The Lviv Hospitals in September 1939 Before the outbreak of World War II, there were eight hospitals in Lviv. After receiving news of the German aggression, two additional hospitals were set up in the specially adapted school buildings. In September 1939 all hospitals went through a difficult time as from the very first day of the war, the city had been systematically bombarded by the Luftwaffe. The situation deteriorated even further when on 12 September, the city found itself directly on the front line. From that moment onwards, for nine consecutive days Lviv had been the target of attacks both from the air and the land; fierce Polish-German fighting led to the death of many soldiers and civilians. The number of wounded reached several thousand. In view of the unsuccessful attempt to evacuate the wounded by an ambulance train, it became necessary to ensure suitable help to them on the spot. During those difficult days the work of doctors, nurses, paramedics and orderlies deserves the highest of praises. They fulfilled their duties both on the front-line and in hospitals deprived of window-panes, water, electricity with the growing shortages of medicines, food, dressings and aseptic materials. In the midst of bombardment, the drama of death and injuries, as well as depression caused by the Soviet aggression, these people persevered until the end. In spite of total exhaustion, they did not refuse their care and services to anyone, including the wounded enemy soldiers. They did not abandon their patients even after the surrender of the city, ensuring to them safe shelter, as well as further care and assistance on the way to their family homes. Up until now the research studies devoted to the defense of Lviv in September 1939 have focused chiefly on its military aspects, while relatively little space has been devoted to the plight of the civilian population. As yet no one has even tried to characterize, however briefly the work of hospitals, give an estimate of the number of convalescents and especially those who were not lucky enough to survive. The present publication constitutes the first such attempt undertaken in the hope that the discovery of new, still unknown sources and documents will one day allow one to create a more comprehensive study.
The article presents the subject of the vestigial remains of the military quarters in the Yanivskiy Cemetery in Lviv, which are the remnants of the events in Lviv and the Eastern part of Lesser Poland in the years 1918-1920.
PL
Artykuł prezentuje problematykę związaną z szczątkowymi pozostałościami kwatery wojskowej na Cmentarzu Janowskim we Lwowie, będącymi echem wydarzeń, do jakich doszło we Lwowie i Małopolsce Wschodniej w latach 1918-1920.
Ukrainian nationalists tried to de-polonize the South-Eastern Borderlands by means of mass genocide and they achieved this goal to a great extent. That, however, puts them on a par with the criminal regimes of Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler. The author of this article describes the genocide of Polish inhabitants in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia committed by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (Orhanizatsiya Ukrayins’kykh Natsionalistiv, OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (Ukrainska Povstanska Armiya, UPA) between 1943 and 1944. These events in European history are not well-known.
The article describes in detail two periodicals of the Independent Self-Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” being published during the State of War in the Krakow district of Nowa Huta outside the reach of offi cial censorship: “Solidarność Hutników” (the Solidarity of Steelworkers) and “Nowohucki Biuletyn Solidarności” (the Nowa Huta Solidarity Bulletin). These periodicals, along with the biggest of them ”Hutnik” (the Steelworker – this title has been described in detail by the same author in the 29th issue of “Sowiniec”) were organs of the Secret Labour Committee of Steelworkers (TKRH) – a conspiracy trade union structure of the biggest employer of the region – the Metallurgy Factory Vladimir Lenin Steelworks. Thanks to these periodicals, the union activists could communicate with the employees of the Steelworks. Printed in hiding, they included in editional boards well-known journalists and opposition activists. The author presents in detail every stage of creating periodicals for illegal distribution: editing, the ways and places of printing and distribution, and analyses the subjects tackled by the [periodicals. In years 1986-1989 35 issues of “Solidarność Hutnikow” were published – the periodical was closed due to the election campaign of 1989. “Nowohucki Biuletyn Solidarności” survived the so-called June elections and all ownership transfers and still keeps the function of the work periodical of Independent Self- Governing Trade Union “Solidarity” in Tadeusz Sendzimir Steelworks, excessing in 2008 1000 of published issues.
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