Wspomnienia z Pobytu Profesorów Uniwersytetu Jagiellonskiego W Niemieckim Obozie Koncentracyjnym w Sachsenhausen (Memories of the Stay of Professors of the Jagiellonian University at the German Concentration Camp in Sachsenhausen)
Krakow: Nakladem Ksiegarni S. Kaminski, 1945. First edition. Softcover. Large octavo. 207pp. [1]. Tan wrappers with black lettering on the covers. The first edition of Polish lawyer and academic Jan Gwiazdomorski's memoir of his horrific experiences, as well as those of his colleagues, as a prisoner at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp during WWII. The author's story was one of many similar, experienced by Polish academics as part of the operation known as "Sonderaktion Krakau", which was part of "Intelligenzaktion", the Nazi's plan to eradicate the Polish intelligencia. The work can be seen not only as a personal account but a comprehensive testimony on the tragic events that befell this larger group of Polish intellectuals and professors. Preface written by fellow colleague and prisoner Stanislaw Kutrzeba (1876-1946).
On November 6th 1939, only a few months after the German invasion of Poland, the SS ordered Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński the rector of the Jagiellonian University, in Krakow, to call all of the professors to a lecture on the topic of German plans for education in Poland. The entire faculty (including Gwiazdomorski) gathered for the meeting and found that instead of the expected lecture, they encountered SS-Obersturmbannführer Bruno Müller and his men, there to condemn them as enemies of the state and arrest them. In total 184 academics (and a few other university employees) from the around Krakow, including Lehr-Spławiński himself, were arrested with most ultimately ending up in the Dachau and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. After huge efforts to petition their release, most of the surviving members of this group were released by 1941. Work divided in 2 parts pp 17-77 describe the situation in Krakow and deportations to Sachenhausen and other work camps. Part 2 pp 78- 201depict life in Sachsenhausen. Pp 202-207 contains list of professors who were arrested.
Wrappers with some light age toning to extremities and a few minor stains and smudges. Interior with some age toning to pages. Wrappers in very good, interior in near fine condition overall. vg to near fine. Item #47131
*Jan Gwiazdomorski (1899-1977) was a Polish lawyer and academic, both studies and later taught at the Jagiellonian University. He was a member Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and from 1956–1960 he chaired the Scientific Council of the Institute of Legal Sciences of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
Price: $450.00