The arrest of Kraków professors

SS Obersturmbahnführer Bruno Muller ordered the rector of the Jagiellonian University, Professor Tadeusz Lehr-Splavinsky, to oblige all university professors to attend his lecture on German plans for the future of Polish science and education, which was supposed to pass on November 6, 1939 at 12:00 in the audience at 66 Collegium Novum. But the lecture was not given. Instead, Muller said:

“The local university began the academic year without the prior consent of the German authorities. This is malice. In addition, it is well known that teachers have always been hostile to German science. For these reasons, all but the three women present will be deported to a concentration camp. Any discussion and even statements on this topic are excluded. Those who dare to resist my order will be shot . ”

Original Text (German)

Die hiesige Universität hat ihr Schuljahr begonnen, ohne vorher die Einwilligung der deutschen Behörden eingeholt zu haben. Das ist eine Böswilligkeit. Nebst dem ist es allgemein bekannt, dass die Lehrer stets gegenüber der deutschen Wissenschaft feindlich gesinnt waren. Dies sind die Gründe, weshalb sie Alle - mit Ausnahme der drei anwesenden Frauen - in ein Konzentrationslager werden abgeführt werden. Jedwede Diskussion oder auch nur serusserung hierüber ist ausgeschlossen. Wer einen Widerstand gegen die Ausführug meines Befehles wagen würde, wird niedergeschossen ..

After that, those present were arrested by the police. The arrested were beaten on the face and beaten with the butts. Professor Stanislav Estreicher tried to speak out in response, to which he received a blow to the face. Together with the professors, 13-15 university staff and students were arrested. Dr. Stanislav Klimetsky was detained at his home that day ^[2] . Two women, Elena Vilman-Grabovskaya and Yadviga Voloshinskaya, were released from the audience, after which they informed the families of the detainees about the arrest.

Thus, 184 people were detained, including:

• Jagiellonian University - 142 professors and three students
• Mining and Metallurgical Academy. Stanislav Stashitsa - 21 people
• Krakow University of Economics - 3 people
• Vilnius University - 1 person ^[2]
• Catholic University of Lublin - 1 person ^[3]
• secondary schools - 6 people
• other persons - 6 people.

All of them were transported first to the prison on Montelupich Street , then to the barracks on Mazowiecka, some three days later - to Wroclaw , where they spent 18 days in two separate prisons: at Świebodzka 1 and Kleczkowska 35 . On the night of November 27, 1939, they were loaded onto a train at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp ^[4] , and in March 1940 they were sent to Dachau , after the release of professors over 40 ^[2] .

Following a protest by Benito Mussolini and the Vatican ^[5], 101 professors over the age of 40 were released from Sachsenhausen on February 8, 1940 . Others were released later.

Not all professors, many of whom were of advanced age, were able to withstand the harsh conditions of detention in a camp where there were not enough warm things in winter and dysentery raged. Twelve people died in the camp, five more after the release. Among the famous professors who died in the camp were Ignacy Chrzanovsky , Stanislav Estreicher, Kazimierz Kostanetsky , Anthony Meyer , Leon Sternbach and Michal Sedletsky . In March 1940, the survivors were sent to Dachau and most of them were released in January 1941 ^[2] .

Many of those who went through arrest and internment in 1942 created an underground university, one of 800 students of which was Karol Wojtyla , the future Pope John Paul II . He headed the university Tadeusz Ler-Splavinsky.

In front of the Collegium Novum there is a memorial plaque dedicated to the Sonderaktion Krakau events. Every year on November 6, black flags are hung on all buildings of the Jagiellonian University, and the rector lays wreaths in memory of the victims of these events.

The arrest was depicted in the Polish film Katyn .