Dictionary of the Polish Intelligentsia Murdered by the Germans during the Second World War. Biographies and Commemoration - Instytut Pileckiego

The aim of the project is to prepare a compendium of knowledge, in the form of a dictionary, on human losses of the Polish intelligentsia murdered by the Germans during the Second World War.

A comprehensive exploration of this issue is of significance for Polish and world cultural heritage, as well as for Polish national identity. It will reveal the effects of an armed conflict (the Second World War) on the social tissue, from which an important socio-professional stratum, the elite, was removed. The project aims to present the biographies of the Polish intelligentsia who, owing to their position in society and state-building approach, suffered great losses during the Second World War, the full extent of which is still difficult to determine. The wartime crime against the Polish intelligentsia was the result of a planned extermination action against the Polish state. The victims included representatives of government and local authorities, teachers, the clergy, practitioners of liberal professions and other educated persons. The policy of extermination and repression against the Polish intelligentsia was pursued by the Third Reich in the entire territory of the Polish state, i.e. both in the so-called incorporated territories, which were annexed directly into the Reich, and in the General Government. The Polish intelligentsia was particularly persecuted in Gdańsk Pomerania, Kuyavia, Greater Poland, Upper Silesia and the Zichenau (Ciechanów) region. As part of the extermination policy against the Polish nation, with the beginning of the war the Third Reich began the first operations against the Polish intelligentsia (Intelligenzaktion, AB-Aktion – Extraordinary Operation of Pacification). Various German forces carried out the mass and planned crimes against the Polish intelligentsia: teachers, the clergy, local government officials, civil servants, members of socio-political organizations, activists. The extermination, persecution and repression against the Polish intelligentsia continued throughout the German occupation. The project also aims to encourage further research that could result in an ongoing updating of the dictionary, as well as to foster reflection on the politics of memory. The project is expected to provide an idea of the magnitude of the crime against the Polish intelligentsia, which remains a little-known and under-researched topic.

The result of the project will be the elaboration of a multi-volume publication in the form of a dictionary of the Polish intelligentsia murdered by the Germans during the Second World War. The dictionary (five volumes) will present the biographies of the members of the intelligentsia, which was a socio-professional stratum. Each biographical note will end with an enumeration of the forms of commemoration, including plaques, stones and tablets. Memorial sites will also be indicated. The dictionary will be available both in the printed version and online. In the online edition, each biographical note will have an open-access tab for uploading various documents and source materials.

The duration of the project is 5 years. The project will be implemented in 2024–2028.

Research Team
Project Manager: Prof. Witold Stankowski (Jagiellonian University, Pilecki Institute). The team comprises both experienced and young scholars: Dr. Zbigniew Klima (Cavalry Captain Witold Pilecki State University of Małopolska in Oświęcim, Auschwitz Memento Association), Dr. Grzegorz Kuba (Józef Piłsudski Museum in Sulejówek), Dr. Barbara Świtalska-Starzeńska (Museum of the Cursed Soldiers and Political Prisoners of the Polish People’s Republic), Monika Maniewska (MA; Pilecki Institute), Dr. Marcin Panecki (Pilecki Institute), Dr. Justyna Stępień (Pilecki Institute), Sylwia Rowicka (MA; Pilecki Institute), Krzysztof Wiśniewski (MA), as well as Marcin Stańczyk (project IT; Pilecki Institute).

National Programme for the Development of the Humanities, Foundations module, project no. NPRH/F/SN/0071/2024/13. Project value: PLN 1,771,188.00