Summary
Thus far, not a great deal has been written about geography in Kraków during the tragic years of World War II. The issue has reemerged in recent publications. In late 2009, a research study was commissioned to investigate events associated with geography in Kraków during the World War II era ( Jackowski, Sołjan 2009b).
The war era was a di cult test of patriotism, heroism, persistence, and skill forffi the Jagiellonian University, which had to function in secret.
German troops entered Kraków on September 6th, 1939 at about 6:00 AM. Military authorities ordered administrators to return to work and permitted schools to hold classes, starting on October 1st.
Hitler issued a decree on October 12th, 1939 that created a General Government of Occupied Poland, designed to administer a part of occupied Poland. The head of the new government was to be Hans Frank and the capital of the governed territory was to be Kraków.
The first months of German occupation did not bring any major changes in the life of the University. On September 1st of 1939, a new University administration went to work, having been elected in June of 1939. University departments were also functioning rather normally.
The deceptively normal situation led many to start preparing for a new academic year. A number of departments began to implement “normal” academic teaching plans created for the 1939/40 academic year. The Institute of Geography also proceeded to start a new year.
The planned inauguration of the new academic year never took place. SS Sturmbannführer Bruno Müller ordered the Rector of the University to invite UJ professors to a meeting to be held on November 6th, 1939 at 12:00 PM in the Kopernik Lecture Hall (No. 66) in Collegium Novum (now the J. Szujski Room – No. 56). The meeting was to address the relationship between the Third Reich, National Socialism, and teaching and research issues. The Rector must have been convinced that the meeting with Müller would be a form of final approval by the German government of the University’s academic mission. He appealed to the faculty to attend the meeting. His request e ectivelyff brought almost all professors of the University to the meeting. Other staff members also came including some from the Academy of Mining and the Academy of Commerce.
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Geografia krakowska w latach II wojny światowej The meeting turned out to be a trap. After a brief introduction, Müller said the
following: “Sirs, I have called you here in order to tell you that the University in Kraków
has always been a source of anti-German sentiment and has educated [Polish]
youth in this type of negative spirit […] This is why you will be arrested and sent to a detention camp.”
A total of 183 researchers were arrested – 155 of them being Jagiellonian University professors, 22 Academy of Mining professors, and 3 Academy of Commerce professors.
Virtually all professors, associate professors, and assistant professors from the Jagiellonian University and the Academy of Mining were sent to concentration camps.
They spent the first three weeks in prison in Wrocław, before being transferred to the Berlin area Sachsenhausen- Oranienburg concentration camp on November 28th, 1939.
The imprisonment of professors from Kraków became widely known across the world. International newspapers and weeklies covered the story. Even Benito Mussolini was asked to intervene. The Vatican did intervene. Pope Pius XII was shown a full list of the imprisoned professors.
The Germans at the time still had some respect for international opinion and they decided to free some of the prisoners from Sachsenhausen. This was the only such case in the history of German concentration camps. On February 8th, 1940, a total of 102 prisoners over the age of forty were allowed to leave the camp. The were forced to sign an a davitffi stating that they will not perform the jobs they did before being arrested.
The remaining professors were transferred to other camps, including Dachau (March 4th, 1940), and some were released later on.
A number of geographers were among the professors imprisoned in 1939: Jerzy Smoleński (Director of the Institute of Geography, Member of the PAU – Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences), Wiktor Ormicki, Stanisław Leszczycki, Stanisław Korbel (all from the Jagiellonian University), as well as Walenty Winid (Academy of Commerce).Two would die at concentration camps: Jerzy Smoleński (Sachsenhausen, January 1940), Wiktor Ormicki (Gusen, September 1941). The other three (Korbel, Leszczycki, Winid) would return home and become active participants in secret teaching programs. Professor Winid was arrested for this type of activity in 1943. He died at Auschwitz on January 19th, 1945 – on the eve the liberation of the camp by Soviet forces.
In addition to the individuals already mentioned, other geographers from Kraków also died during World War II. Nazi as well as Soviet forces killed the following individuals:
Krzysztof Beres (a soldier in the Home Army, killed in combat at Kajetanowice, 1944), Tadeusz Betleja (September Campaign, 1939), Władysław Breitmeier (Auschwitz, 1943), Tadeusz Czort (Katyń, 1940), Adam Gadomski (Auschwitz, 1942), Edward Kazimierz Kremky (Katyń, 1940), Zdzisław Simche (Auschwitz, 1940), and Julian Stanoch (Auschwitz, 1942). Finally, Professor Walerian Łoziński died of wartime exhaustion in Kraków in 1944.
Kraków geographers continued to teach at the secret University throughout the entire period of Nazi occupation, while others taught in secret high schools: Józef Szaflarski, Stanisław Leszczycki, Mieczysław Klimaszewski, Maria Dobrowolska, Stanisław Korbel, Wojciech Walczak, Józef Staśko, Julian Stanoch, Walenty Winid, and Adam Gadomski. The last three paid with their lives, murdered at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Secret education has been recognized as one of the finest chapters in the history of the Jagiellonian University.
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Antoni Jackowski, Izabela Sołjan
Kraków geographers did not let the war stop their research e ortsff either. While limited in scope, geography research was performed by the following individuals: Stanisław Leszczycki, Antoni Wrzosek, Eugeniusz Romer, Stanisław Pietkiewicz, Edward Rühle, and Józef Szaflarski. In February of 1943, the Secret AK Military Publishing House in Warsaw published the research work of Antoni Wrzosek titled “Silesia”, a historical analysis of the region. The work later became a solid argument for the inclusion of Silesia in the new postwar Poland.
Eugeniusz Romer left Warsaw after the Warsaw Uprising and headed for Kraków.
His arrival helped intensify the work of other geographers in Kraków associated with Poland’s postwar borders. The border study project was directed by Romer and included team members Stanisław Pietkiewicz, Edward Rühle, Józef Szaflarski, and Stanisław Leszczycki.
A number of geographers served in the Polish Army fighting on the Western Front:
Zdzisław Czeppe, Jan Flis, Władysław Milata. Others took part in underground activities including those of the Home Army: Krzysztof Beres, Julian Stanoch, Adam Gadomski, Stanisław Leszczycki, Jerzy Pokorny.
Kraków geographers were murdered at Auschwitz, Dachau, Mauthausen, and Katyń for their pro-independence work. Some were executed in the streets. Others were tortured in Nazi and Soviet prisons. The victims of war included researchers, teachers, local government o cials,ffi and social workers.
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