Murder of Lwow professors
Murder of Lwow professors refers to the mass execution of approximately 45 Polish professors of the University of Lwów, their families and guests, committed in July 1941 in Lwów. The mass murder was a continuation of AB Action, or Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion started in 1940.
History
After the German invasion of the Soviet Union started in 1941, Lwów was captured on June 30. Together with the Wehrmacht a number of smaller Abwehr units entered the city. Aided by the Ukrainian Nachtigall batalion under Roman Shuhevych and several units of Ukrainian militia, they started mass executions of people previously put on proscription lists.
Most of the Jewish inhabitants of the city were shot on the spot while members of other nationalities were first transported to execution sites in the Gestapo prison at Pełczyńska street, July 2, 1941, most of the terror actions were halted, yet the individual, planned terror continued. At approximately 3o'clock in the evening prof. Kazimierz Bartel was arrested by one of the Einsatzkommandos operating in the area.
In the night of July 3 and July 4 several dozens of professors and their families were arrested. The lists were prepared by their Ukrainian students. In the early morning of July 4 one of the professors and most of the servants were set free while the rest were either brought to the execution place in the Wulka hills or shot to death on the courtyard of the Bursa Abrahamowiczów building. The victims were at first buried on the spot, but several days after the massacre their bodies were exhumated and transported by the Wehrmacht to an unknown place.
Methodology of the crime
There are accounts of four different methods used by the German and Ukrainian troops. The victims were either:
- Beaten to death
- Killed with a bayonet
- 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:
Murdered on Wulka hills
- Prof. dr Antoni Cieszyński, 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 Ophthalmology, UJK
- Prof. dr Edward Hamerski, head of the Internal medicine, AWL
- Prof. dr Henryk Hilarowicz, professor of surgery, UJK
- Rev. dr Władysław Komornicki, theologist, a relative of Ostrowski family
- Eugeniusz Kostecki, husband of prof. Dobrzaniecki's servant
- Prof. dr Włodzimierz Krukowski, head of the Institute of Electrical Measurement, PL
- Prof. dr Roman Longchamps de Bérier, head of the Institute of Civil law, 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, head of the Institute of Mathematics, PL
- Adam Mięsowicz, grandson of prof. Sołowij
- Prof. dr Witołd Nowicki, head of the Anathomy and Pathology faculty, UJK
- Dr med. Jerzy Nowicki, assistant at the Institute of Hygiene, UJK, son of prof. Nowicki
- Prof. dr Tadeusz Ostrowski, head of the Institute of Surgery, UJK
- Jadwiga Ostrowska, wife of prof. Ostrowski
- Prof. dr Stanisław Pilat, head of the Institute of Technology of Petroleum and Natural gases, PL
- Prof. dr Stanisław Progulski, pediatrician, UJK
- Andrzej Progulski, son of prof. Progulski
- Prof. dr Roman Rencki, head of the Institute of Internal Medicine, UJK
- Dr med. Stanisław Ruff, head of the surgery branch of the Jewish Hospital
- Anna Ruffowa, dr. Ruff's wife
- Inż. Adam Ruff, dr. Ruff's son
- Prof. dr Włodzimierz Sieradzki, head of the Court Medicine faculty, UJK
- Prof. dr Adam Sołowij, former head of the Gynaecology and Obstetrics branch of the PSP
- Prof. dr Włodzimierz Stożek, head of the Mathematics Facultu, PL
- Inż. Eustachy Stożek, assistant at the Lwów University of Science and Technology, son of prof. Stożek
- Emanuel Stożek, son of prof. Stożek
- Dr Tadeusz Tapkowski, lawyer
- Prof. dr Kazimierz Vetulani, head of the Theoretical Mechanics Faculty, PL
- Prof. dr Kacper Weigel, head of the Institute of Measures, PL
- Mgr Józef Weigel, son of prof. Weigel
- Prof. dr Roman Witkiewicz, head of the Institute of Machinery, PL
- Prof. dr Tadeusz Żeleński-Boy, writer and gynaecologist, head of the Institute of French Literature
Murdered in the courtyard of Bursa Abramowiczów
- Katarzyna Demko, English language teacher
- Doc. dr Stanisław Mączewski, head of the Gynaecology and Obstetrics branch of the PSP
- Maria Reymanowa, nurse
- Wolisch (name unknown), merchant
Murdered on July 12
- Prof. dr Henryk Korowicz, head of the Institute of Economy, AHZ
- Prof. dr Stanisław Ruziewicz, head of the Institute of Mathematics, AHZ
Murdered on July 26 in Brygidki prison
- Prof. dr Kazimierz Bartel, former Prime Minister of Poland, former rector of PL, head of the Geometry Faculty, PL
Aftermath
After the World War II the communist government of Poland tried to erase the Polish history of the city of Lwów. Because of that the crimes committed by the Germans and Ukrainians east of the so-called Curzon line were not persecuted by the Polish courts and the informations on Polish universities in Lwów were censored. However, in 1960 dr Helena Krukowska, the widow of Prof. dr Włodzimierz Krukowski managed to appeal to the court in Hamburg. 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. However, this was not true since at the same time SS-Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger, commander of the Gestapo unit supervising the massacres in Lwów in 1941 was being held in Hamburg prison (he was sentenced to life imprisonment for mass murder of Jews and Poles in Stanisławów, committed several weeks after his unit was transferred from Lvov. No person was ever held responsible for the massacre.
In the late 1980s the Abrahamowicz street in Lviv was renamed to Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński street. However, the pleas of various Polish organisations to commemorate the victims of the massacre with a monument or a symbolical grave in Lviv have been rejected ever since. The case of the murder of the professors is currently under investigation by the Institute of National Remembrance.
See also:
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