Polish professors and their families. On July 11, 2 more were killed, and later the former prime-minister of Poland, professor Bartel.".

Sources


  • , (in Ukrainian). Available . Section 5.4


See also

  • List of massacres
    List of massacres

    This is a list of events named "massacre". The term suggests mass murder and its usage may be controversial. There are numerous events which are called "massacre" by one party to the debate while the other denies that they were such; in many other cases an event is acknowleged to be a massacre but there is a considerable debate on the nu...
  • Anti-Polonism
  • Jakub Karol Parnas
    Jakub Karol Parnas

    Jakub Karol Parnas, also known as Yakov Oskarovich Parnas was a prominent Poland?Soviet biochemist who contributed to the discovery of the Glycolysis pathway, together with Otto Fritz Meyerhof and Gustav Georg Embden....


External links

  • IPN
    IPN

    IPN may refer to:* Independent Practitioners Network* Infectious pancreatic necrosis, disease in fishes* Institute of National Remembrance* Instituto Pedro Nunes...
     (Polish)
  • (Polish)