1939: Edmund Jankowski, Olympic rower
November 1st, 2020 Headsman
On this date in 1939, Polish Olympian Edmund Jankowski was shot by the Third Reich.
Jankowski (English Wikipedia entry | Polish) earned bronze in the coxed four rowing event at the 1928 summer games in Amsterdam.
He’s one of more than 1,000 Poles and Jews who were shot in the so-called “Valley of Death” — a site in Fordon during the autumn of 1939. The victims were heavily members of the intelligentsia systematically targeted for elimination by the Pomeranian arm of the Nazi Inteligentzaktion, implemented directly after swift conquest of Poland in September of that year. Jankowski, who by this time worked at a bicycle factory and was a reserve lieutenant in the army, was on such a kill list because of his longstanding activities in a Polish patriotic union.
On this day..
- 1842: William Caffee, Mineral Point spook - 2019
- 1946: Arthur Robert Boyce, the king's housekeeper's lover - 2018
- 1922: Francisco Murguia - 2017
- 1929: Habibullah Kalakani, Tajik bandit-king - 2016
- 1833: Ira West Gardner, creepy stepfather - 2015
- 1938: George Brain, Wimbledon murderer - 2014
- 1822: David Lamphier - 2013
- 1912: George Redding, making Emile Gauvreau's career - 2012
- 1943: Not Anatoly Kuznetsov, insignificant little chap - 2011
- 1943: Six POWs, inscribed on a ouija board - 2010
- 1463: David of Trebizond and his heirs - 2009
- 1615: Kate McNiven, the Witch of Monzie - 2008
- 1920: Kevin Barry - 2007
Entry Filed under: 20th Century,Athletes,Entertainers,Execution,Germany,History,Mass Executions,No Formal Charge,Occupation and Colonialism,Poland,Power,Shot,Soldiers,Summary Executions,Wartime Executions
Tags: 1930s, 1939, edmund jankowski, november 1, olympics, valley of death, world war ii
Yeah, this is exactly I was going for in my historical and biographical study. Wonderful story, many thanks!