| Sonderaktion Krakau | |
|---|---|
| Part ofGeneralplan Ost andIntelligenzaktion | |
 Collegium Novum of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. Location of theSonderaktion Krakau | |
| Location | Kraków,German-occupied Poland |
| Date | 6 November 1939 (1939-11-06) |
| Target | 184 academics including 105 professors and 33 lecturers fromUJ, 34 professors and doctors fromAGH, four fromAE, four from Lublin and Wilno universities, and others |
Attack type | Deportations toSachsenhausen andDachau concentration camps |
| Perpetrators |  German government,SS-ObersturmbannführerBruno Müller |
| Motive | Anti-slavism,Anti-polonism,Nazi racist doctrines |
Sonderaktion Krakau was a German operation against professors and academics of theJagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupiedKraków,Poland, at the beginning ofWorld War II.[1] It was carried out as part of the much broader action plan, theIntelligenzaktion, to eradicate the Polish intellectual elite, especially in those centers (such as Kraków) that were intended by the Germans to become culturally German.[not in body]
It is not clear ifSonderaktion Krakau (special operation Kraków) was the actual German codename. The reason for the detention was communicated to professors in the concentration camp.[2]
Soon after the establishment of theGerman occupation of Poland, following theinvasion of Poland, on 19 October 1939, the Senate of theJagiellonian University decided to open the university for a new academic year, which was to start on 13 November.[3] This decision was communicated to German occupation authorities, who did not express objections.[3] However, on 3 November, theGestapo chief in KrakówSS-ObersturmbannführerBruno Müller, commandedJagiellonian Universityrector ProfessorTadeusz Lehr-Spławiński to require all professors to attend his lecture about German plans for Polish education. The rector agreed and sent an invitation throughout the university for a meeting scheduled at the administrative center building in theCollegium Novum(entrance pictured). On 6 November 1939, in lecture room no. 66 (currently no. 56[4]) at noon, all academics and their guests gathered; among them, 105 professors and 33 lecturers from Jagiellonian University (UJ), four fromUniversity of Economics (AE) and four from Lublin and Wilno.[5][6] There were also 34 professors and doctors fromUniversity of Technology (AG),[5] who did not intend to start the academic year, and attended their own meeting in a different room.[7]
The academics filled the hall but noVortrag (lecture) on education was given. Instead, they were told by Müller that the university did not have permission to start a new academic year and that Poles were hostile toward German science and acted in bad faith. They were arrested on the spot by armed policemen, frisked, and escorted out. Some senior professors were kicked, slapped in the face (Stanisław Estreicher) and hit with rifle butts. An additional 13–15 university employees and students who were on site were also arrested, as well as the President of Kraków,DrStanisław Klimecki who was apprehended at home that afternoon.[6]
All 184 persons were transported first to prison at Montelupich Street,[5] then to barracks at Mazowiecka, and—three days later—to a detention center inBreslau, Germany (nowWrocław, Poland), where they spent 18 days split between two prison facilities: the detention center (Untersuchungsgefängnis, at the Świebodzka 1 Street), and theStrafgefängnis penal complex at Kleczkowska 35. The Gestapo were unprepared for such a large transfer of prisoners, and awaited permission to send them toBuchenwald concentration camp. However, that was filled to capacity and so, on 27 November 1939, at night, they were loaded onto a train toSachsenhausen concentration camp located on the other side of Berlin,[8] and in March 1940, sent further toDachau concentration camp near Munich after a new batch of arrested younger academics arrived.[6]
Following loud international protest by prominent Italians includingBenito Mussolini and theVatican,[9] 101 professors who were older than 40 were released from Sachsenhausen on 8 February 1940. Additional academics were released later. Some elderly professors did not survive the roll-calls, held three times a day even in ice and snow, and the grim living conditions wheredysentery was common, warm clothes rare and food rations scarce.[10] Twelve died in the camp within three months, and another five within weeks of release.[11][12] Three professors of Jewish origin were separated and later were murdered or died of other causes: (Leon Sternbach,Wiktor Ormicki andJoachim Metallmann [pl]).[12] Among the notable professors who died in the camp wereIgnacy Chrzanowski (UJ; 19 January 1940),Stanisław Estreicher (UJ; 29 December 1939),Kazimierz Kostanecki (UJ; 11 January 1940),Antoni Meyer [pl] (AGH; 24 December 1939) andMichał Siedlecki (UJ; 11 January 1940, after roll-call). In March 1940, the able prisoners from Kraków who remained alive were sent toDachau concentration camp and most released in January 1941 on intervention.[6] The last one,Kazimierz Piwarski, was released in late 1941.[12]
Many of those who went throughSonderaktion Krakau and the internment formed anunderground university in 1942 in defiance of the German punitive edicts. Among the 800 students of their underground college was Karol Wojtyła, the future PopeJohn Paul II, taught by Prof.Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński among others.[13]
Today there is a plaque commemorating the events ofSonderaktion Krakau in front ofCollegium Novum in Kraków. Every 6 November, black flags are hung outside all Jagiellonian University buildings, and the Rector of the university lays wreaths to honor those who suffered.[citation needed]
Below is a partial list of selected prominent academics and university graduates arrested on 6 November 1939.[14]
Media related toSonderaktion Krakau at Wikimedia Commons