Roman Longchamps de Bérier

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Roman Longchamps de Bérier (1883-1941) was a Polish lawyer and university professor, one of the most notable specialists in civil law of his times and the last rector of the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów. He was murdered in what became known as the Massacre of Lwów professors.

Roman Longchamps de Bérier was born in 1883 in Lwów, then a city in Austro-Hungarian Galicia, to a notable family of distant French extraction who left France for Poland in 16th century. The French surname of his family gave the name of one of the suburbs of the city, Lonszanówka (modern Lonsanivka). After finishing his studies he became a specialist in civil law. In 1918 he served as a volunteer during the Ukrainian siege of Lwów and the ensuing Polish-Ukrainian War.

In 1920 he became a professor at the Faculty of Law of the Jan Kazimierz University of Lwów. Two years later he was appointed a member of the Commission of Codification of the Republic of Poland, where he took part in preparation of the Polish civil law. In 1931 he became a member of the Polish Academy of Skills and in 1936 he was appointed a member of the Competention Tribunal, one of the bodies crucial in solving conflicts between the legislative, executive and jurisdicial branches of the power.

After the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War of 1939 he was one of the co-founders of the Civilian Committee of Defense of Lwów that organized the defence of that city during the siege of that city. After the city surrendered to the Soviets and was annexed by the USSR he was deposed of his office, but remained one of the professors of the university. After the outbreak of the Russo-German War in 1941, on July 4 he was arrested by the Nazis and murdered in what became known as the massacre of Lwów professors. Among the victims were also three of his sons: Bronisław (b. 1916), Zygmunt (b. 1918) and Kazimierz (b. 1923).