7-th of November 2022.   

As in every year, also this November, the Jagiellonian University celebrated the Academic Remembrance Day. It is the anniversary of Sonderaktion Krakau, a German special action directed against academic professors in occupied Krakow, combined with deportation to concentration camps and the murder of many of the deported. Among them there were professors and other employees of Krakow universities (mainly the Jagiellonian University), of various ethnicities (Polish, Ukrainian, Jewish) and various political views.

As it was noted by Prof. Jacek Popiel, the Rector of the Jagiellonian University, during his speech in the auditorium of the Collegium Novum, keeping the memory of Sonderaktion Krakau is “… a historical wisdom that we should pass on to future generations.” This year, the context of the Academic Remembrance Day related to the cruel war beyond the eastern border of Poland is special – the Rector expressed solidarity with the Ukrainian academic community. We remember and we don’t want repetitions anywhere in the world!

Prepared by: Tomasz Bochenek