HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński (September 20, 1891 – February 17, 1965) was a Polish linguist, scholar, and professor of Slavonic studies. He was twice elected rector of the
Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (, UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by Casimir III the Great, King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and one of the List of oldest universities in con ...
in
Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...
before and after the Nazi German
occupation of Poland Occupation commonly refers to: *Occupation (human activity), or job, one's role in society, often a regular activity performed for payment *Occupation (protest), political demonstration by holding public or symbolic spaces *Military occupation, th ...
.


Biography

Lehr-Spławiński was born in Kraków, the son of Edward Lehr, an engineer, and Maria ''
née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
'' Spławińska. He went to Jan III Sobieski high school and, in the years 1909–1915 studied linguistics, history of Polish literature as well as classical philology, at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. He continued his studies in
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, and began his teaching career in
Zakopane Zakopane (Gorals#Language, Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has ...
. In 1918 (following Poland's return to independence), Lehr-Spławiński became professor at
Poznań University Poznań ( ) is a city on the Warta, River Warta in west Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business center and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John's ...
and, from 1922, the University of Lwów, at both of which he led the Department of Slavonic Philology. From 1929 until his retirement in 1962, he was professor of linguistics at Jagiellonian University, elected as its Rector for the first time just prior to the Nazi German
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
. Among his students in October 1938 was the Karol Wojtyła, the future Pope John Paul II.


World War II

On November 6, 1939, during the ''
Sonderaktion Krakau ''Sonderaktion Krakau'' was a German operation against professors and academics of the Jagiellonian University and other universities in German-occupied Kraków, Poland, at the beginning of World War II. It was carried out as part of the much bro ...
'', Lehr-Spławiński was arrested and interned by the
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
on the order of ''SS-Obersturmbannführer'' Bruno Müller; along with 184 professors and academics from three different universities in Kraków. It was part of a much broader assault on Polish cultural elite known as ''
Intelligenzaktion The ''Intelligenzaktion'' (), or the Intelligentsia mass shootings, was a series of mass murders committed against the Polish people, Polish intelligentsia (teachers, priests, physicians, and other prominent members of Polish society) during the ...
''. The prisoners were transported first to jail at Montelupich street and – some three days later – to the detention center in Breslau, where they spent 18 days in prison facilities. The Breslau Gestapo were unprepared for such a large transfer of prisoners and awaited permission to send them to the
Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...
. As the camp was filled to capacity, on the evening of November 27, 1939, they were loaded on a train to the
Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners t ...
located outside of
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
.Mateusz Łabuz
"Sonderaktion Krakau. Uniwersytecka wojna"
(with complete list of 184 detainees by name). ''Druga Wojna Swiatowa''.
Lehr-Spławiński was among a group of Kraków academics released from custody in February 1940 as a result of an international protest involving prominent Italians including
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
and the
Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...
. Following his release, he participated in clandestine teaching during the occupation period. In 1945, after the liberation of Kraków, he again became the rector of Jagiellonian University and served until 1946. He was head of Slavonic Institute of the
Polish Academy of Sciences The Polish Academy of Sciences (, PAN) is a Polish state-sponsored institution of higher learning. Headquartered in Warsaw, it is responsible for spearheading the development of science across the country by a society of distinguished scholars a ...
, and ''Doctor honoris causa'' at
Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...
and the
Sofia University Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski" () is a public university, public research university in Sofia, Bulgaria. It is the oldest institution of higher education in Bulgaria. Founded on 1 October 1888, the edifice of the university was constr ...
. Lehr-Spławiński was married and had two sons, Andrzej and Wojciech and a daughter, Barbara. He died on February 17, 1965, in Kraków, and is buried at the historic
Rakowicki Cemetery Rakowicki Cemetery (English: ; ) is a historic necropolis and a cultural heritage monument located on 26 Rakowicka Street in Kraków, Poland. It lies within the Administrative District No. 1 ''Stare Miasto'' meaning "Old Town" – distinct from ...
. A street in Kraków is named after him.


Works

Lehr-Spławiński is the author of over 400 publications in the field of linguistics and its history, etymology, Saussure's Law, as well as culture and education. He wrote dictionaries and university textbooks. Popular works by Lehr-Spławiński include: * ''Kaszubi: kultura ludowa i język'' (translated as ''The Cassubian civilization'' by Friedrich Lorentz), 2 editions, 1935 * ''O pochodzeniu i praojczyźnie Słowian'' (On the origin and early homeland of the Slavs), 1946, Polish * ''Język polski; pochodzenie, powstanie, rozwój'', 6 editions between 1947 and 1978, Polish, English * ''Przegląd i charakterystyka języków słowiańskich'', 8 editions between 1954 and 1994, Polish * ''Rozprawy i szkice z dziejów kultury Słowian'', 1954 * ''Dzieje języka ukraińskiego w zarysie'', 3 editions, 1956, Polish * ''Wybór tekstów do historii języka rosyjskiego'', 2 editions between 1965 and 1981, Russian, Polish * ''Zarys gramatyki języka staro-cerkiewno-słowiańskíego na tle porównawczym'', 1965 * ''Gramatyka historyczna języka czeskiego'', in Polish, 1957 * ''O mowie Polaków w Galicji Wschodniej'' (On the Polish language in Eastern Galicia) * ''Słownik etymologiczny języka Drzewian połabskich'', 3 editions, 1981, multiple languages


Footnotes


References


''Google Search'' inauthor:"Tadeusz Lehr-Spławiński".

Poczet Rektorów Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
(
PDF Portable document format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe Inc., Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, computer hardware, ...
: 78 KB). Retrieved May 12, 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Lehr-Splawinski, Tadeusz 1891 births 1965 deaths Linguists of Slavic languages Burials at Rakowicki Cemetery Academic staff of Jagiellonian University Members of the Lwów Scientific Society Sachsenhausen concentration camp survivors 20th-century Polish linguists