
APOCALYPS TIME
THE KAPE OF LEVEL PROFESORS IN LIPCU 1941
In the 3rd year of planet War II Nazi Germans decided to hit the russian Union. They prepared very carefully, both militarily and politically. On the occasion of the demolition of the ideologically hostile states, Germans not only deal with Jews and russian leaders, but besides with Polish intelligence, residing east of Sanu. This was not about putting these layers of nations distant from prisons or concentration camps, but about physical destruction, about liquidation, as the Germans themselves utilized to call it.
Let's hear what politician General Hans Frank said about Kraków professors arrested in 1939: “It is impossible to describe how many problems we had with Kraków professors. If we had done this on the spot, it would have been rather different. So I would urge you, gentlemen, not to send anyone else to the concentration camps in the Reich, but to proceed with the liquidation on the place or to lay down a lawful penalty. Any another course of action is simply a burden for the Reich and an additional obstacle for us. We usage rather different methods here and we gotta proceed utilizing them"1.
This speech was given by Frank to representatives of the SS and police on 30 V 1940, but it was not even given to the general Germans. Poles learned about this sinister threat only after the war, but they felt it on their own body earlier, after the beginning of the war in September 1939, as the demolition of the intelligence and even the Polish leadership layers was decided before the war. The British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe quoted Himmler's speech to the SS-Leibstandarte division officers in 1941 on 29 August 1946 during the 214th day of the Nuremberg hearing: “Very frequently the members of the Waffen SS reflect on the deportation that takes place here. And it occurred to me erstwhile I was looking at the hard work of the safety police there with our people. It was precisely the same in Poland during the 40-degree frost, erstwhile we had to drive thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people, erstwhile we had to have adequate ruthlessness in ourselves to shoot thousands of leading figures among Poles, as you should hear, but forget immediately."
For these purposes, Heinrich Himmler, the Reich Minister, the chief commander of the Nazi police and at the same time the commander of the notorious SS-Security Staff (Schutz-Staffeln), formed peculiar troops of Einsatzkommand. These units under the command of advanced SS officers and police were to follow the army, enter with ready-made proscription letters into captured cities, immediately arrest prominent persons and shoot them. Hitler and Himmler observed that the activities of these peculiar troops were not subject to the control of either the prosecutors or the courts, and any effort to mix these instances into the activities of the troops would be dulled.
Lviv was occupied by the German army on 30 June 1941, warmly welcomed by part of Ukrainians. Immediately many groups of Ukrainian youth with yellow-blue armbands or bows of these colours in the navy flap appeared on the streets of Lviv. These young people dragged out judaic homes, making them clean glass from broken windows with their bare hands, densely enclosing streets. The following day respective Einsatzkommando entered the cities, among them 1 under SS-Brigadenführer Dr Eberhard Schoengarth. This man in the rank of general was already well known to Poles in General Guberní. It was his ward at Himmler's orders that he arrested Kraków professors on 6 XI 1939 and sent them back to concentration camps. Many of them died in the camp or shortly after being released. Schoengartha Group began its operation in Lviv the next day after entering, primarily arresting Jews. On 2 July before noon, she imprisoned B. Prime Minister of the Government of the Republic, 59-year-old prof. of Polytechnic, Kazimierz Bartl. The professor's wife and daughter were immediately thrown out of the apartment, allowing only individual items to be taken. The prof. was placed in the erstwhile plant management building at Pełczyńska Street, where he was at the time the office of the Schoengartha Group Command.
None of the Poles realized that the arrest of Prof. Bartl was just an introduction to the tragedy that took place the following day. At night from 3 to 4 July 1941, respective branches of SS members, police and field gendarmerie under the command of SS officers ran around the city and conducted arrests of university professors in Lviv. In addition to the professors, everyone present in the flat was taken from men over the age of 18. In general, there was a rush to dress rapidly (some professors had already slept), a superficial revision was usually carried out, while robbing gold, mottos, another valuables, and in 1 case a typewriter. The commanders of the individual groups conducting arrests knew well what destiny awaited the professors and their sons. Prof. Cieszynski's son, although he was 20, was not taken with his father. Apparently, something moved in the officer's heart and he took pity on his mother. It was the only accident not to take a man over 18. Police Commissioner Kurt, arresting Prof. Sorowiev, questioned his daughter, Mr. Meatowicz, whether he had another children too Adam, who was 19 years old. Not knowing what the officer was up to, she said she had a daughter. She answered yes to the next question if she could see her. This was most likely the eventual reason her boy was taken with his 82-year-old grandfather. These 2 accidents show that arresting officers taking their fathers may have left their sons alive, but the only exception only confirmed the regulation of Nazi cruelty.
The head of the Department of Pathological Anatomy, 63-year-old Prof. Witold Nowicki, was arrested with 29-year-old boy Jerzy, doctor of medicine, elder assistant of the Department of Hygiene. Jerzy was taken prisoner in September 1939 and was released in the spring of 1941 thanks to his father's strenuous efforts, but was murdered with his father by the Nazis after six months. The pediatrician, 67-year-old Prof. Stanisław Progulski, was taken with his son, 29-year-old engineer Andrzej. Fortunately, the second adult boy was not home at the time, so he survived the massacre.
Along with 70-year-old prof. of Judicial medicine Vladimir Sieradzki, his roommate Wolisch was arrested, and with 44-year-old prof. of Surgery Władysław Dobrzanecki his peer, friend, lawyer of rights Tadeusz Tapkowski and husband housewife of Eugeniusz Kostecki's house. The Gestapo asked Kostecki if he belonged to the service, and erstwhile he denied, they took him.
The assault on the home of the internist Prof. Jan Grek besides led to the imprisonment of a well-known critic and translator of masterpieces of French literature, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, who escaped from the Germans from Warsaw in September 1939 and took refuge at his brother-in-law, as both married Sisters Maria and Parish Sophia, immortalized by Wyspiański in Wedding. Greek and Boy-Żeleński were at the time of their death after 66 years.
In the home of a 60-year-old surgeon, prof. Tadeusz Ostrowski, the Einsatzkommand branch was replaced by more people. His friend, Rydygier's student, 69-year-old surgeon Stanislaw Ruff with his wife Anna and 30-year-old boy engineer Adam, caregiver and social individual Maria Reymanova, English teacher Catherine Demko and 29-year-old priest, Dr. theology Władysław Komornicki, whose brother was married to 1 of Mrs. Ostrowska's daughters from the first marriage. All men were abducted.
In Greek and Ostrowski's homes, it did not end with taking men. After 2 hours, they returned the bearers of death again, and among even greater haste they took all the women, including the ministry. There is no uncertainty that the intent of murdering the owners and fellow residents of these 2 homes was to rob. Both apartments were very wealthy, full of antiques, valuable carpets, paintings. The Nazis may well have guessed that there would besides be large value to jewels and gold. Considering the mixing of Ostrowskis as safe, they gave the aristocratic families of Baden and Jabłonowski to store their most precious things, so it is no wonder that the Nazis decided to plunder all of this. Dutch Pieter Nikolaas Menten could have participated in this, who, having bought property in Poland after the First planet War, knew well the relations of Lviv and, being in wealthy homes, including professors, knew which houses were peculiarly wealthy. The fact is that this man, in the SS formation uniform, obtained from the Gestapo a certificate of death of the Ostrovski State, so that he could buy their flat and possibly the Greeks' flat for nothing. Whether he was already in Lviv at the time of the arrest of professors, or if he was even 1 of the arresters, the Dutch court failed to prove it. In contrast, he was proven in the Amsterdam court to execution the Gestapo of a large group of Poles and Jews — their neighbors in his property of Urycz and Podhorodce. It was individual revenge on his part, coupled with the massacre of the Jews. This proves that this man would not hesitate to execution the professors to take their fortune.
On that memorable night, gynecology was arrested, 49-year-old Stanisław Mączewski and 40-year-old prof. of ophthalmics Jerzy Grzędzielski. The second was taken in place of his late boss, Prof. Adam Bednarski. erstwhile the Nazis entered the widow's flat and she declared her husband dead, she was asked who was the successor. According to the fact and not knowing anything, she gave Bednarska the name of Grzędowski. The Gestapo went immediately to his flat and imprisoned him.
Prof. Roman Rencki, a 74-year-old internist, left 3 days ago from prison and now fell into the clutches of the Gestapo; 51-year-old surgeon Prof. Henryk Hilarowicz was besides attached to the group of arrested. He was the 3rd prominent surgeon imprisoned that night.
Next to the Medical Department, who lost 12 professors and professors 1 night, The university lost them together with prof. Bartlem eight. Head of the Department of Mathematics 57-year-old Włodzimierz Kożek was arrested with 2 sons: 29-year-old engineer Eustach and 24-year-old postgraduate of Emanuel University of Technology. The head of the 61-year-old Department of measurement prof. Kaspra Weigl was taken along with 33-year-old son, the fog of rights Joseph. Arrested 52-year-old head of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics Prof. Kazimierz Vetulani lived alone, and only neighbour Lidia Szargulova saw the whistle-blowers bring the Gestapo up the stairs to the car.
The same destiny was met by 55-year-old head of the Engineering measurement Department Prof. Roman Witkiewicz. Together with him, he was taken distant by his roommate, the superintendent, Joseph Wojtyna. That night another squad arrested his wife's brother Prof. Witkiewicz, and this is the 43-year-old head of the Department of Diseases of Infectious Animals of the tiny Academy of Veterinary Medicine, prof. Edward Hamerski.
Among the remaining imprisoned members of the University of Technology was the 60-year-old head of the Department of Oil Technology and Earth Gas Prof. Stanisław Pilat. The German authorities sought this outstanding expert in this discipline a fewer days after his death, desiring to usage his large knowledge. besides late. The victim of the Gestapo was besides the 53-year-old head of the Department of Electrical Measurements and the head of the Electrotechnical Laboratory, prof. Włodzimierz Krukowski. The last of the 8 arrested university professors was 60-year-old head of the Department of Mathematics, Antoni Łomnicki.
In addition to 12 professors of the Faculty of Medicine, the University lost 2 more professors that memorable night. 1 of them was already mentioned head of the Chair of Romantics Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, the second 56-year-old head of the civilian Law Department Prof. Roman Longchamps de Berier. As many as 3 sons were taken along with Father Roman: 25-year-old Bronisław, a postgraduate of the University of Technology, 23-year-old Zygmunt, besides a postgraduate of the method University, and 18-year-old Kazimierz, a postgraduate of the advanced School. Only a fourth, 16-year-old boy was left to an unhappy mother.
The behaviour of Gestapo at the time of arrest varied: little frequently than comparatively mild, more frequently to violent. Dr. Hilarowiczova told me that while her husband was dressing up and she was very nervous, the Gestapo officers held on their hands and petting her 2 cats mocked, asking why she was so nervous, did she not believe her husband's innocence? Yet, they knew well that they were taking an innocent husband to his death.
Olga Nowicka wanted to give her husband soap and towel, for which she heard the brutal truth: "He doesn't request it." erstwhile I comforted her a fewer weeks later that her husband and boy were somewhere in the camp, I kept proceeding her desperate question, why did the Gestapoman say that “he doesn’t request it?” Unfortunately, he knew precisely what he was saying.
When they entered prof. Longchamps de Berier's house, they behaved violently, knocked the professor's cigaret case out of their hand, refused to let them take their coats, shouted that they would not request them, did not let their wife and parent say goodbye or escort them to the gate of their loved ones.
Prof. Cieszynski was not allowed to take a heart medicine he had been taking for a long time. In the flat of Ostrowski, Cieszynski, Greeks, Hilarowiczs, they were mainly robbing gold, jewelry and abroad money by stuffing their pockets with them. As prof. Dobrzanicki's housekeeper, Józef Kosteck, wrote, the Nazis emptied the money from jewelry and dollars, took 3 pairs of Iraqi gloves and another things they packed in the suitcase. In the home there were antiques, Persian carpets, paintings of celebrated Polish painters; all this was robbed and exported on the 3rd day after the murder.
All those arrested were taken to the Abrahamovich Institute, located at Abrahamowiczów Street (now Boya Street). The behaviour of Gestapo towards those imprisoned in this building was highly brutal: Ing. Adam Ruff was shot erstwhile he suffered an epileptic attack, Mrs. Ostrowska was forced to wash the blood off the floor, and erstwhile he fell out of her blouse with valuables, the Gestapo not only picked him up but kicked her with all his might.
This is what prof. Groër, the only prof. arrested, said:
“We were taken to the Abrahamovich bursa. The car drove into the yard: violently pushing us into the building and facing the wall. There have been many professors there. Our heads made us go down. If individual moved, they would punch him in the head with a butt or a fist. erstwhile a fresh group of arrests was introduced, I tried to turn my head, but having received an immediate blow to the flask, I did not effort it again. It was possibly 12-30 at night, and I stood so inactive about 2 o'clock. Meanwhile, fresh professors were brought in and placed next to them. About all 10 minutes from the basement of the building there were screams and sounds of gunfire, and 1 of the Germans guarding us said after each shot: “Einer weniger”2, which I considered alternatively an effort to intimidate us.
Every fewer minutes, the name of 1 of the professors was called, and 1 was called to the left room. I remember well that prof. Ostrowski was called, and after him I was called as the tenth, possibly twelfth in a row. I found myself in a area where there were 2 officers; 1 junior, the 1 who arrested me, and the another higher rank, immense tallness and posture. The another 1 immediately yelled at me: “You dog, you are German, and you betrayed your country! You served the Bolsheviks! Why didn’t you travel with all the Germans to the West erstwhile it was possible?” I began to explain, first in a simple tone, then — as he screamed more and more — with an uplifted voice that I was of German descent, but I am a Pole. Second, even if I wanted to decision to the West at the time, the russian authorities would never let me to do so due to the advanced social position I occupied and on which I was needed. I was further asked what the visitation tickets of English consuls in my possession meant. I replied that I was married to an English female and that English consuls had always visited us. At the end he began to talk calmly and said, “I request to talk to my boss, see what else I can do for you”, and then he ran out of the room.
The officer who arrested me said quickly: “It is only up to him, he has no boss here. Tell him you made an crucial discovery in medicine that would be useful for the Wehrmacht. possibly this will aid you.” At the moment, that guy came back, but I didn't have time to talk due to the fact that he threw me out the door right away. I was directed to the other side, i.e. to the left side of the corridor, allowed to sit in the chair and light a cigarette. I was even given a glass of water. Next to me there were free professors: Solowi and Rencki. After a while, 1 of the Gestapo asked them how old they were, to which they replied, 73 and 76 3. I was certain they'd be released by age. I figured my case was better. After a while, the boss told me to go out in the yard and walk and say, “Behave as if you were not arrested I started walking around the yard smoking a cigaret behind a cigarette. I put my hands in my pocket. It's been a long time again. Then from the outside, from the street, 2 Gestapo entered the yard. It should be noted that the yard with the building was guarded by the guard. The fresh arrivals spotted me, threw themselves at me, punched me in the face, screaming furiously, why I'm hanging around the yard, and with my hands in my pockets. I explained that I had orders to act like an uninspected. They burped something, they stopped curious in me from there and entered the building.
It was possibly 4:00 in the morning, erstwhile a group of about 15-20 professors were removed from the building. At the head of the rotation 4 carried the bleeding corpse of young Ruff. It was carried by professors: Nowicki, Pilat, Ostrowski and seems Cone. Witkiewicz followed them. erstwhile this march came through the gate to Abrahamovich Street and disappeared from my sight, the Gestapo forced Mrs. Ostrowska, or possibly Greek and Ruffowa, to wash the blood from the stairs.
It was about 20 minutes erstwhile I heard shots coming somewhere from the Wulecki Hills. After a short time through the same back door of the building, a fresh group of 20-30 people came out and faced the wall in 2-3 rows. Among them I recognized only Doc. Mączewski. Immediately afterwards, the Dobrzanicki service4, Ostrowski (cooker and younger), Greeks (cooker and younger) and an English teacher surviving at Ostrówski was removed from the building, The chief of Gestapo, known to me from the hearing, asked if they were all servants, why the teacher denied telling me who he was. Then he irritated her to immediately decision to the group facing the wall, and then told his colleague loudly that these (he pointed to the group standing against the wall) were going to prison, and those (he pointed to the service and to me) were free. As I noticed, the service spoke to Gestapo and a civilian agent5. The Gestapo explained to the servants that they could go home, take their things and go wherever they wanted. Let them look for a job, now they will be fine, that there will be no more Poland or Soviets, that there will always be only Germany. erstwhile I was about to leave home, I approached the Gestapo, asking where to go to choice up the camera. This 1 pointed to me the area where any Gestapo man sat and arranged the collected items. Afraid they might remember the $20 I gave it to that Gestapo guy, and he returned my stuff to me. erstwhile I got out of the room, he followed me, saying, “Listen, give us your exact address, due to the fact that erstwhile another unit comes, ready to take you back, and we'll compose you down here so they don't choice on you again “6. He wrote the address in the notebook, then I left the building, went out on the street and went home. That same morning, but at a later time, going from home to the clinic, I met prof. Ostrowski at the flat of 1 of the Gestapo officers who arrested me. This officer said to me with a smile: “The master got very lucky”. A fewer days later, 2 of the officers who arrested me came to my flat asking if I could sale them a camera and carpets. During these visits I learned their names: 1 was called Hacke, the another was Keller, or possibly Kohler. Within 2-3 months, despite being thrown out of my flat by the Germans, they frequently came to me, extorting various more valuable items, specified as cameras, which I had the full collection. I erstwhile dared to ask Keller what happened to the another professors. He just waved his hand and said, “Them all were shot at that night...”.
It cannot be ruled out that prof. Groër owed his dismissal to his pre-war acquaintance with Dutch Pieter v. Menten, who appeared on the Lviv pavement in the uniform of the Nazi SS formation in July 1941 and was part of the General SS group Schoengartha. Menten, as has already been mentioned, bought land property in Poland before the war and was eager to make connections with members of the Polish elite. This man met the professorial houses, and he was now able to identify which families would be worth killing in order to master their possessions.
The fact that Menten could have saved Groër from his death points to the fact that, just after the war, there was a trial in the Dutch court in Amsterdam against him for serving the Nazis, Groër, as the Dutch prosecutor Peters told me in 1980, issued a evidence to the court that Menten behaved well towards the Polish people and Jews. It was only in 1980 that we learned that Menten and the another Gestapo murdered Poles and Jews in his property and surroundings, i.e. in Urycz and Podhorodce.
The rumor that Prof. Groër survived due to the fact that he told Gestapo at the Abrahamowicz Institute that he felt German is more than false. First of all, shortly after his release on 4 VII he was removed by the Germans from the apartment, which, as we know well, they never did towards their fellow countrymen. erstwhile it was opened in 1942 by the Germans of the Lviv Medical Department, she wanted to work at the Groëra Clinic Dr. Hildegarde Charlotte Becker of Hamburg. I read the answer given to her by the manager of the Department, German doctor Karl Schulze. He explained that as a German, he could not be subject to non-German Groër, but would be given a position in the Department of Pathology, led by German Schuster and would then be able to work with prof. Groër. Finally, erstwhile the Gestapo, fearing the outbreak, arrested nearly 80 Poles as hostages, including 10 professors and professors of the Faculty of Medicine, was among them and prof. Groër. All of this proves how unfounded it was to think that he was apostasy from Polish nationality.
Many professors of the University of Technology lived at Nabielak Street, moving other the Wulecki Hills, close which the Abrahamowicz Vowawcza Plant was located. The arrest of professors surviving on this street put not only their families but besides their neighbors on their feet. Many of them looked through the windows looking forward to the dawn. Let's perceive to their relationship.
Engineer Tadeusz Gumowski lived with his household at 53 Nabielak Street. On the night of 3 to 4 July 1941, they were awakened by the control of the study book, carried out by the Germans and Ukrainians. He relates: “[...] I sat in the garden for a fewer moments. It began to dawn and then I noticed that on the slopes of the Wuletsky Hills soldiers were digging down. I was very concerned. I told my household and we haven't left the window since. Down was dug in about 30'. The convicts were brought in fours from the side of the “Abraham” buildings (because as far as I remember these buildings were called)7 and were placed at the very edge of the bottom face to us. The firing squad was on the another side of the grave8. After the volley, almost everyone fell straight down.
Prof. Witkiewicz got distant and collapsed at that point. The convicts weren't cuffed. We counted four. As I recall, there were about five. There were 3 women among the convicts. The full thing went on soon, due to the fact that the next 4 were waiting their queues nearby. After the execution, the grave was rapidly buried and the earth was slaughtered. The grave was buried by soldiers. We watched the execution with 1 binoculars that we shared. My father, wife and sister were watching the execution outside of me. Sister's abroad. The another people are dead. We watched from the same area and the same window. Apart from Prof. Witkiewicz, I met no one. I remember that the others recognized a number of people, including Prof. Conzek with sons, Prof. Ostrowski with his wife, Prof. Longchamps seems to be with his wife 9 and others. 1 of the ladies had a blue scarf. The women were like 9. 1 female who couldn't go was pulling 2 soldiers. I give the sister's address: Zofia Nowak-Parent Paris VII 31 rue Rousselet. about 20 people were shot. no of the convicts received a weapon shot after the volley. It is so likely that any were buried alive. The second or 3rd day after the execution, my sister and I went to the grave. The tomb was comparatively obscure, and we only found it due to the fact that we knew precisely where it was. There was a bunch of flowers lying there. possibly it was a clue to the Germans that the grave site was known and that is why the corpse was most likely dug up and transported in a fewer days10. I haven't seen the exhumation. We only guessed it due to the fact that after a fewer days it was known that the grave had been dug [...]".
An Ing. Gumowski's sister, Dr. med. Zofia Nowak- Przygodka, moved to Paris after the war, stated:
‘[...] In Lviv I lived in a villa at 53 Nabielak Street, right next to the home of the cooperative professors of the University of Technology and prof. Witkiewicz. This villa is located on a 12-meter embankment, respective 100 metres from Wulecki Hill, on which the Abrahamovich Education Department and the 2nd home of Technology were erected.
A critical night I got up, as usual, to my small children. It was going crazy. As usual these days, I went around the windows looking around. At that time we were in constant fear of constant visits and revisions of the Nazis (2 nights before the search was made for prof. Witkiewicz in my house, who was besides arrested that night with another professors of the University of Technology). My attention was drawn to the Wuletsky Hill, where there was any different movement of respective people who were digging something. I woke the parents (they are dead) and we began to observe that we were not noticed. After a while, we noticed that from the top of Wulecki Hill, the verteps on the left side, people were coming down: I saw soldiers in German uniforms and respective civilians. At the end there were women (maybe 3), 1 wearing a shawl, which was well visible due to the fact that it was floating. The soldiers helped any people get down. After they all came down to the plane; where they dug, a fewer people were placed in a row. We heard dry silent crackles (guns), people disappearing from the line.
The first group was followed by another. There was an individual with a grey head who got past11. There were women at the end. The bottom was buried. We had no thought what the execution was. No mention of her the next day. We realized that the very fact that we witnessed her was dangerous to us. I know that the execution has been seen and from neighboring homes, that it was the professors who were shot. A fewer weeks later, I dared to go to Wulecki Hill with the kids for a walk. I found a place of execution, nothing different from the rest, alternatively somewhat concave — the grass like everywhere. If I hadn't known this Hill perfectly, I wouldn't have. Later I found out that the Germans exhumed the corpse quietly".
Mrs. Lomnicka described the execution. After the arrest of his husband
‘[...] There was no speech about the dream, and I was standing by the window for hours, waiting for the day to come out and effort to explain the assault. erstwhile dawn came, I saw from the window of my flat on the 3rd floor, as any movement began at the Wuletsky Hills. The figure of the people appeared; then a group of people separated from the remainder of the remaining Abrahamoviches and came down after the slope of the area below and hid behind the home of Dr. Nowak- Przygodski.
I sat on the couch, not knowing what that decision meant at this early hour, and it was around 4:00 a.m. In that second, I heard the first volley — I understood — I ran out to the stairwell, whose windows somewhat to the right gave me the chance to see more, and then I saw that people who were coming down from the mountain were stopping about half the hill in a tiny boiler. I recognized German soldiers, then men in civilian clothes, there were besides any women, and 1 character impressed me with a priest in a sutanna. I saw a character in ashtrayed clothes. rather a shade of the husband - but I didn't even want to let that thought come to me. They brought in 5 people a fewer times, and I saw these people fall after the rifles. I stood chained to a place, looking unconsciously at this katowski performance, and next to me 2 ladies from the neighbourhood - i.e. Janina Więckowska, later the wife of justice Zenek in Krakow and Mr. Sołecki wife of Prof. Gim. Lwów ul. Kazimierzowska. Were they arrested that night, professors? Was my husband between them? due to distance I could not admit [...]".
Artist Maria Załęska, besides surviving at Nabielak Street, stated:
‘[...] The people shot were led from above by groups. The site of the execution was not straight located, vis a' vis us, but a small more to the right, it was a tiny recess between the trees, I saw 3 of them standing on the embankment. I saw only 1 group coming from above, going 1 by one, as far as I remember 4 people, 1 of them black-dressed seemed like a female to me — a priest, too. another groups were watching my son, with whom I shared binoculars. I besides saw the last slow walking single woman. In our field of view, I saw 3 platoon soldiers, the area was so narrow and steep that I uncertainty there were more than six of them. The ones I saw, if memory serves, were without hats. I didn't meet anyone. We thought they were shooting Jews. Shortly after the execution, it was said that the grave was guarded — at the end of the winter or early spring of 1959 — I had not heard of the exhumation at the time, so I was amazed that the site was concave and there was no embankment. My boy was watching with me, shot in a camp in Stutthof in 1944. Apart from us, I believe that the most they could say: serving prof. Witkiewicz12 and serving Dr. Ostrowski — but where to find them now? From the news I heard, the last shot was Mrs. Ostrovska's leg. A female with a bright scarf was seen.
Prof. Witkiewicz's neighbors shortly knew by his grey hair — he was walking without a hat. It was said that the Germans were going to arrest in the company of Ukrainians, that the list of convicts had been drawn up in the past, due to the fact that they besides came for prof. Leszczyński, who had already died".
Zofia Orlinska-Skowronowa reports:
‘[...] The villa in which I lived at the time was located at 55 Nabielak Street, in a tiny garden, returned to Wulecka Street, and thus to Wulecki Hill, which was just the window of my area on the second floor. On a tragic day, I was awakened with a volley of firearms coming from the Wulecki Hill and this was the reason why I went to the window after waking up. At that point, I noticed that 5 or 6 people in the German ace were coming down from Bursa Abrahamovich, where a group of people stood, about 36. These people then stood on a flat part of the hill, like a Polance, side by side, back to Wulecka Street, and face the Bursa Abrahamoviches. My attention was paid to the firing squad, consisting of about 10 military men in gray-green uniforms, who gave a volley of vending machines to standing people. due to the fact that the bodies did not fall to the surface of the earth, where they would be visible, it became clear to me that there was a pit dug there — erstwhile and by whom, I do not know.
I besides noticed that on the left side of the bottom there was a tiny group of military personnel; I thought there were German officers. The communicative I described above repeated itself until the elimination of all the unfortunate, among which was 1 woman. Between the shot, I recognized Prof. Conzek Włodzimierz and his boy Emanuel. With Emanuel the Cone, I remember a terrible minute for me erstwhile after the volley all those accompanying him fell down, only the last 1 on the right wing of Mulek the Cone stood — only a single shot threw him to a common grave. He was wearing a tabaque coat and washed pants. Prof. Kożek was wearing a dark coat. I watched the execution through binoculars from around 3:30 to 4am. After 4 hours of respective military — I'm not only certain whether it was from the firing squad or from a group standing on the side, it flooded the pit with earth [...]"-
But the most accurate account of the execution of professors was given by Karol Cieszkowski:
‘[...] On the night of 3 on 4 July, around 22 o'clock, I heard a violent beating to the neighbouring building, i.e. at 53c Nabielak Street, where prof. Witkiewicz lived. erstwhile no 1 opened the door to the killings, they shot them erstwhile I later found out in the gate lock.
Soon about 0.30 a.m. Germans came to our building and took prof. Stozek and his 2 sons from the ground floor. Whether they took them in a car or on foot, I don't know. For the remainder of the night, I was awake due to the fact that I was very nervous. At 4:00 in the morning, and this hr I remember exactly, due to the fact that I was just counting my heart rate with a phosphorous watch, I heard shots from the Wulecki Hill. It was raging at the time, and it was starting to be light. On the edge of the Wulecki Hill, well visible from the window of my corner room, the northernmost, I saw respective twelve civilian people standing in 1 row, and somewhat further from them to the right and left stood very chic, I would say elegantly dressed German officers with revolvers in hand. I didn't number those civilian people, but I rated them at about 40-50.
About halfway across the slope, I saw 4 civilian people facing the slope over the excavated cavity, and their backs toward me. Behind the back of these people were 4 German soldiers with rifles in their hand, and an officer next to them. most likely at the verbal command of this officer, soldiers shot simultaneously and all 4 people fell into the pit. At that time, a fresh 4 people were brought down from above and the full scene repeated exactly. It continued until all civilians were brought to the pit and shot. The last individual shot was a female in a long black dress. She came down alone, hiding. erstwhile she was brought over a cave full of corpses she waved, but the officer sustained her, the soldier shot and she fell into the pit.
As far as the details of this execution are concerned, I've recognized any people very closely. Not only did I admit them due to the fact that I looked through binoculars, but any people I knew and recognized them even with the bare eye by clothes, distinctive movements, etc. I definitely recognized prof. Conzek. He stood above the pit in this characteristic pose with his hands placed back. I recognized both sons of Prof. Stozek, with whom I was friends, professors: Łomnicki, Pilat and Witkiewicz. I haven't seen or recognized Professors Weigl and Krukowski. However, I note that I did not see the execution of the first people, due to the fact that only after the first shots I approached the window. Neither have I seen any more women but the 1 at the very end of the shot.
I remember perfectly well that 1 of the 4 convicts came down to the pit carrying a faint 13. The another 4 were very slow to go down due to the fact that 1 of the convicts was limping heavily. I say it was prof. Bartel, but I didn't admit him14. I remember that erstwhile 1 of the 4 stood over the cavity already back to the soldiers, then 1 of the convicts turned towards the soldiers, and holding the hat in hand (all the convicts removed, most likely on order) began to speak, vividly gesticulating. On this the officer standing on the side made a motion with his hand to turn around, which he besides did, and then soldiers shot. From another details, I remembered that 1 of the convicts fell into the pit a second before firing (I say he did it deliberately to save himself) and immediately after the shot he jumped out of the pit, but the soldier shot, he waved and fell into the pit. The jama was dug in the form of a rectangle divided across an unearthed bridge, so the convict standing on it falling down the shot, whether forward or backward, always fell into the pit. It only happened erstwhile that 1 of the sons of Prof. Conzek, standing on a bridge above the cave, fell on the country of 4 not into a pit, but outside it, and then soldiers brought him to the pit.
Upon completion of the execution, a firing squad with an officer remained close the pit. The soldiers took off their coats, rolled up their sleeves, took the shovels in their hands, and began filling the cavity. They did it very carefully at first, due to the fact that the earth around them was heavy splattered with blood, which I saw in the form of large red spots. Soldiers occasionally interrupted work, listened to an officer telling them something, as if he were explaining. My father, my sister and my roommate watched the execution from my room. They all came to my room, due to the fact that it was the most far north, that is, to the Wulecki Hill. The father who watched the execution never spoke a word, and he never spoke to me again. On the another hand, my roommate and my sister recognized individuals, and when, for example, the sons of cones were brought over the pit, they shouted, “Oh, they are leading Mulka”.
A year later, it was comparatively loud that the professors were killed and buried at Wulecki Hill. After observing from my window that no 1 was guarding the grave, I went the next night after the execution to the shooting site and noticed a fresh grave. It pointed to me that the cattle that grazed beside him stood at the grave and long sniffed. The tomb was flat, and erstwhile I went over it again after a fewer weeks, there was quite a few thistle, most likely sown by soldiers. erstwhile it comes to the case of excavating the dead professors from the grave in 1943, I do not know the case any more, due to the fact that shortly before this, I and my household were displaced by the Germans from a tenement home at Nabielak Street, even though no 1 moved there and the flat became empty." So much for Cichokowski.
On 16 V 1945, I went with Prof. Stanisław Ochęduszko and Eng. Cieszkowski to the place of execution of professors. On the basis of the instructions of Czyczkowski, we calculated with the watch in hand the time of descending 4 convicts on a reasonably steep slope, standing above the dug pit and shooting. It lasted 2 minutes. Thus, the shooting of about 10 fours lasted 20 minutes, and with the burial of about 30-40 minutes. How rapidly it is possible to take distant the lives of nearly 40 people, how easy it is to usurp the right to decide the lives and deaths of others! It is worth noting that the people destined to be shot were aware of what was ahead of them, since 4 people were separated from them all fewer minutes and heard firearm volleys. The last shot was prof. Ostrowska. Is this expected to be the revenge of the Gestapo for the fact that during the robbery in the flat during the arrest she said loudly "bandits", to what she heard "shut her mouth"?
Of course, the relationships between individuals differed in detail, but all doctor and scientist knows that the stronger and crueler the impression, the more certain details roar into memory, while others, equally strong can even vanish completely. Our persistence of impression records in the brain is limited, and if I can mention so much details of the professors' tragedy today, it's only due to the fact that all the details I've seen and heard have been carefully recorded. erstwhile Eng. Ciszkowski told that 1 of the shot professors turned to an officer and rapidly started talking to him, vividly gesticulating with his hands, I figured that it could have been Prof. Cieszynski, a large German-speaking and always lively. After many years, I asked my son, Tomasz Cieszynski, who he would admit in this form; without hesitation he replaced his father.
Aleksander Drożyński and Jan Zaborowski in the book Oberlaender15 compose that professors were shot in 2 places, which was only a figment of their fantasies. At my request, according to my exact instructions, editor Andrzej Zieminski photographed the site of the execution on the slope of Wulecki Hills, visible from the home at Nabielak Street. These authors received this photograph from me and showed it to the witness of the shooting of professors Helena Kucharowa, residing at 2 Małachowskiego Street, who watched the execution with her husband. It confirmed that it represents the place of the execution of professors, which means that residents of Nabielak Street as well as Małachowskiego Street saw the same place of execution. Despite this, Drożdżyński and Zaborowski, it is not known on what basis, they ruled that Kucharowa and residents of Nabielak Street saw 2 different places of failure of professors. Unfortunately, this groundless invention is repeated by another authors16.
The substance of bringing the convicts out of the Abrahamovich Plant building to the place of failure inactive needs to be clarified. Fired by the Gestapo, prof. Groër stayed in the yard in the back of the Plant, as he was allowed to leave home only after the curfew expired, i.e. after 6 am. So he watched everything that happened in the back of the building. As has already been said, he testified that at 4:00 a.m., a group of professors, consisting of about 15-20 people, went through the courtyard gate (Fig.) to Abrahamovich Street and followed it towards Wulecki Heights. Groër, with all his firmness, told me respective times that there were no Professors of Renti and Solowie in the group. After the above group of professors Groër left, he saw Mr. Ostrowska (maybe Greek) and Ruffov washing the blood steps of the back exit from the building in the yard, after which they entered the building. However, the women leaving with Professors Groër did not see, and after all witnesses of the shooting saw them among the convicts. Groër saw 15–20 people escorted out, witnesses to the failure claim that the victims were about 40, and Jews exhuming the cadaver of the professors counted them in grave 38.
According to my exact records, 49 people were arrested from 3 to 4 VII.
Prof. Groër, 4 persons of service to the Greeks, Ostrovski and Ruffs, the janitor Wojtyna and driver Prof. Ostrowski Kostyszyn were released; doc. Mączewski and Katarzyna Demko remained in the courtyard of the Abrahamovich Plant until Groër left home, so 40 people would be shot. Since the Gestapo brought in 4 people to be shot, there should have been those 4 nines, at the end there was a single woman, or 37 people. erstwhile we number the carried, shot before, engineer Ruff, then the full of 38 would match the number given by the Jews. However, it cannot be excluded that like Doc. Mączewski could exclude 2-3 more people from the convict group and kill another day: hence the difference of 2 people between my calculation and the data indicated by Jews. In addition, Welicker claims that 3 women were exhumed from the professors' grave. Jews may besides not remember the actual number of corpses. 2 witnesses to the shooting besides saw 3 women. There would so be another female missing, possibly separated from the convicts. An crucial question arises, which way were the another convicts brought out of the building, and how were they led to the place of loss? In this case Dr. Ing came to the aid. Zbigniew Schneider17, whose 1971 account I quote in full in the documentation (p. 308), and here I quote the most crucial data for a peculiar problem: “On the day of execution, a colleague from the University of Technology came to me about 7am (names I forgot18, he then conducted a buffet at the method University, surviving somewhere in Silesia) saying that at dawn he heard any movement under the window and looked out on the street. He saw any people coming out of the truck outside his window. Among them he noted Professors Łomnicki and Conzek. A friend lived at Kosynierska Street. The suspects were led somewhere outside the home of Technology19. He besides said he heard gunshots any time later. I immediately left the home with the dog (I lived at Poskiłej Street) and went the likely way of the convicts.
At 1 point (see picture)20 I noticed traces of excavations, discarded land. At a place that was a kind of recess in a cliff, on a surface of respective square meters, the turf was leveled, soiled with clay and had many traces of blood that my dog started licking. As I walked on this bordello, the earth was in a visible way bent, indicating that there was something elastic under it, or body.
The place of execution was so chosen that absolutely out of nowhere it was not visible (see cross section). It is besides not true, as 1 surviving hebrew wrote in "The Cross" that execution was seen from the windows. The nearest windows, covered with a slope, were at a distance of not little than 500 m".
Dr. Schneider's account proves that about half of the professorship group and their relatives were placed in a truck, a somewhat further circular road was taken to the vicinity of the site of loss21, landed and after a short walk joined the group of the first (Fig.). Since prof. Groër saw only 15-20 people being moved out, and thus about half of those shot, it should be assumed that the group described in Dr. Schneider's account was removed from the Institute. Abrahamovich to the street of this name, the main gate, not the courtyard. However, women were not seen in both mentioned groups, and there were about 4 of them, as the fifth, Catherine Demko, remained in the yard of the Plant. Again, it should be assumed that a group of women were taken out separately, and since prof. Groër had not seen them, they besides went out the main gate, consecutive to the street. Whether they were told to walk like a group 1 or to drive a car like a group two, it is unknown.
How do you explain the division of convicts into 3 groups? I think it was to confuse the prisoners so that the Gestapo could calmly lead everyone to the place of loss. Dr. Schneider hit the professors' grave on the road indicated by his colleague, meaning his clue was accurate and true. However, he wrongly denied Dr. Schneider so that anyone could see the scene of shooting professors. As I stated on the plan of Lviv, the distance in the airline of the place of the execution from the buildings at Nabielak Street is 400 m, and from that distance you could even see execution with the bare eye, let alone through binoculars. The photographs of Nabielak Street, taken from the place of the execution, and vice versa: the places of the execution of Nabielak Street, show that visibility was completely possible. Dr. Schneider was undoubtedly the first man to appear on the professors' grave, as only 3 hours had elapsed since their death. It is easy to imagine his shock erstwhile he saw the bloody earth and felt the bodies of his teachers bent under his feet. Dr. Schneider further explained to me that a paved street led to the location of the victims, while there was inactive only a excavation of the future street. That explains why the car didn't go any further.
The substance of the death of Stanislaw Mączewski and the teacher of English, Catherine Demko, should be raised. prof. Groër, leaving at 6am, saw a large group, among them Mączewski and Demko. Demko would be fired due to the fact that she got into the service group and Wojtina, and they were to leave home after 6 a.m. At the Gestapo's request, is everyone in this group a servant, Demko denied and was immediately moved to the group to go to jail. Since the another women of the professorship group had already been brought to the scene of the loss, she could not be murdered that day. She was killed, as was Doc. Mączewski, later, most likely the next day. However, it remains a mystery why Doc. Mączewski was separated from the professorship group? There's no telling if we'll always solve this mystery. In any case, and Doc. Mączewski, and Catherine Demko were killed due to the fact that they had never since appeared among the living.
The next day after the arrest, i.e. July 4th, after the curfew expired at 6am, frightened wives and mothers ran to their families and friends. Ms Witkiewiczova learned that she besides lost her brother, prof. Edward Hamerski, outside of her husband that night. Mrs. Mechanicova lost not only her father and son, but besides her brother-in-law, Prof. Włodzimierz Sieradzki, and her cousin, Prof. Longchamps de Berier with 3 sons. Progulska went to her friend Nowicki and found out that she besides lost her husband and son. Alone, or respective together, they began the professor's search for their husbands and sons. No 1 wanted them, sometimes, and could explain what happened to the arrested and where they were imprisoned. Not at the Gestapo office at Pełczyńska Street, nor at the Military Commendation of the City of Town in the Town Hall, nor at the Department. No 1 knew anything, no 1 heard anything. At most any ladies heard an explanation in the Gestapo that "the arrests were carried out by the front Gestapo, but it went further east and we know nothing." It was only a partial truth, as part of the Schoengartha group remained in Lviv, formed command for Lviv and the territory of Galicia and had in accurate records all the murdered.
Mrs. Cieszynska and Nowicka, each of them, went to the town hall and talked to 2 different higher officers; the first spoke to a doctor. a dentist who, as it turned out, knew her husband. Both of these officers, erstwhile they heard what had happened that night, were frightened and urged to immediately go to the Gestapo, “because possibly it's not besides late.” But it was besides late. Both officers were acquainted with Gestapo methods. Cieszynska brought an application to the Gestapo asking for information about her husband. After a fewer weeks she was summoned to the building at Pełczyńska Street, where she was told that her husband had died of heart disease, possibly due to besides much work.
Docent Krukowska besides could not learn about her husband's destiny in the first days. Only a fewer days later, she was told in the Gestapo that the arrests were taken out of Lviv. On August 4, however, she was told that her husband died of a heart attack on July 7. Another Gestapoman denied it and claimed that all of the arrested had been previously deported.
Doc. Witold Grabowski, utilizing his acquaintance with a German officer, a doctor, asked him to find out where the professors were arrested in early July. The doctor went to the Gestapo and, on his return, declared that “he was blushing at the tip of his fingers due to the fact that they all died.” besides me, Ukrainian, prof. of Interny Marian Panczyszyn, declared in April 1942 that my boss, Prof. Witold Nowicki, died that July night22.
W The Department of Pathological Anatomy housed a military anatomopathic facility, headed by Oberfeldarzt Dr. Gerhard Sponholz. On 1 occasion he told me that erstwhile Dr. Karl Schulze, a friend of his, opened as manager of the Medical Department and went to the Gestapo in October 1941 to ask if he could number on the cooperation of the arrested professors, he received the answer that no of them remained alive23.
As has already been mentioned, 1 of the SS's officers, who was in the Groër arrest group, then invaded the professor's house. erstwhile asked by prof. Groër what happened to the another professors, he openly said that everyone was shot that night.
Dr. Eyer, doctor, officer, head of the Lviv Institute of Antiduration declared doc. That she should prepare her sister Nowicka for her husband and boy to be dead.
All these facts show that Gestapo mostly did not conceal the fact that it murdered professors. The murderers were assured of winning the war, and their chief Hitler said no 1 thought the winners. After the war, it turned out that the majority and the defeated were not judged and judged as crimes against humanity.
Shortly after the murder, Gestapo stopped covering for and from Poles that it was the perpetrator. Prof. Piłata's widow received her husband's death certificate from Gestapo Command at Pełczyńska Street. This was a clear message of who did this cruel and baseless crime. Menten besides obtained from Gestapo at Pełczyńska Street a certificate of death of the Ostrowski State, which prof. Groër saw in him.
On July 11, a week after a bloody night of 3 out of 4, 2 further professors were imprisoned, this time both from the abroad Trade Academy: 51-year-old mathematician Stanisław Ruziewicz and 53-year-old economist Henryk Korowicz. They were taken from their home this afternoon and any search at the Gestapo and police stations in Ukraine proved to be fruitless. Nobody supposedly knew or heard of these arrests.
Professor Kazimierz Bartel was inactive imprisoned in the Gestapo building at Pełczyńska Street. Apparently, the Lviv Gestapo was awaiting instructions from its office in Berlin. As he wrote in a letter to his wife on 16 VII 1941, he was not questioned at all: “From private conversations with officers I believe that danger may come out of my position as Prime Minister. In Moscow, I dated Stalin, here I had large positions (!) the echoes of this came to us – the words of Churchill and Sikorski – so they told me to organize cooperation with the Bolsheviks, and who is most prepared for it".
Inmate Antoni Stefanowicz confirmed to me that Bartel was not interrogated and no court proceeding was held. While the behaviour of Gestapo towards Bartl was comparatively correct while in prison at Pełczyńska Street, it was allowed to bring him dinners from home, writing and receiving letters from his wife, after moving them both to prison at Łąckiego Street, which according to Bartlowa happened around 21 July, it became brutal, but lunches continued to receive from home. He was challenged by the Jews' cones, and once, as Stefanowicz said, the Gestapo told Bartl to clean the shoes of the Ukrainian from Hilfsgestapo, "for the Polish prof. and minister to clean the shoes of the Ukrainian couple from horses". Bartel was mentally depressed and, as Stefanowicz wrote to me, he could not realize the essence of the tragedy.
One should uncertainty Bartl's gathering with Stalin, but he was indeed leaving for Moscow, as Bartlow said, on the translation into Russian of works of the Painting Perspective. Of course, he may have amazed to have gone all the way to Moscow erstwhile he could have taken her down on the place in Lviv24.
Many were amazed that Bartel did not go to Moscow with a tour organized for professors of Lviv colleges in 1940, but alone at another time24. The Russians, who are characterised by their farsightedness policy, could think of Bartlu as the future leader of the Polish nation. Of course, I am not in whether he would have agreed to this role. Keeping him by the Germans and this at first in good conditions suggests that they could besides think of Bartlu as a possible leader. It cannot be excluded that erstwhile they went from triumph to triumph in 1941, they resigned from Bartl and so murdered him at dawn on Himmler's orders.
The Hamburg paper "Die Welt" reported on 2 VIII 1968 that a secret paper of the Nazi Ministry of abroad Affairs was found in Nuremberg bearing the signs of NG 4567 proving that the papal nuncio Caesare Orsenigo intervened on 26 V 1942, including the Ministry at the Undersecretary of State Ernst von Weizsäcker on the imprisoned Lviv professors, whose names he mentioned. Weizsäcker pointed out that this intervention was without formal foundation, as there were no clergymen among the arrested. Of course, this was not true, because, as we know, among the murdered professors there was besides a priest, Dr. theology Władysław Komornicki. According to the document, Weizsäcker, however, learned from the Gestapo the destiny of the professors, as he added the word "liquidiert" himself. Until there, the "Die Welt" information is based on the first document. The next information is alternatively a guess. We read that the Gestapo office in Berlin recommended its subsidiary in Lviv to analyse whether the erstwhile Prime Minister Kazimierz Bartel would agree to collaborate with Germany for the cost of saving his life. Prof. Bartel turned down this proposal without hesitation and was executed at Hitler's individual command.
Jan Weinstein25 cited the content of a rush letter (Schnellbrief) signed by Müller, Deputy Head of the safety and safety Service (Heydrich) of the Paris Stock Exchange, sent to the Ministry of abroad Affairs. Well, in this letter we read that Polish prof. Kazimierz Bartel Already in early 1941 he conducted negotiations with the Russian authorities aimed at establishing a national government (Landesregierung) under his leadership, which would later declare war with the russian Union. He so played respective times in Moscow. German control has put an end to these machinations.
Bartel was convicted by law on 26 VII 1941. We do not have any confirmation of Bartla's "guilty" but he was definitely executed without a court sentence, as he would know something about it by Antoni Stefanowicz in prison with the professor.
Not only the russian and German authorities thought of entrusting prof. Bartl with a liable political position. General Sikorski wanted to appoint Bartl as the Polish Ambassador to the USSR after the settlement with Stalin. As Prof. Kot26 wrote, Sikorski judged Bartl's attitude from 1939 to 1941 as full of dignity, reason and courage and sought him out in the russian Union. Having not found him there, he designated prof. Kot's position. It is worth mentioning that the Bartlów villa at 5 Herburtów Street was occupied by the head of the Lviv Gestapo – Dr. Eberhard Schoengarth, Ostrowski's flat was robbed by V. Menten and Prof. Dobrzanski's flat was taken by a friend of Menten, Ukrainian, Dr. Med. Wrecino, brother of the commander of the Ukrainian police in Lviv.
When the Nazi war defeat struck, Gestapo in 1943 began to cover the traces of its crimes on Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, Russians and another nations. The alleged Sonderkommando 1005 was created from the Jews-slaves, which had the task of excavating graves, extracting corpses, transporting them to the Krzywczyk Forest and smoking. The mass, four-year killing of people in Lviv took place on the alleged Janowski Sands and in the Krzywczycki Forest, located behind the Łachaków horn. most likely prof. Bartel died in Janowski Sands and was buried there. In the Krzywczycki Forest, russian prisoners were initially murdered, and then Poles and, above all, Jews. A description of the formation and activities of the 1005 branch was given by Leon Welicker in his interesting work entitled "Sonderkommando 1005. Another associate of this brigade, hebrew Edward Gleich, confirmed Welicker's words in an extended evidence given to me in writing. I visited 3 September 1944 with Tomasz Cieszynski and 3 Jews, members of Sonderkommando 1005, a liquidated camp in the Krzywczycki Forest. Traces of a twelve mass graves (largest from 5 x5 to 7 x7 — depth different) were inactive well visible, though the corpses were dug and burned. erstwhile you were trying to dig, you could see the earth in thick blood. There was a rotting corpse everywhere, though they were long burned.
What an organization was needed to make hundreds of thousands of healthy people, men, women and children kill, bury, then exhume and burn. How many tens of thousands of surviving Jews were brought here in cars, were ordered to undress, and were killed and burned immediately. The ashes were then poured over the sieves, extracting gold teeth and hidden valuables in the gastrointestinal tract and reproductive organ of the woman, after which not completely burnt bones were ground in a gravel mill and spread along with ashes in the forest. Sometimes during the first day 2,400 Jews were killed or 3,000 exhumed.
Welicker and Gleich stated that on the eve of the large judaic feast, Jom-Kipur, i.e. on 8 June 1943, a squad of 20 Jews under the command of the SS at Wulecki Hill left the camp in Krzywczycki Forest late in the evening to dig up the remains of professors and their companions. erstwhile 1 of the officers went to the Gestapo on Pełczyńska Street and a elder officer, Kurt Stawizki, came from there, despite digging to the depth of respective meters of the corpse. Without hesitation, he pointed to the right place, which may have proved he was active in the shooting of professors. It should besides be remembered that each grave was in close Gestapo records and that the exact number of people in each grave was known.
Jews pointed out that this time they were "people from the advanced sphere", due to the fact that the clothes were decent and fell out of the pocket of gold watches and chains, eternal feathers with names Witold Nowicki, Tadeusz Ostrowski. The Jews knew it was the tomb of professors, so well known in Lviv. Since prof. Bartl was besides associated with these professors, who died 24 days later from them, which the excavaters did not know about, the name Bartl of Ostrowski, Nowicki, Stożka and others was mentioned in 1 breath. I was questioned by any curious in this murder, whether Bartel's body was attached to the professors' grave. What intent would Germany have in doing this? Would they dig a grave just to make certain that all the professors were in 1 grave? In my opinion Bartel, Ruziewicz, Korowicz and Mączewski were shot and buried elsewhere, most likely in Janowski Sands, located in the suburb of Lviv.
The exhumed corpses shot at the Wulecki Hills professors and their associates were transported immediately to the Krzywczycki Forest and the following day, i.e. on 9 October, were thrown into respective 100 another bodies and burned together on a immense pile. The preserved bone remains were ground in a gravel mill and scattered along with the ashes in the surrounding forest.
On 6 May 1945, I went with russian author Vladimir Bielajev over the empty grave of professors, lying on the slope of the Wulecki Hills. Bielajew dealt with the tragedy of professors and published data on her27. He has previously found respective shell casings from carbine shells, a shred of clothing and temporal bone, recognized by prof. Tadeusz Marciniak as human. I have now found another shell, a shred of another clothing, and a human metacarpal bone. If the buried grave had been dug again, there would have been more evidence of Nazi crime.
Dr. Karolina Lanckorońska, imprisoned in 1943 by Hans Krüger28, Gestapo commander in Stanisławów, learned from him that he belonged to a group arresting professors of tragic night from 3 to 4 July 1941. Krüger was drunk with alcohol, assured that she would share the destiny of his 250 victims, advanced and primary school teachers, lawyers, judges, doctors, and tens of thousands of Jews admitted to participating in the crime. Lanckorońska, thanks to the intervention of the Italian royal court, was taken at the last minute from Krüger's claws to the Lviv Gestapo. Here she met Walter Kutschmann, an enemy of Krüger, to whom she revealed that she knew the secret of the death of the Lviv professors. Kutschmann brought a trial against Krüger in Berlin, on which Krüger was convicted of treason of professional secrecy29. The Lanckoon concentration camp was sent to Ravensbrück, where it was released due to the efforts of her friend, Prof. C. Burckhardt, president of the global Red Cross in Geneva. A very interesting description of these passages was included by Lanckorońska in numbers 46-4830 of the London "White Eagle", and partially repeated by me in 1964.
Many Poles mistakenly believe to this day that the massacres of professors were carried out by Ukrainians. If that were the case, the Hamburg prosecutor would not have admitted after the war that it was the work of his countrymen — the Germans. erstwhile Docent Helena Krukowska brought a complaint to the Ludwigsburg court about the execution of her husband, prof. Włodzimierz and another professors, D.A. Below wrote that the guilty of the murders were Himmler, Frank, Schongarth, SS-Standartenflihrer Heim and possibly SS-Hauptscharfuhrer Horst Waldenburger, but all these people are dead and the others are being sought for. The prosecutor admitted that only the shooting squad consisted of Ukrainians, translators, dressed in SS formation uniforms. In 1976, prosecutor Nachtigall-Marten of Hamburg asked me to give him the names of the Gestapo who arrested the Lviv professors. I gave the names of the officers: Hans Krüger, Walter Kutschmann, Kurt Stawiski, and Kurt Police Commissioner, Petty Officers Hacker and Kohler, and Dutchman Pieter Nikolaas Menten.
After the war, while inactive abroad, she read doc. Lanckorońska in the newspaper, that in Münster there is simply a trial against Krüger for murdering thousands of Jews, but not Poles, in Stanisławów. She applied for trial as a witness and testified against Krüger blaming him for the execution of professors.
However, the court accepted that there was no evidence that Krüger murdered professors in Lviv, reasoning that it could only be his boasting and trying to intimidate the arrested. However, Krüger was sentenced to life for his crimes in Stanisławów. According to West German regulations, those who have been sentenced to the highest punishment (there is no death punishment in Germany), cannot be held liable for other, even the most severe crimes. That's what prevented Krüger from being tried for the execution of professors. At the request of Władysław Żeleński, the prosecutor interrogated Krüger, but he denied engagement in the Lviv crime. The D.A. suspended the investigation, considering that the further explanation was only for historians. All efforts by Dr. Lanckorońska, Dr. Krukowski, Władysław Żeleński, nephew of Tadeusz Boy and others did not advance the case of bringing the perpetrators of the bloody July night to court. Władysław Żeleński announced a number of articles in London's "News" on the crime in Lviv31. He besides corrected in the magazine "Die Welt" a lying message that the execution carried out on professors was simply racially based, as the murders were to be Jews. Zelenski showed that among 22 professors shot on 4 July there was not a single Jew32.
Many Poles asked the question how Germans had a list of executed professors. This is not applicable to the full case, for names with addresses could be obtained from a prewar telephone book. However, 1 can believe Walter Kutschman, who declared to Doc. Lanckoronska that the list was provided by the Ukrainian Gestapo. Fortunately, there are only 25 professors on the list. After all, the University itself owned 158 professors and professors, and it is the tremendous University of Technology, the Academy of Veterinary medicine and the Academy of abroad Trade.
Judging that the Gestapo of July night sought the dead during the war: the ophthalmologist Prof. Adam Bednarski and dermatologist Prof. Roman Leszczyński33, it should be assumed that the list was inactive established in Krakow. As a consequence of the cut-off of the border from Lviv in Krakow, it was not known who died at that time. It seems most likely that the Kraków Gestapo before the outbreak of the German-Soviet war demanded Ukrainians, students or graduates of Lviv universities, the names and addresses of professors known to them. Hence specified a comparatively short, fortunate list.
In 1954, at the initiative of prof. of Dermatology Henryk Mierzecki, the Inter-universal Committee for the Commemoration of the Memory of Lviv discipline Workers was established in Wrocław, whose aim was to rise funds for the construction of the monument in Wrocław. Thanks to the energy and effort of the associate of this Committee, Prof. Wiktor Wiśniowski, on the 3rd of 1964 at Grunwald Square, a ceremonial unveiling of the monument, the work of the sculptor Boris Michałowski, by the Rector of the University of Lviv, Prof. Stanisław Kulczyński, then Deputy president of the State Council, took place. Unfortunately, as a consequence of the order of the authorities there is simply a sign on the monument that it was exhibited in honor of all Polish scientists killed and died during the Nazi occupation, alternatively of namelessly in honor of the murdered Lviv professors. Prof. Kulczyński, in his beautiful speech at the time of the unveiling of the monument, spoke only of the shot professors of Lviv.
In 1966, on the 25th anniversary of the death of professors, a plaque with the names of the victims of Nazism was unveiled in the Franciscan Church in Krakow. Unfortunately, the name of prof. Stanisław Ruziewicz was abandoned. A separate epitaph exists in honor of prof. Kazimierz Bartl. On 29 June 1981, 2 plaques with the names of the victims of Nazism were unveiled a fewer days before the 40th anniversary of the execution of Lviv professors: 1 at the initiative of prof. Włodzimierz Trzebiatowski in the hall of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Wrocław at 75 Podwale Street and the another at the initiative of the Rector of the University prof. Kazimierz Urbanik in the corridor of the main building of the University. The unveiling of the second was combined with a ceremonial technological session organized by the University. On the eve of the 36th anniversary of the first lecture in Polish at the University of Wroclaw and at the University of Technology34, i.e. 14 November 1981, another plaque with the names of the murdered professors was unveiled, this time in front of the monument at Grunwaldzki Square, erected in 1964. Thus the monument ceased to be anonymous; the people who did not spare money on it yet saw their noble intentions fulfilled. The celebration was held in a highly sublime mood. Around the monument at the sound of Chopin's mourning march were the banner mails of young people of all academic universities, the delegation of the National Army of Lviv with a banner, all rectors and prorectors in toga, with insignia, household of murdered professors, their students, friends and crowds of Wrocław residents.
The first speech was addressed by the president of the College of Rectors, Rector of the Medical Academy, prof. Marian Wilimowski, after which prof. Wiktor Wiśniowski, and prof. Bogusław Bobranski, on behalf of the students of the murdered professors. The exhibition was unveiled by the widow of prof. Witkiewicz, Dr. Maria Witkiewiczowa. Bishop Urban dedicated the plaque, monument and urn to the ground brought from the place of the execution in Lviv, and then performed mourning executions, as the killed had no funeral. The urna was walled by doc. Tomasz Cieszynski, the boy of the murdered prof. Antoni Cieszynski. After the wreaths and flowers were laid together, the gatherers sang Rota Konopnicka and after the ceremony march of Chopin was played, the celebration ended.
Also in Lviv, it was intended to honor the memory of professors murdered by the Nazis. The monument was built in 1956 at the site of the execution on the slope of the Wuletsky Hills. The scaffolding stood, the contours of the monument were created, but shortly further construction was stopped and after years the scaffolding was demolished, levelling the area after the construction began.
The shooting of Lviv professors was the subject of a detailed survey already in 1964. Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Józef Bogusz, she appeared in the first Oświęcim book entitled "The Medical Review" by Zygmunt Albert. execution of 25 university professors in Lviv by Nazis in July 194135 The same work was published in Volume II of the book business and Medicine36.
Both of these works feature brief biographical features of all the murdered docents and professors and photographs of professors of the Faculty of Medicine. The present publication includes photographs of all (except for Prof. Korowicz, whose photos were not found even in the family) of the murdered professors and their families, this time from all universities. Here are besides fresh details of the shooting, investigation, prosecution and detection of perpetrators of this crime, undertaken by Poles on emigration and in the country. The weekly Polar Star, appearing in the United States, reprinted the first version of the work in June 1975, but without photos. In this way the planet learned another cruel crime done by the Nazis, this time on the scholars of this nation, whose demolition they had carefully planned for many years. The documentation published in the present work, collected under hard conditions in an uninterrupted manner since July 1942, seeks to explain the secret of the Lviv execution and to remember these events.
May this book, like the walled plaques and the memorial, be our tribute to the murdered professors, and may they permanently remind the next generation of them. I hope this crime never happens again.
Footnotes
1 business and opposition in Hans Frank's Journal, Vol. I: 1939-1942, Warsaw 3970, p. 217-2)8.
2 1 less.
3 Indeed, they were 82 and 74 years old.
4 prof. Dobrzanicki's housekeeper was not arrested, but her husband, who did not belong to the service.
5 He was a janitor of Wojtyn, arrested with prof. Witkiewicz and then released.
6 Nevertheless, prof. Groër was arrested with 15 another doctors on 11 XI 1942.
7 The appropriate name: The Abrahamovich Education Institute.
8 A mistake, for then they would shoot not in the slope, but in the direction of residential buildings at Nabielak Street.
9 Prof. Longchamps' wives were not arrested.
10 Exhumation took place only in 1943.
11 It was prof. Roman Witkiewicz.
12 It is about Józef Wojtyna, arrested with prof. Witkiewicz and then released. He was a roommate of prof. Witkiewicz and a janitor at the University of Technology.
13 Adam Ruff, an engineer, who had an epileptic attack at the Abrahamovich Institute at the time of identification. The Gestapo officer pulled out the weapon and without hesitation killed him instantly.
14 It was not prof. Bartel, but the ophthalmologist doc. Jerzy Grzędzielski, who besides limped heavily.
15 A. Drozdzyński and J. Zaborowski, Oberldnder. Through "Ostforschung" interview and NSDAP to NRF government, Warsaw 1960, pp. 77-85.
16 S. Sterkowicz, Tadeusz Boy-Żeleński, physician—writer—socialist. Warsaw 1974.
17 Dr. Zbigniew Schneider, a student of Lviv University of Technology, presently lives in Zakopane.
18 It is about Kazimierz Wojtas, born in 1906 and died in 1975 in Opole.
19 II The home of Technology at Abrahamowicz Street was the home of students of the University of Technology.
20 Dr. Schneider's drawing is in the documentation.
21 Dr. Schneider further explained to me that a paved street led to the location of the victims, while there was inactive only an excavation of the future street. That explains why the car didn't go any further.
22 Albert, Lviv Medical Department during Nazi occupation, 1941-, Works of the Wrocław technological Society, Wrocław 1975, p. 31.
23 Ibid. p. 25.
24 M. Kamienski, On the departure of Lviv Professors in 1940 to Moscow, Literary Life, 1972, XXII, No. 17 (1056), p. 7; W. Żeleński, Travels of Lviv Professors in 1940 to Moscow, News (London), No. 1523 of 8 June 1975.
25. J. Weinstein, papers on the execution by the Gestapo of the Prime Minister Prof. Kazimierz Bartl, Historical Books, 1967, p. 93.
26. S. Kot, Letters from Russia to Gen. Sikorski, London 1956, p. 16.
27 W. Bielajew and M. Rudnycki, Under the delicate Marks, Wyd. Molodaja Guardia, 1954, pp. 84-107; W. Bielajew, Borders in Fire, Moscow 1967; the same, The Secret of Volki, Lviv Truth, 4 VII (1956: the same, Scholars burn on stakes, Red Flag, 2 XII 1944; the same, Vishnievy Alleji — The Mystery of Wulecki Chołmov, Moscow 1981, pp. 292-326.
28 Hans Krüger came from Poznań and was to talk Polish well, so that the residents of Stanisławów considered him volksdeutsch.
28 After the end of planet War II, Krüger stated that he had been punished for his hostility to the Nazi regime, not for betraying the business secret.
30 See doc. No. 16.
31 W. Żeleński work for the execution of Lviv Professors, News, Year XXIX, No. 17, 5 V 1974; To end the conspiracy of silence, ibid, 18, 12 V 1974; the same, Travels of Lviv Professors to Moscow in 1940, ibid., No. 1523, 8 VI 1975. 32 W. Zelenski, Ungeklaerter Mord in Lemberg, Die Welt, 5/6 VII 1974. consequence to the article by W. Kahl and W. Pfuhl, Krach zwischen "DDR" und Polen wegen Rehabilitation Oberlaenders, placed in Die Welt on 4 VII 1975,
32 Henry Korowicz, murdered on 11 July, was of judaic origin, but his name was Polish, and the Nazis surely did not arrest him as a Jew, but as a Polish scholar, as did those 22 and Ruziewicz and Bartl.
33 The rumor of an effort to arrest prof. Napoleon Gąsiorowski that night denied in a letter to me the widow.
34 From 1945 to 31 XII 1949. The University and University of Technology in Wrocław were under the sceptre of 1 rector, Prof. Stanisław Kulczyński.
35 Medical Review, 1964, R. XX, pp. 58-77.
36 business and Medicine, Warsaw 1975, Vol. II, pp. 168-188.