Abstract
DR. T. JACZEWSKI, formerly acting director of the Polish Museum of Zoology, Warsaw, now attached to the Polish Repatriation Mission, B.A.O.R., has been able to compile the following data concerning the fate of Polish zoologists during the Second World War. The total death-roll amounted to fifty-four persons, that is, more than 25 percent of the number of zoologists working in Poland in pre-war times. Of these fifty-four people, twenty-five died a natural death, although in most cases certainly a premature one, caused by hardships and privations under the German occupation ; thirteen were killed in action, four were executed by the Germans, eight died in German concentration camps, and four are reported missing since 1939 or a later date. Eighteen were university professors, seven belonged to junior university personnel, ten to the staff of museums, biological stations, etc., six to the staff of economic zoological institutions, and thirteen were private workers. Among more prominent names may be mentioned: Prof. K. Biajaszewicz (University of Warsaw, physiology, died 194 3), Prof. T. Garbowski (University of Cracow, animal psychology, died 1940 in concentration camp, Oranienburg), Prof. E. Godlewski, jun. (University of Cracow, embryology, died 1944), Prof. S. Kopec (University of Warsaw, general biology, executed 1941), Dr. Z. Kozminski (hydro -biology, killed in action 1939), Prof. R. Kuntze (Warsaw School of Agriculture, economic zoology, executed 1944), Dr. S. Minkiewicz (economic entomology, died 1944), Prof. W. Roszkowski (University of Warsaw, general and systematic zoology, executed 1944), Prof. M. Siedlecki (University of Cracow, general zoology, died 1940 in concentration camp, Oranienburg), Dr. J. Wiszniewski (hydrobiology, killed in action 1944). It is feared that the above data are still not quite complete, as the fate of several persons who left the country in 1939 or later, or were forcibly displaced by the Germans, is not yet certain.
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Losses among Polish Zoologists during the War. Nature 157, 258 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/157258b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/157258b0