The Lvov Academy of Veterinary Medicine in the years 1939-1945 and the post-war beginnings of the Wroclaw Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

The Lvov Academy of Veterinary Medicine was founded in 1881 as a Polish school of veterinary medicine. In 1939, approximately 500 students studied there, and it had a staff of 110 employees, including 70 faculty, members. Its last years in Lvov were during the Second World War (1939-1945); when Lvov underwent alternating occupations of the Soviet and Nazi forces, and, as a consequence of the Yalta agreement, Lvov became a part of the Soviet Union after the war. As a result of these shifts in power, the Lvov Academy of Veterinary Medicine was transformed three times during the course of the war by the occupants into different veterinary institutions: from December of 1939 until June 1941 it was the Lvov State Veterinary Institute (Lvovsky Derzhavny Veterinarny Institut); in the years 1942-1944 - the State Veterinary Occupational Courses of Lvov (Staatliche Tierarztliche Fachkurse Lemberg); from July 27 of 1944, after the return of the Red Army to Lvov, once again T-it became the Lvov State Veterinary Institute. Throughout the entire period of the occupations,. the same faculty members of the Lvov Academy of Veterinary Medicine taught at the 'different' institutions: After the war, as a result of the above-mentioned Yalta agreement, the Polish faculty of the Lvov Academy of Veterinary Medicine was forced to leave Lvov. It was decided to settle in Wroelaw, since according to information already received from Professor A. Kliszecki who was staying there, on November 1, 1945 the senate of the Polish university in Wroclaw established a Faculty of Veterinary Medicine. The first dean of the faculty was to be Professor of Veterinary Medicine Zygmunt Markowski, the recipient of an honorary doctor-ate. In the course of forming and organizing the new school of veterinary medicine in Wroelaw, aside from a numerous group of future students, there were at least 53 employees from-the former Lvov Academy of Veterinary Medicine - in other words about 50% of its personnel of 1939 - including 9 professors, 7 doctors; 21 veterinary doctors with master's degrees, one graduate and 15 administrative and service staff.