Sonderaktion Krakau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sonderaktion Krakau - is the codename for a German action against scientists from the University of Kraków and other Kraków universities at the beginning of World War II.
It was carried out as a part of the plan to exterminate the Polish intellectual elite.
On November 6, 1939, Obersturmbannführer SS Bruno Müller asked Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński, then the University's rector, to conduct a lecture on German teaching ideas. The rector agreed and sent an invitation throughout the university. When the people arrived at 12:00, no lecture was conducted. They were instead imprisoned, because the university was working without German consent. They were later sent to camps in Sachsenhausen and Dachau. Because of loud international protests, some of them were released in 1940, but many had died earlier, due to bad living conditions, e.g. Antoni Meyer, Stanisław Estreicher Michał Siedlecki, Kazimierz Kostanecki, Ignacy Chrzanowski. People often suffered from diarrhea.
Those that survived decided to continue teaching in hiding.
