Visiting professor explains Nazi persecution of academics

Dr. Zofia Golab-Meyer, professor emerita of physics at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, gave a historical account of Nazi and Soviet persecution of academics in Poland during World War II in a lecture entitled “Freedom, Tyranny and the Pursuit of Science: The Case of Poland 1918-1950.”

Following the German occupation of Poland, Nazi forces targeted Polish scientists and mathematicians as part of a plan to eliminate the intelligentsia class. In November 1939, the Nazi party required nearly 200 academics to convene at the Jagiellonian University under the pretense of discussing education reform, Golab-Meyer said.

“The rector of [Jagiellonian University] invited these professors to a meeting thinking that they could achieve good relations with the Nazis,” Golab-Meyer said. “What happened was 183 professors were imprisoned ... 144 were from [Jagellonian University].”

At the same time, the Soviet invasion of Poland claimed the lives of thousands of educated Poles, Golab-Meyer said.

“On the other side, the Soviets took 17,000 Polish officers,” she said. “It was the crème de la crème of intelligentsia. ... Among those killed by the Soviets was my uncle.”

Despite the repression of both Nazi and Soviet regimes, Polish academicians maintained their research, she said.

“In Dachau [concentration camp], there were a large number of physicists and mathematicians,” Golab-Meyer said. “… They organized a variety of lectures among them. From these lectures, there have appeared textbooks.”

Additionally, some academics who had not been deported to concentration camps built a secret network of underground universities in Poland, often held informally in private houses, Golab-Meyer said.

“We had this oppression, but we managed to do something,” she said. “In Krakow, in Vilnius, there were clandestine universities supported by the Polish government in exile.”

Golab-Meyer said the efforts of many dedicated teachers working to keep education accessible was a reason why Poland was able to sustain its academic progress.

“It’s not enough to have physics and mathematics,” she said. “It must be a whole atmosphere. People should have good influences, and not only concentrate on narrow problems.”

“The most important thing to survive oppression are good teachers, and I think morals and culture,” she said.

Influenced by the prolonged occupation of Nazi and Soviet regimes in Poland, Golab-Meyer said intellectual freedom should not be taken for granted.

“Culture and country can collapse,” she said. “Nothing is … forever. If we have freedom, we should care about it.”