Sunday 30 December 2018
Sunday 25 November 2018
Saturday 24 November 2018
Wednesday 3 October 2018
Sunday 30 September 2018
Wednesday 5 September 2018
Saturday 14 July 2018
St. Wojciech church in Warsaw (Wola) - transitory camp
Discover the story of a transitory camp located at the St. Wojciech Church in Warsaw during the Warsaw Rising in summer 1944. Up to 90,000 inhabitants of Warsaw were detained there and later transported to Dulag 121 in Pruszków to be later deported to force labour camps or other parts of occupied Poland.
Tuesday 5 June 2018
Wednesday 16 May 2018
Wednesday 25 April 2018
Bronisław Pekosiński case. Story of a victim.
Repulsive, he was. As kids, we would point fingers at him, laughing, wondering why he walks like a spider. Funny it seemed. But was no fun at all when I learned why he looked so awkward.
I still remember the day when my mum took my tiny hands and explained that the man we had been making fun of, had not deserved to be treated that way...
It was during WWII when he was born, Germans took his family to a transitory camp in Zwierzyniec. His mum threw him over the barbed wire fence in a desperate hope for his salvation by those who were not imprisoned and might have encountered her baby son. He fell on the heap of potatos and endured a serious damage in his hip. That is why for the rest of his life he would walk with difficulty throwing his legs forward like a spider. Fun no more...
His name was Bronisław Pekosiński. This was not his real name. No one knows the real one. He was never reunited with his family. No one knows either whether they had survived anyway. He was named Bronisław as WWII started on 1 September and it is always Bronisław name day this very day. Pekosiński came from an acronym PKOS (Polski Komitet Opieki Społecznej) Eng. Polish Social Help Comittee as this was the organisation that took care for him.
Discover his traumatic story in the award winning film: "Przypadek Pekosińskiego" (1993).
Truly recommended!
Bronisław Pekosiński died on 2 January 2013. He is buried in Zamość where he lived all through his life and should never been forgotten. Further reading on the fate of Polish kids during the Pacification of the Zamość Region (Aktion Zamość) is recommended here. A new post describing the infamous camp in Zwierzyniec will be published soon.
Read more:
I still remember the day when my mum took my tiny hands and explained that the man we had been making fun of, had not deserved to be treated that way...
It was during WWII when he was born, Germans took his family to a transitory camp in Zwierzyniec. His mum threw him over the barbed wire fence in a desperate hope for his salvation by those who were not imprisoned and might have encountered her baby son. He fell on the heap of potatos and endured a serious damage in his hip. That is why for the rest of his life he would walk with difficulty throwing his legs forward like a spider. Fun no more...
His name was Bronisław Pekosiński. This was not his real name. No one knows the real one. He was never reunited with his family. No one knows either whether they had survived anyway. He was named Bronisław as WWII started on 1 September and it is always Bronisław name day this very day. Pekosiński came from an acronym PKOS (Polski Komitet Opieki Społecznej) Eng. Polish Social Help Comittee as this was the organisation that took care for him.
Discover his traumatic story in the award winning film: "Przypadek Pekosińskiego" (1993).
Truly recommended!
Source: Youtube
Bronisław Pekosiński died on 2 January 2013. He is buried in Zamość where he lived all through his life and should never been forgotten. Further reading on the fate of Polish kids during the Pacification of the Zamość Region (Aktion Zamość) is recommended here. A new post describing the infamous camp in Zwierzyniec will be published soon.
Read more:
- Agnieszka Jaczyńska: "Sonderlaboratorium SS : Zamojszczyzna "Pierwszy obszar osiedleńczy w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie" (The SS Sonderlaboratorium: the Zamość Region : "The first settlement area in the Generalgouvernement", IPN 2012
- http://www.zamosconline.pl/text.php?id=8472&rodz=wiad accessed on 25 April 2018
Aktion Zamość
Images source: Internet
Saturday 21 April 2018
The siege of Warsaw, 1939
Germans besieged the capital of Poland between 8 and 28 September 1939 in their attempt to take over the whole of the country with Blitzkrieg starting on 1 September 1939.
10,000 inhabitants of Warsaw were killed due to bombardments and further 50,000 wounded.
Warsaw was being defended by 124,000 Polish soldiers. Germans used 175,000 soldiers to encirle the city loosing 1,500 of them and having 5,000 wounded. Poles lost 2,000 soldiers with 15,000 wounded.
On 17 September Hitler order the Royal Castle of Warsaw to be bombarded. The date marks the beging of the apocalypse for Poles as on the very same day Soviets invaded Poland all along the eastern border. Having armed forced counting 1,000,000 soldiers, Poland had to fight on two fronts against 1,800,000 Germans and 600,000 Soviets.
On 25 September, Germans conducted the largest air raid with 560 tons of high explosive bombs and 72 tons of incendiary bombs being dropped. It is estimated that 1,150 sorties were flown by German aircrafts.
Luftwaffe killed 10,000 people and destroyed 10% of the city's architectural substance. The Warsaw power plant and waterworks got heavily damaged, not to mention the pearls of Polish architecture: palaces, churches and many more.
Quite interestingly Hitler did not allow to destroy the old town of Warsaw. Some historians say that he envisaged that in the future Germans would prove that Warsaw had had teutonic roots as the complex of the Old Town was erected according to Magdeburg rights with a huge square in the centre and streets surounding it.
The capitulation was signed on 28 September 1939. Dark years for Warsaw commenced with the final act of the Warsaw Rising being played in summer 1944 when Germans led to the anihilation of the city killing 200,000 civilians and 18,000 of the insurgents, forcing the remaining 650,000 to leave their homes and been expelled from their city straight to concentration camps, forced labour or becoming displaced till the end of WWII.
An american reporter Julien Bryan was the ONLY FOREIGN correspondent who remained with the people of Warsaw during the siege in September 1939. He documented the tragedy of those days.
Let us analyse some of his pictures.
The picture below is one of the most petryfing as it illustrates Balbina Szymańska with her newborn twin boys.
It was taken in the St. Sophie Hospital where 50 mothers remained in the basement which sheltered them due to constant Luftwaffe bombardment danger. Seeing all these pain-ridden faces of young mothers...lying on the cold floor with no hope in their hearts...carryng their treasures - sweet newborns not aware of the drama all around...
The next picture shows young Ryszard Pajewski. Only 9 at that time he had suddenly been made the family breadwinner. Just one picture out of 1,300,000 dramas of 1,300,000 inhabitants of Warsaw at that time.
Other Bryan's well known pictures are also worth paying attention to:
10,000 inhabitants of Warsaw were killed due to bombardments and further 50,000 wounded.
Warsaw was being defended by 124,000 Polish soldiers. Germans used 175,000 soldiers to encirle the city loosing 1,500 of them and having 5,000 wounded. Poles lost 2,000 soldiers with 15,000 wounded.
On 17 September Hitler order the Royal Castle of Warsaw to be bombarded. The date marks the beging of the apocalypse for Poles as on the very same day Soviets invaded Poland all along the eastern border. Having armed forced counting 1,000,000 soldiers, Poland had to fight on two fronts against 1,800,000 Germans and 600,000 Soviets.
The Royal Castle of Warsaw, 17 September 1939
Picture source: Internet
On 25 September, Germans conducted the largest air raid with 560 tons of high explosive bombs and 72 tons of incendiary bombs being dropped. It is estimated that 1,150 sorties were flown by German aircrafts.
Luftwaffe killed 10,000 people and destroyed 10% of the city's architectural substance. The Warsaw power plant and waterworks got heavily damaged, not to mention the pearls of Polish architecture: palaces, churches and many more.
Quite interestingly Hitler did not allow to destroy the old town of Warsaw. Some historians say that he envisaged that in the future Germans would prove that Warsaw had had teutonic roots as the complex of the Old Town was erected according to Magdeburg rights with a huge square in the centre and streets surounding it.
The capitulation was signed on 28 September 1939. Dark years for Warsaw commenced with the final act of the Warsaw Rising being played in summer 1944 when Germans led to the anihilation of the city killing 200,000 civilians and 18,000 of the insurgents, forcing the remaining 650,000 to leave their homes and been expelled from their city straight to concentration camps, forced labour or becoming displaced till the end of WWII.
An american reporter Julien Bryan was the ONLY FOREIGN correspondent who remained with the people of Warsaw during the siege in September 1939. He documented the tragedy of those days.
Let us analyse some of his pictures.
On the picture, we may see Kazimiera Mika mourning after her sister who was killed during Luftwaffe air raid. More pictures depicting the scene might be accessed here.
The picture below is one of the most petryfing as it illustrates Balbina Szymańska with her newborn twin boys.
It was taken in the St. Sophie Hospital where 50 mothers remained in the basement which sheltered them due to constant Luftwaffe bombardment danger. Seeing all these pain-ridden faces of young mothers...lying on the cold floor with no hope in their hearts...carryng their treasures - sweet newborns not aware of the drama all around...
The epilogue of the story is even more petryfying as 5 years later during the Warsaw Rising, Balbina Szymańska left her boys with her husband and went out to look for some food. When she got back, theire was no home. No kids. As one of the German bombs destroyed their appartment house. The boys were killed on their 5th birthday, 5 September 1944.
The next picture shows young Ryszard Pajewski. Only 9 at that time he had suddenly been made the family breadwinner. Just one picture out of 1,300,000 dramas of 1,300,000 inhabitants of Warsaw at that time.
Other Bryan's well known pictures are also worth paying attention to:
Author: Julien Bryan
Images source: Internet
For a detailed report of the besieged city, watch Julien Bryan's documentary:
Source: Youtube
In total, Warsaw was torn down to foundations in 84% by Germans during WWII. 60% of its inhabitants perished. Let us look the way the capital of Poland looked like before the turmoils of the war started...
Source: Youtube
Read more:
- https://poloniuszblog.wordpress.com/2016/04/17/poland-in-1939-and-in-1959-how-i-found-the-people-id-photographed-after-20-years/ accessed on 21 April 2018
- www.warsawrising.eu (For the full acount of WWII in Warsaw with detailed look at the Warsaw Rising of 1944)
- https://ipn.gov.pl/pl/publikacje/ksiazki/27493,Kolory-wojny-Oblezenie-Warszawy-w-barwnej-fotografii-Juliena-Bryana-The-Colors-o.html
Thursday 19 April 2018
Pacification of the Warsaw Ghetto
On 17th April 1943 German troops started the liquidation of the Jewish District of Warsaw, known as the Warsaw Ghetto. However, their plan to run it smoothly had to change as the SS units met resistance shown by a group of 1000-1500 insurgents who decided to die in an armed battle rather than being executed.
The Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto was the first organised armed resistance in urban environment on a 'mass' scale during World War II. Therefore, Warsaw is known all across the Globe as the city of two risings against Nazi German occupants: The Uprising in the Ghetto of 1943 and the Warsaw Rising of 1944.
In April 1943 about 60,000 Jews were still residing inside the ghetto, a small portion of 460,000 who were enclosed there since the closing of the gates of the ghetto in 1940. The majority had already been deported to the Treblinka death camp (mass deportations during Aktion Reinhard in summer 1942) or fallen victim to starvation or diseases.
As for the Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, according to Jurgen Stroop's report, 2054 german soldiers were involved in the operation (SS, Wehrmacht and Police) and "of the total of 56,065 Jews caught, about 7,000 were exterminated within the former Ghetto in the course of the large-scale action, and 6,929 by transporting them to Treblinka, which means 14,000 Jews were exterminated altogether. Beyond the number of 56,065 Jews an estimated number of 5,000 to 6,000 were killed by explosions or in fires. The number of destroyed dug-outs amounts to 631."
Stroop underlines in his report also measures taken to stop any help from the Aryan side: "during the large-scale operation the Aryan population was informed by posters that it was strictly forbidden to enter the former Jewish Ghetto and that anybody caught within the former Ghetto without valid pass would be shot. At the same time these posters informed the Aryan population again that the death penalty would be imposed on anybody who intentionally gave refuge to a Jew, especially lodged, supported, or concealed a Jew outside the Jewish residential area."
Two organisations are known as far as military resistance is concerned, namely Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ŻOB, Eng. Jewish Combat Organisation) with 600 fighters and Żydowski Związek Wojskowy (ŻWZ, Eng. Jewish Military Union) with 400 fighters. The Jewish leaders of the Uprising were Mordechaj Anielewicz, Marek Edelman, Paweł Frenkel, Eliezer Geller, Leon Rodal, Dawid Wdowiński.
Read more:
The book is an unbelieveable but true story of a Polish officer, Kazimierz Moczarski, who was imprisoned by Communist regime and kept in the same cell with Jorgen Stroop, the SS commander of the liquidation of the Ghetto in Warsaw.
The story tells us also a terrible truth about the stalinist era in after-war Poland, when Polish soldiers fighting the German regime during WWII were accused and persecuted in THE SAME WAY as the Germans who were the REAL CRIMINALS OF WAR.
The Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto was the first organised armed resistance in urban environment on a 'mass' scale during World War II. Therefore, Warsaw is known all across the Globe as the city of two risings against Nazi German occupants: The Uprising in the Ghetto of 1943 and the Warsaw Rising of 1944.
Image source: Internet
As for the Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto, according to Jurgen Stroop's report, 2054 german soldiers were involved in the operation (SS, Wehrmacht and Police) and "of the total of 56,065 Jews caught, about 7,000 were exterminated within the former Ghetto in the course of the large-scale action, and 6,929 by transporting them to Treblinka, which means 14,000 Jews were exterminated altogether. Beyond the number of 56,065 Jews an estimated number of 5,000 to 6,000 were killed by explosions or in fires. The number of destroyed dug-outs amounts to 631."
Jorgen Stroop. The posture tells the whole story...
Image source: Stroop's Report, May 1943.
Image: A stamp released for the 70th Anniversary
of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
Two organisations are known as far as military resistance is concerned, namely Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ŻOB, Eng. Jewish Combat Organisation) with 600 fighters and Żydowski Związek Wojskowy (ŻWZ, Eng. Jewish Military Union) with 400 fighters. The Jewish leaders of the Uprising were Mordechaj Anielewicz, Marek Edelman, Paweł Frenkel, Eliezer Geller, Leon Rodal, Dawid Wdowiński.
Jews expelled from their hide-outs/dug-outs.
Image source: Stroop report, May 1943
Read more:
- http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-stroop-report-may-1943 accessed on 19 April 2018
- Kazimierz Moczarski: "Conversations with an Executioner", 1981 ("Rozmowy z Katem", 1977)
The book is an unbelieveable but true story of a Polish officer, Kazimierz Moczarski, who was imprisoned by Communist regime and kept in the same cell with Jorgen Stroop, the SS commander of the liquidation of the Ghetto in Warsaw.
The story tells us also a terrible truth about the stalinist era in after-war Poland, when Polish soldiers fighting the German regime during WWII were accused and persecuted in THE SAME WAY as the Germans who were the REAL CRIMINALS OF WAR.
Sunday 15 April 2018
Gestapo Prison in the Lublin's Castle
The medieval castle of Lublin hides too many dreadful stories to be told just in a few paragraphs. However, do you know that it served as one of the heaviest prisons not only during German occupation of Poland but also right away after its end under the communist rule?
Let us analyse the statistics (Germans loved numbers during WWII, didn't they?):
In between 1939-1944:
40,000 prisoners
18,600 deported to concentration camps
3,600 killed in the camps
4,500 executed on the spot
2,200 killed in the course of interrogation process/in prison
10,000 released/escaped or sent free
4,700 no data available
Just to compare let us look at the statistics going back to the period when the Lublin's Castle was under Soviet governance. Soviets did not like to be worse...
In between 1944 - 1954:
33,000 prisoners
440 transports to other prisons
10,196 deported to other prisons in Poland
7,000 deported to Siberia (e.g. Borovitche and Svierdlovsk NKVD labour camps)
515 death sentences released (333 executed).
The Lublin Cactle prison had 73 cells which normally would welcome up to 12 prisoners. During the war more that 60 would be detained in each. Also the prisoners would be kept in a 19th century donjon which had walls 3 meter wide and the detention there was a 'real medieval experience'.
One of the cruellest 'episodes' in the history of the Castle came at the final days of the existence of the Gestapo prison there. On 19 July 800 prisoners were taken to KL Majdanek and executed there. Then on 22 July German SS units executed further 300 prisoners. They would have killed 1000 other prisoners too but an order to leave the city came and they were in desperate rush to leave the city as the Soviets were almost there.
There are many photographs which depict the tragedy of the period however let us spend a few moments pondering on the depth behind the one below showing a relative of the victims after the German execution of 22 July 1944.
Original footage showing the scenes of German barbarity upon the "glorious entrance" of the Soviets to Lublin may be viewed here:
Read more:
Let us analyse the statistics (Germans loved numbers during WWII, didn't they?):
In between 1939-1944:
40,000 prisoners
18,600 deported to concentration camps
3,600 killed in the camps
4,500 executed on the spot
2,200 killed in the course of interrogation process/in prison
10,000 released/escaped or sent free
4,700 no data available
Just to compare let us look at the statistics going back to the period when the Lublin's Castle was under Soviet governance. Soviets did not like to be worse...
In between 1944 - 1954:
33,000 prisoners
440 transports to other prisons
10,196 deported to other prisons in Poland
7,000 deported to Siberia (e.g. Borovitche and Svierdlovsk NKVD labour camps)
515 death sentences released (333 executed).
The Lublin Cactle prison had 73 cells which normally would welcome up to 12 prisoners. During the war more that 60 would be detained in each. Also the prisoners would be kept in a 19th century donjon which had walls 3 meter wide and the detention there was a 'real medieval experience'.
One of the cruellest 'episodes' in the history of the Castle came at the final days of the existence of the Gestapo prison there. On 19 July 800 prisoners were taken to KL Majdanek and executed there. Then on 22 July German SS units executed further 300 prisoners. They would have killed 1000 other prisoners too but an order to leave the city came and they were in desperate rush to leave the city as the Soviets were almost there.
There are many photographs which depict the tragedy of the period however let us spend a few moments pondering on the depth behind the one below showing a relative of the victims after the German execution of 22 July 1944.
Author: Stefan Kiełsznia, 1944
Images source: Internet
Original footage showing the scenes of German barbarity upon the "glorious entrance" of the Soviets to Lublin may be viewed here:
Clip source: Youtube
Read more:
- http://teatrnn.pl/about-us/tourism/
- http://www.projectinposterum.org/docs/chodakiewicz1.htm accessed on 15 April 2018
Saturday 14 April 2018
Former Gestapo Headquarters, Warsaw
Just within an eye range, two places on the map of Warsaw overlook each other. Still nowadays the two cause thrill on the back. Why? Millions of Poles suffered indirectly because of the men who resided in those buildings and more than dozens of thousands were imprisoned, interrogated, tortured and murdered there.
Former Gestapo Headquarters now housing in its ORIGINAL interiors the Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom at Szucha Avenue, 25, Warsaw is definitely a place one needs to visit. Looking at the "tramlines' where the detained waited for their interrogation, discerning names carved into the walls...still visible as witnesses of the horrifying German occupation of Poland during WWII.
The other building, at Ujazdowskie Avenue, 11 now housing the Ministry of Justice, hides in the basement a terrible testimony of the ruling period of communists in afterwar Poland. Since 1945 there used to be the Ministry of Public Security and the basement served as jail. Unfortunately, the detained were not criminals but soldiers who fought for Poland's independence when Poland was attacked in 1939 by Germans and Soviets, who continued their fight all through the WWII as welll as Warsaw insurgents and all those who did not accept that Soviet Union took over Poland in 1944.
The Museum "Cele Bezpieki" (Eng. Stalinist Jail) opened in March 2018 houses exhibition in ORIGINAL cells and interiors of the former jail which operated here after 1945 during Communist Rule in Poland after WWII. Peep into the cells, grab a torch and discern names, pictures, letters, inscriptions carved into the walls. So much suffering in one place...
Please watch a short clip which introduces us to the exposition:
https://www.facebook.com/celebezpieki/videos/468286023569505/
Images source: Internet
For a short video showing the exposition go here:
Read more:
Former Gestapo Headquarters now housing in its ORIGINAL interiors the Museum of Struggle and Martyrdom at Szucha Avenue, 25, Warsaw is definitely a place one needs to visit. Looking at the "tramlines' where the detained waited for their interrogation, discerning names carved into the walls...still visible as witnesses of the horrifying German occupation of Poland during WWII.
The other building, at Ujazdowskie Avenue, 11 now housing the Ministry of Justice, hides in the basement a terrible testimony of the ruling period of communists in afterwar Poland. Since 1945 there used to be the Ministry of Public Security and the basement served as jail. Unfortunately, the detained were not criminals but soldiers who fought for Poland's independence when Poland was attacked in 1939 by Germans and Soviets, who continued their fight all through the WWII as welll as Warsaw insurgents and all those who did not accept that Soviet Union took over Poland in 1944.
The Museum "Cele Bezpieki" (Eng. Stalinist Jail) opened in March 2018 houses exhibition in ORIGINAL cells and interiors of the former jail which operated here after 1945 during Communist Rule in Poland after WWII. Peep into the cells, grab a torch and discern names, pictures, letters, inscriptions carved into the walls. So much suffering in one place...
Please watch a short clip which introduces us to the exposition:
https://www.facebook.com/celebezpieki/videos/468286023569505/
For a short video showing the exposition go here:
Read more:
- http://www.projectinposterum.org/docs/chodakiewicz1.htm TRULY RECOMMENDED!
- https://www.facebook.com/celebezpieki/
- http://www.muzeum-niepodleglosci.pl/mauzoleum_szucha/
Monday 9 April 2018
Were killed because were Poles (3) - Hanna Petrynowska
Hanna Petrynowska (codename Rana), a medical doctor, was killed by SS soldiers who attacked a field hospital which was hidden in the building of PWPW (Polish Security Printing Works) on 28 August 1944. She is said to have disregarded SS order to finish surgery and was executed as a result together with her patients.
She was a sister of Jan Żabiński, who saved 300 Jews as the Director of Warsaw Zoo during German occupation of the capital of Poland. The story was filmed in 2017 in "Zookeeper's Wife' starring Jessica Chastain as Antonina Żabińska, Jan's wife.
Hanna's and Jan's biographies serve as a good example of the Polish response to the evil imposed by German occupants.
They were engaged, not idle in watching all those crimes commited by the German invaders. As for Hanna, she paid with her life for resisting the forces who aimed at the anihilation of Poland and its people during WWII.
Analysing her life it should be noted that Hanna Petrynowska became pediatrician in 1924 and in 1940 started her work as an in-house doctor in PWPW just right after the imprisonment of her husband who had held that function earlier on. Her husband, Marian Petrynowski was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp and never came back. She started to use codename "Rana" (Eng. wound) after Marian's death in KL Mauthausen.
She was decorated with V class Virtuti Militari Cross posthumously.
She was a sister of Jan Żabiński, who saved 300 Jews as the Director of Warsaw Zoo during German occupation of the capital of Poland. The story was filmed in 2017 in "Zookeeper's Wife' starring Jessica Chastain as Antonina Żabińska, Jan's wife.
Hanna's and Jan's biographies serve as a good example of the Polish response to the evil imposed by German occupants.
They were engaged, not idle in watching all those crimes commited by the German invaders. As for Hanna, she paid with her life for resisting the forces who aimed at the anihilation of Poland and its people during WWII.
Hanna Petrynowska
Image source: Internet
Analysing her life it should be noted that Hanna Petrynowska became pediatrician in 1924 and in 1940 started her work as an in-house doctor in PWPW just right after the imprisonment of her husband who had held that function earlier on. Her husband, Marian Petrynowski was sent to Mauthausen concentration camp and never came back. She started to use codename "Rana" (Eng. wound) after Marian's death in KL Mauthausen.
She was decorated with V class Virtuti Militari Cross posthumously.
Source: Youtube
Read more:
- https://www.pwpw.pl/en/Redoubt/Redoubt.html accessed on 9 April 2018
- https://sprawiedliwi.org.pl/en/stories-of-rescue/story-rescue-zabinski-family accessed on 9 April 2018
- http://lekarzepowstania.pl/osoba/hanna-zabinska-petrynowska/ accessed on 9 April 2018
Mass executions in Słona Góra
Forest gorges on the north slope of the Słona Góra near Piorkowice, Poręba Radlna and Łękawka witnessed three executions of Polish citizens. The executed were imprisoned in the Tarnów prison, only one of the victims was arrested by chance in Łękawka and also had to fall victim to German executioners.
About 70 persons were killed on 29 July, 24 December 1940 and 2 February 1944. Their personal belongings were burnt on the spot. The fact that they carried personal things proves that the victims were told that they are being transfered to a different place of 'detention'. The bodies were exhumed after the war and the official funeral was organised in 1959. Only 38 names of the executed were reestablished. In 1968 in Bochum, Germany, a trial of the executioners (SS officers) was held with three of them accused for the commited crime in Poręba Radlna.
About 70 persons were killed on 29 July, 24 December 1940 and 2 February 1944. Their personal belongings were burnt on the spot. The fact that they carried personal things proves that the victims were told that they are being transfered to a different place of 'detention'. The bodies were exhumed after the war and the official funeral was organised in 1959. Only 38 names of the executed were reestablished. In 1968 in Bochum, Germany, a trial of the executioners (SS officers) was held with three of them accused for the commited crime in Poręba Radlna.
Friday 30 March 2018
Were killed because were Poles (2) - Maximilian Kolbe
How many of us would be ready to sacrifice our life for an unknown person?
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die instead of another prisoner during their imprisonment in Auschwitz concentration camp. After one of the escapes from the camp, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, selected 10 prisoners to be starved to death. He thought this would discourage others to make any further attempts to escape in the future. One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out "My wife! My children!" and Father Kolbe decided to take his place so that he might have 'better' chances to be reunited with his closed ones. Gajowniczek did survive.
As for Father Kolbe he died after 2 weeks of starvation and dehydration receiving a lethal injection of carbonic acid on 14 August 1941. It is said that his remains were 'cremated' on 15 August which is celebrated by Christians as the Assumption of Mary.
Maximilian Kolbe was canonized as a saint by Pope John Paul II in 1982. His testimony and sacrifice are known all across the Globe.
Getting back to his life before his arrest one should note that he was the founder of the monastery in Niepokalanów near Warsaw which became the biggest congregation in the world having 700 friars before the outbreak of WWII. He was a missionary in Japan, China and India where his work is still recognised as pioneering in spreading catholic faith. Arrested for the first time in autumn 1939, released and imprisoned again in 1941, sent to Auschwitz where he received 16670 prisoner number. The story of his sacrifice was filmed by Krzysztof Zanussi in "Życie za życie" in 1991.
Father Kolbe used to say "The most deadly poison of our time is indifference."
Let us spend some time reflecting on this.
Read more:
Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar who volunteered to die instead of another prisoner during their imprisonment in Auschwitz concentration camp. After one of the escapes from the camp, SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, selected 10 prisoners to be starved to death. He thought this would discourage others to make any further attempts to escape in the future. One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out "My wife! My children!" and Father Kolbe decided to take his place so that he might have 'better' chances to be reunited with his closed ones. Gajowniczek did survive.
As for Father Kolbe he died after 2 weeks of starvation and dehydration receiving a lethal injection of carbonic acid on 14 August 1941. It is said that his remains were 'cremated' on 15 August which is celebrated by Christians as the Assumption of Mary.
Father Kolbe
Image source: Internet
Getting back to his life before his arrest one should note that he was the founder of the monastery in Niepokalanów near Warsaw which became the biggest congregation in the world having 700 friars before the outbreak of WWII. He was a missionary in Japan, China and India where his work is still recognised as pioneering in spreading catholic faith. Arrested for the first time in autumn 1939, released and imprisoned again in 1941, sent to Auschwitz where he received 16670 prisoner number. The story of his sacrifice was filmed by Krzysztof Zanussi in "Życie za życie" in 1991.
Father Kolbe used to say "The most deadly poison of our time is indifference."
Let us spend some time reflecting on this.
Source: Youtube
- http://www.azquotes.com/author/28180-Maximilian_Kolbe accessed on March 30, 2018
Thursday 29 March 2018
Were killed because were Poles (1) - Stefan Bryła
One of the most well-known photographs depicting the Warsaw Rising in 1944 shows the highest sky-skraper of the time - The Prudencial building being hit by German artillery's Karl-Geraet 2- ton missile. There are so many stories hidden behind the picture...
Let us plunge into those times and start with the story of the architect of the building Stefan Bryła. He planned such a great steel construction for Prudential that heavy bombardments and the fact that it was struck by a 2-ton missile did not destroy the building. Bryła (born in 1886) was a professor at the Polish universities in Lwów and Warsaw. He continued his work in conspiracy teaching future adepts of architecture during WWII, which led to his imprisonment and execution. As he was a pioneer in welding steel structures technology (the constructor of the very first road welded bridge in the world), Germans counted on him being 'useful' to the them. However he prefered to be executed rather than serve the Third Reich. He was one of the victims of the mass public executions in the streets of Warsaw which were held during German occupation of the city during WWII (executed on 3 december 1943).
Prudential Building, 28 August 1944, photo by Sylwester Braun "Kris"
Let us plunge into those times and start with the story of the architect of the building Stefan Bryła. He planned such a great steel construction for Prudential that heavy bombardments and the fact that it was struck by a 2-ton missile did not destroy the building. Bryła (born in 1886) was a professor at the Polish universities in Lwów and Warsaw. He continued his work in conspiracy teaching future adepts of architecture during WWII, which led to his imprisonment and execution. As he was a pioneer in welding steel structures technology (the constructor of the very first road welded bridge in the world), Germans counted on him being 'useful' to the them. However he prefered to be executed rather than serve the Third Reich. He was one of the victims of the mass public executions in the streets of Warsaw which were held during German occupation of the city during WWII (executed on 3 december 1943).
Stefan Bryła
Images source: Internet
As for the Warsaw Rising, the Prudential Building was taken over Polish insurgents on the very first day of the Rising i.e. 1 August 1944. Polish white and red national flag was placed on the top. Ahead of two months of heavy fighting, terrible bombardments and German war crimes on civilians.
For more information on Warsaw Rising visit www.warsawrising.eu and the Warsaw Rising Museum: www.1944.pl/en/
Mass executions in Kumowa Dolina
On 3 and 4 July 1940 Germans executed 115 Poles who were captured in Chełm, Krasnystaw and Zamość districts respectively. Mainly politicians, local council representatives, landlors, teachers and intelligentsia members were the victims. As for Krasnystaw, Gestapo arrested chosen Poles on 5 June 1940. Oberscharführer-SS Hugo Raschendorfer was the head of the detention operation. The arrested were taken to Chełm's prison where they were isolated and no packages were allowed. On 3 and 4 July 1940 prisoners were brought to Kumowa Dolina (Kumowa Valley) where they were shot, their bodies covered with sand. Those who were not dead were burnt alive when the German perpetrators came back to better cover their crime.
Kumowa Dolina witnessed other executions in 1944 too as the area with sand pits seemed perfect to organise any mass executions still during the course of WWII.
Image source: Internet
Kumowa Dolina witnessed other executions in 1944 too as the area with sand pits seemed perfect to organise any mass executions still during the course of WWII.
Wednesday 28 March 2018
Paterek 1939
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| Paterek |
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| Paterek |
In October 1939 Selbstschutz started the extermination of “the Polish leadership layer" in the area of the Wyrzysk district. Germans chose a valley in the former gravel pit by a dirt road in Paterek, 5 kilometres from Nakło to be the place of mass executions. The choice of site was determined by its convenience for the executioners: there were excavations, holes left after the digged out sand where it was easy to bury the bodies of the killed. Murders in Paterek started on the 4th of October and lasted till the 24th of November. Death sentences were approved by a self-appointed commission of Nakło Selbstschutz members - Rudolf Öhlmann (manager of the sugar factory), Otto Lahmann (master carpenter), brothers Johann and Kurt Fritz (merchant and entrepreneur), carpenter Finke and clerk Prahl. Convicts with hands tied at the back were brought by cars to the place of execution and next they were shot by a firing squad (mostly at night). This way over 200 Poles and Jews died in Paterek. They were buried in 13 mass graves. The biggest numbers of victims were killed in the executions of 28th and 31st of October and 1st and 11th of November (in the last execution Germans killed the majority of over a 100 people arrested the previous night during a large "cleansing action" in Nakło). Paterek appears to be the biggest place ( beside the area of Łobżenica) of torment of the Polish population in the Wyrzysk district.
The most information preserved was about the execution of clergymen of Górka Klasztorna. The execution took place at night of 11th to 12th of November 1939. 48 priests and monks were murdered (including two nuns from the Order of Sisters Servants). The wounded were brutally put to death, e.g. with blows of a shovel. After the completed execution the executioners were ordered to go home one by one, so that the locals did not notice that some return from an action took place. The execution was personally conducted by Harry Schulz.
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Monday 26 March 2018
Barbarka mass executions near Toruń
Do you like watching horror films and seeing soil moving because of unknown something or someone buried below? Reflect on this...
In 1939 such horror scenes were real life experience for many Poles. Usually women and kids would walk in the forest gathering brushwood and while kneeling on the soil they might have felt the soil trembling. It was not any earthquake.
Mass burial pits were covered with soil but corpses produced gases which made the soil covering them move. That is what was observed in Barbarka Forest by many witnesses. Kids who would gather brushwood. Unaware of what happened on the spot some days earlier.
The truth may never be hidden. It will always be revealed. It just takes time.
Mass executions in Barbarka Forest near Toruń were conducted by local German occupants in autumn 1939. They were kept in secret by Germans, not informing the victims' relatives what happed to their closed ones. In between 600 to 1000 Poles are reported to have been executed due to Intelligenzaktion policy which aimed at the annihilation of the Polish elite once Germans took over Poland in autumn 1939.
The executed were captured and imprisoned in Fort IV Thorn (in Toruń). Lots of them were representatives of local elite (teachers, doctors, lawyers, public functionaries).
Those responsible for the crime, local Selbstschutz members and German authorities of the time located in Toruń were never punished for the executions held in October and November 1939.
For the list of the victims go here (link).
In 1939 such horror scenes were real life experience for many Poles. Usually women and kids would walk in the forest gathering brushwood and while kneeling on the soil they might have felt the soil trembling. It was not any earthquake.
Mass burial pits were covered with soil but corpses produced gases which made the soil covering them move. That is what was observed in Barbarka Forest by many witnesses. Kids who would gather brushwood. Unaware of what happened on the spot some days earlier.
Image source: Internet
The truth may never be hidden. It will always be revealed. It just takes time.
Mass executions in Barbarka Forest near Toruń were conducted by local German occupants in autumn 1939. They were kept in secret by Germans, not informing the victims' relatives what happed to their closed ones. In between 600 to 1000 Poles are reported to have been executed due to Intelligenzaktion policy which aimed at the annihilation of the Polish elite once Germans took over Poland in autumn 1939.
The executed were captured and imprisoned in Fort IV Thorn (in Toruń). Lots of them were representatives of local elite (teachers, doctors, lawyers, public functionaries).
Those responsible for the crime, local Selbstschutz members and German authorities of the time located in Toruń were never punished for the executions held in October and November 1939.
For the list of the victims go here (link).
Image source: Internet
Read more:- http://www.turystyka.torun.pl/art/1158/miejsce-pamieci-narodowej-barbarka.html accessed on 26 March 2018
Field hospital annihilation in Jasieniec near Rybno
On 13 September 1939 German tanks destroyed a field hospital located in a barn where 50 wounded Polish soldiers were being treated. The crime took place in Jasieniec near Rybno. Reports say that 16 German tanks encircled a barn which had Red Cross flags on. First incendiary projectiles were fired and then tanks destroyed the barn killing all people gathered inside. Only 4 people are reported to have been saved. Among them, Tadeusz Starzyński, one of the survivors, was 15 at that time.
Read more:
Read more:
- http://www.cenaprawdy.net/index.php/historia/6526-niemieckie-stodoly-smierci-sladem-zbrodni accessed on 26 March 2018
Mass executions in Rudzki Most near Tuchola
Mass executions in Rudzki Most near Tuchola took place in autumn 1939 and were conducted by SS units acompanied by Selbstschutz members. Most of the victims who were Poles were killed in between 24 October to 10 November 1939.
The crime was a consequence of a provocation. On 21 October 1939 some household buildings belonging to Hugo Fritz in Piastoszyn got burnt and the German authorities were "convinced" it was due to an arson. Although it was known that Fritz himself was responsible for that as he left a cigar in his barn which resulted in a fire, German authorities ordered that 'every day 40 Poles would be shot unless the perpetrators are found'. Victims were asked to dig burial pits before they got executed.
A trial of some of the Selbstschutz members from Sepólno Krajeńskie and Tuchola was held in Mannheim in between 1 February and 12 April 1965.
The crime was a consequence of a provocation. On 21 October 1939 some household buildings belonging to Hugo Fritz in Piastoszyn got burnt and the German authorities were "convinced" it was due to an arson. Although it was known that Fritz himself was responsible for that as he left a cigar in his barn which resulted in a fire, German authorities ordered that 'every day 40 Poles would be shot unless the perpetrators are found'. Victims were asked to dig burial pits before they got executed.
A trial of some of the Selbstschutz members from Sepólno Krajeńskie and Tuchola was held in Mannheim in between 1 February and 12 April 1965.
Image source: Internet
Wednesday 21 March 2018
Sanatorium of death in Lubliniec
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| Lubliniec |
On 17th September 1939 German authorities appointed Dr Ernest Buchalik the administrator of Lubiniec hospital. A doctor from the local Toszek, since 1933 a member of NSDAP he was notorious for his hostility to the Polish population. Like other mental hospitals, the Lubliniec outpost, which then changed its name into Landes-Heil-und Pflegeanstalt Lublinitz, started to take transports of children as early as September 1941, mainly from Silesia, the Basin and Saksonia. These children were handed over by German courts and NSV (Nationalsozialistische Volkswohlfahrt - National Socialist Folk Social Welfare). Every time the children were told, that they were going to a sanatorium, while, in fact, it was a "sanatorium of death". In the mid-year 1942 Jugendpsychiatrische of Loben Clinics - Children's Psychiatric Clinics - was organised. At first children were placed in ward "A", situated in the rooms of the oblates' monastery, which was superintended by Dr Elisabeth Hecker, and in the former farm building (ward "B"), headed by Dr E. Buchalik. Later ward "A" was in the castle, next to the women's ward. "A" was an observation ward. There children were diagnosed and sorted, and their fate depended on E. Hecker. Children, who were diagnosed by E. Hecker as minimally handicapped, or too difficult from the educational point of view, were referred to special young offenders' institutions. The other children, with inborn or acquired physical disabilities and mental illnesses, were transferred to "B" ward, where they were put to death. Medical documentation was forged in order to cover up the traces, various false causes of death were given, like e.g.: pneumonia, influenza, cardiovascular diseases. By the orders of E. Buchalik children were killed with the increased dose of Luminal or diethylbarbituric acid.
All children after receiving Luminal vomited, some seemingly got used to it, sometimes they staggered, felt dizzy , however they ate well, ran, played. Others reacted more strongly, were constantly in half-sleep, lay limply. After a certain time they started having a high fever, stopped eating, wheezed and foam which was sometimes bloody came from their mouths, and in the end they died . According to the statistical data, till November 1944, barbiturates were given to 235 children in ward 'B", which caused the death of 221 children.
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Mass executions in Białochów
In autumn 1939 right after German invasion onto Polish territory, paramillitary Selbstschutz units executed in Białochów Marshes about 200 civilians, inhabitants of the Grudziądz poviat (district).
The operation is one of the examples of Intelligenzaktion, the extermination operation aiming at the annihilation of the Polish elite by German invaders during WWII.
Most of the victims were farmers from Białochów, Nowa Wieś, Rogoźno, Dusocin, Lisie Kąty, Dąbrówka Królewska, Mokre, Leśniewo and Owczarki villages. Among the executeed were rev. Franciszek Kędzierski, capitain Marian Bardowski, Stanisław Kamiński, Helena Biedzińska and Pelagia Bieniak.
Tuesday 20 March 2018
KL Mauthausen/KL Gusen prisoners
In between 1938-1945 KL Mauthausen/KL Gusen imprisoned 190,000 people from over 40 countries. 90,000 did not survive conditions of hard labour and imprisonment.
51,886 Poles were prisoners of the KL Mauthausen/KL Gusen camps.
25,308 of them perished.
25,308 of them perished.
The chart below presents percentage of different nationalities as for the prisoners of KL Mauthausen/KL Gusen.
The video below shows countries from which people where being deported to KL Mauthausen and KL Gusen during World War II.
Source: Internet, https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/de
Worth watching to realise terrible Nazi German politics!
Source: Internet, https://www.mauthausen-memorial.org/de
Intelligenzaktion - Extermination of the Polish elite
Hitler's plan to annihilate Polish nation was started by operations within the scope of Intelligenzaktion which aimed at the extermination of Polish elite members (teachers, academics, doctors, lawyers, priests, clerks, public functionaries etc.).
The operation was launched right after German troops took over Poland in September 1939 and continued till 1943.
It is estimated that 100,000 Poles were victims to the German "purification" policy with 50,000 executed on the spot and further 50,000 sent to concentration camps.
Please note chosen statistics as for the numbers of the executed as for different areas of occupied Polish territory:
Read more:
It is estimated that 100,000 Poles were victims to the German "purification" policy with 50,000 executed on the spot and further 50,000 sent to concentration camps.
Please note chosen statistics as for the numbers of the executed as for different areas of occupied Polish territory:
- Pomerania (Northern Poland) - 30,000 killed
- Greater Poland (Wielkopolska, Western Poland) - 2,000 killed
- Mazovia District - 6,700 killed
- Silesia - 2,000 killed
- Łódź area - 1,500 killed
- AB Aktion (Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion) with Cracow as one of the main 'targets' - 3,500 killed.
Read more:
- http://www.berlin-1945.com/horrors-of-war/german-ab-aktion-in-poland/ accessed on 15 March 2018
Mass murder in Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka
On 6 December 1942 Germans murdered 31 Poles who were hiding Jews in their households in the villages of Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka. The action was one of the elements of a wider repressive operation aiming at discouraging Poles to provide any help to Jews.
Although it was punishable with death, many Poles continued to risk their lives in helping their Jewish friends and neighbours or any unknown Jews, no matter what 'measures' were taken by the German occupant to make it impossible. Further reading as for the Righteous among the Nations is recommended.
In Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka mainly Kowalski, Kosior, Obuchiewicz and Skoczylas families were affected with Kowalski family loosing all family members but one. The son - Jan was the only survivor.
A 20 man German unit appeared in Stary Ciepielów early in the morning of 6 December 1942. Houses of Kowalski, Obuchiewicz and Kosior families were encircled. Inside women and kids aged 7 months to 18 years old as well as men adults were captured. Two Jewish men were found together with books in Hebrew and Yiddish which testified that they must have been residing in the place.
As for the murder, the Kosior family together with the captured Jews was executed and burnt in a nearby barn. The other detainees were also gathered in one of the houses, shot and burnt as Germans set fire to the building in which they were kept. There are reports that some of the kids survived and attempted to escape but got caught a few hundred meters from the scene and were executed anyway. Some stories say that the youngest kids were not killed and the mercy of the German opressors let them die in the flames.
A film based on the events in Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka was produced in 2009 and is entitled "Rodzina Kowalskich" (Eng. The Story of the Kowalski family). Below a link to the film which may be watched on Youtube.
Read more:
A film based on the events in Stary Ciepielów and Rekówka was produced in 2009 and is entitled "Rodzina Kowalskich" (Eng. The Story of the Kowalski family). Below a link to the film which may be watched on Youtube.
Truly recommended!
Source: Youtube.com
Read more:
- Władysław Bartoszewski, Zofia Lewinówna: Ten jest z ojczyzny mojej. Polacy z pomocą Żydom 1939–1945. Warszawa: Świat Książki, 2007. ISBN 978-83-247-0715-7.
- Szymon Datner: Las sprawiedliwych. Karta z dziejów ratownictwa Żydów w okupowanej Polsce. Warszawa: Książka i Wiedza, 1968.
Executions in the Kruk Forest near Skrzyszów
In between 1941-1942 Gestapo, SS and Hitler's police functionaries executed on the slopes of St. Martin Mountain (Góra Św. Marcina) in the Kruk Forest near Skrzyszów 400 prisoners transported from Tarnów prison. Corpses remained in mass graves. On 2 October 1945 5 of such mass execution pits were unveiled. It is said that on this place residents of Kraków, Tarnów, Częstochowa, Bydgoszcz, Lichwin and Borzęcin were killed.
Image source: Internet
Thursday 15 March 2018
Bloody Christmas Eve in Ochotnica Dolna
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| Ochotnica Dolna |
Bloody Christmas Eve in Ochotnica Dolna – the symbolic name given to the pacification of the village Ochotnica Dolna (Nowy Targ County), conducted by the German occupiers in the last months of World War II. On the 23rd December 1944 an SS unit murdered 56 residents of Ochotnica, and partially burned the village. The name of the Bloody Christmas Eve refers to the Eve of Christmas, which in 1944 was celebrated on Saturday, December 23rd. On December 22nd, 1944 Germans came to Ochotnica Dolna to rob the village as part of the so-called provisioning action. Despite the protest of the local people a group of Soviet partisans attacked the German soldiers, killing two of them, including the non-com officer, SS-Unterscharführer Bruno Koch.
Next day about 200 SS-men came in six cars from Krościenko. The Germans intruded into the homes, demanding money first, and then murdering people. Kids were thrown alive into the fire or brutally murdered. The crime in Ochotnica Dolna, on December 23rd was committed by criminal company SS. This unit consisted of troops of different nationalities. The majority were storm troopers from 3. SS Division Totenkopf and 4. SS Panzergrenadier Division Polizei, volksdeutsche from Poland, Russia and Ukraine. On 23rd December 1944, 56 people were killed, including 19 children and 21 women. During over two hours almost all the members of Chlipała, Rusnak, Brzeźny, Karczewski families were killed. The fire-station, the folk house and 32 farms were burned.
The pacification of Ochotnica was one of the bloodiest German repressive actions in the Podhale region.
The monument in Ochotnica Dolna presents twenty years old Maria Kawalec, who cradles a little child to her breast. After her husband was shot, Maria jumped out of the window with her son in her hands. The first bullet shot the child in the forehead , another went through the shoulder blade and the jaw of the mother, who squatted under a willow, and she did not release the child from her hands, and froze in this position.
The pacification of Ochotnica was one of the bloodiest German repressive actions in the Podhale region.
The monument in Ochotnica Dolna presents twenty years old Maria Kawalec, who cradles a little child to her breast. After her husband was shot, Maria jumped out of the window with her son in her hands. The first bullet shot the child in the forehead , another went through the shoulder blade and the jaw of the mother, who squatted under a willow, and she did not release the child from her hands, and froze in this position.
Wednesday 14 March 2018
Massacre of Lwów Academics
The city of Lwów (today's Lviv, Ukraine) was a scenery to
hundreds if not thousands acts of ‘modern’ barbarity by the hands of Germans as
well as Soviets during WWII. In July 1941, 25 Polish professors along with
their family members were executed by Nazi German authorities. This was another
example of elimination of Polish elite members in un unfinished row of
Intelligenzaktion in the course of WWII.
Why Germans wanted to eliminate such people first wherever
their troops appeared since 1 September 1939 on the territory of Poland?
Nazi
Germans had thought that the elimination of the higher strata of Polish society
i.e. people who were well educated, who knew how to differentiate between the Good
and the Evil and were simply of high moral standards, would have guaranteed them
‘the rule of law’ uninterrupted by acts of sabotage, diversion or existence of
any resistance. They were wrong as the Polish people, whatever their education,
knew that there was no way for collaboration, no way for servile behaviour
towards the occupant.
Images source: Internet
SS-Brigadeführer Karl Eberhard Schöngarth, responsible for the detention and deportation of Cracow univercity’s professors (Sonderaktion Krakau), showed up in Lwów to carry on the project of elimination of Polish elite members. His ‘excellent’ experience in this field proved very helpful in Lwów. Th executions were carried out under his command by an Einsatzgruppe unit (Einsatzkommando zur besonderen Verwendung).
It is also confirmed that the executions were assisted by Ukrainians wearing German uniforms. (Further reading on Ukrainians during WWII and their aspirations to have an independent state under Soviet and German rule: K. Lanckorońska „Those who trespass against us. One woman’s war against the Nazis”, published in London).
The list below comprises the names of the captured academics
and their relatives executed in July 1941:
„Prof. Dr Antoni Cieszynski, age 59 Chairman of Stomatology,
UJK
Prof. Dr Wladyslaw Dobrzaniecki, age 44, head of Surgery,
PSP
Prof. Dr Jan Grek, age 66, , Chairman of. Internal Diseases,
UJK
Maria Grekowa, age 57, wife of prof. Grek
Doc. Dr Jerzy Grzedzielski, age 40, Chairman of Ophtalmology
UJK
Prof. Dr Edward Hamerski, age 43, Chairman of Internal
Diseases, AWL
Prof. Dr Henryk Hilarowicz, age 51, Chairman of Surgery, UJK
Priest Dr teol. Wladyslaw Komornicki, age 29, relative of
Mrs Ostrowska
Eugeniusz Kostecki, age 36, husband of prof. Dobrzaniecki's
housekeeper
Prof. Dr Wlodzimierz Krukowski, age 53, Chairman of
Electrical Measurements, PL
Prof. Dr Roman Longchamps de Berier., age 59 Chairman of
Civil Law, UJK
Bronislaw Longchamps de Berier, age 25, PL-graduate, son of
professor
Zygmunt Longchamps de Berier, age 23, PL-graduate, son of
professor
Kazimierz Longchamps de Berier, age 18, Secondary
school-graduate, son of professor
Prof. Dr Antoni Lomnicki, age 60, Chairman of Mathematics,
PL
Adam Miesowicz, age 19, Highschool graduate, grandson of
professor Solowij
Prof. Dr Witold Nowicki, age 63, Chairman of Pathological
Anatomy, UJK
Dr med. Jerzy Nowicki, age 27 , senior assistant of the
Chair Hygiene, UJK, son of professor
Prof. Dr Tadeusz Ostrowski, age 60, Chairman of Surgery ,
UJK
Jadwiga Ostrowska, age 59, wife of prof. Ostrowski
Prof. Dr Stanislaw Pilat, age 60, Chairman of Petrol and
Earth-Gas Technology ,PL
Prof. Dr Stanislaw Progulski, age 67, Chairman of Pediatrics
UJK
Ing. Andrzej Progulski, age 29, son of professor
Prof. Dr Roman Rencki, age 67, Chairman of Internal
Diseases, UJK
Dr med. Stanislaw Ruff, age 69, , Chairman of Surgery,
Jewish Hospital taken from prof. Ostrowski's flat with his family
Anna Ruffowa, age 55, wife of dr Ruff
Ing. Adam Ruff, age 30, son of dr Ruff
Prof. Dr Wlodzimierz Sieradzki, age 70, Chairman of Forensic
Medicine, UJK
Prof. Dr Adam Solowij, age 82, ret, Chairman of Obsterics
and Gynaecology, PSP
Prof. Dr Wlodzimierz Stozek, age 57, , Chairman of
Mathematics PL
Ing. Eustachy Stozek, age 29, ass. PL, son of professor
Emanuel Stozek, age 24, PL-graduate, son of professor
Dr iur. Tadeusz Tapkowski, age 44, taken from professor
Dobrzaniecki's flat
Prof. Dr Kazimierz Vetulani, age 52, Chairman of Theoretical
Mechanics PL
Prof. Dr Kasper Weigel, age 61, , Chairman of Measurements
PL
Mgr iur. Jozef Weigel, age 33, son of professor
Prof. Dr Roman Witkiewicz, age 61, Chairman of Mechanical
Measurements PL
Prof. Dr Tadeusz Boy-Zelenski, age 66, writer, Chairman of
French Literature at the University, arrested in prof. Grek's flat
Katarzyna Demko, age 34, teacher of English, taken from
apartment of Prof. Ostrowski
Doc. Dr Stanislaw Maczewski, age 49, Chairman of Obsterics
and Gynaecology, PSP
Maria Reymanowa, age 40, nurse taken from apartment of Prof.
Ostrowski
Wolisch, age 40-45, businessman taken from prof. Sieradzki's
flat
Prof. Dr Henryk Korowicz, age 53, Chairman of Economics, AHZ
Prof. Dr Stanislaw Ruziewicz, age 53, Chairman of
Mathematics, AHZ
Prof. Dr Kazimierz Bartel, age 59, Chairman of Design
Geometry, PL, former prime minister of Polish Republic (three terms of office),
who has been arrested already on 2nd July 1941.
The acronyms for Univercities are:
AHZ, Akademia Handlu Zagranicznego (Academy of Foreign
Trade);
AWL, Akademia Weterynaryjna we Lwowie (Academy of Veterinary
Sciences in Lwow);
PL, Politechnika Lwowska (Lwow Institute of Technology) ;
PSP, ;
UJK, Uniwersytet Jana Kazimierza (The University of the King
Jan Kazimierz)”. (1).
Read more:
- K. Lanckorońska „Those who trespass against us. One woman’s war against the Nazis”, published in London.
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