Czarny Las Massacre Czarny Las Massacre ( Polish : " Mord w Czarnym Lesie " ) was a mass murder of around 250 Poles , carried out by the Gestapo , on the orders of SS - Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger in Czarny Las ( " Black Forest " ) near Stanisławów , during the night of August 14 / 15 , 1941 . Background . After the German invasion of the Soviet Union , the city of Stanisławów ( now " Ivano - Frankivsk " , Ukraine ) , which between the world wars was administrated by Poland , was captured by the Hungarians , who were friendly towards local Poles , and put an end to pogroms of local Jews , carried out by groups of Ukrainian nationalists . In early August 1941 the Hungarians were replaced by Germans , who , with help from Ukrainian nationalists , began preparation for the mass murder of Polish intelligentsia , under SS - Hauptsturmführer Hans Krüger , who had already participated in the Massacre of Lviv professors . Massacre . Upon the order of Krueger , during the night of August 8 / 9 1941 , Ukrainian auxiliary police arrested members of Polish intelligentsia , mostly teachers . The list of those arrested , like in Lviv , had been prepared by the Ukrainians , among others , a professor of the Ukrainian high school , Ivan Rybczyn . The Poles were told that they were asked to come for an organizational meeting , due to the oncoming school year . Since the policemen acted in a polite way , future victims did not suspect anything wrong . On that night , some 250 people were arrested . All were kept in a Gestapo prison , and at first their families were allowed to meet them . During the night of August 14 / 15 , Poles were ordered to load on trucks , and some 250 of them were taken to Czarny Las ( " Black Forest " ) , near the village of Pawełcze , where they were shot . Before the execution , the Germans had ordered a group of peasants from Pawełcze to dig mass graves . One person survived the massacre , a Polish forester from the village of Sołotwina , who , taking advantage of rain and night , managed to escape from a truck . Among those murdered were teachers , doctors , priests and civil servants . The fate of those murdered was not known to their families , who in September 1941 sent a delegation to the local Gestapo . Hans Kruger assured them that all were alive , and the investigation was still going on . The Germans allowed families to send food parcels and clothes to their loved ones . The food was given to dogs , and the clothes were taken by wards of Gestapo prison . In the winter of 1942 , Countess Karolina Lanckorońska went to Stanisławów as an envoy of Central Welfare Council . She talked to Krueger , and German prosecutor Rotter . In a conversation with Rotter , he suggested to her that Krueger had killed the Stanisławów intelligentsia . Among those murdered were a number of high school teachers , such as Leon Buchowski , Maksymilian Fleszer , Henryka Halpern , Kajetan Isakiewicz ( a relative of Rev . Tadeusz Isakowicz - Zaleski ) , Aleksander Jordan ( father of Maria Jordan , biologist of the Polish Academy of Sciences ) , Antoni Karsznia , Franciszek Jun , Kazimierz Waligóra , Rev . Łucjan Tokarski , Stanisław Umański , Maksymilian Chudnio , Witold Dąbrowski , Kazimierz Firganek , Henryka Halpern , Wawrzyniec Jakubiec , Antoni Karsznia , Władysław Łuczyński , Józef Majgier , Alojzy Rotter , Anatol Scherman , Ignacy Stamper , Stanisław Telichowski , Roman Jacyk , Radosław Jawecki , Maksymilian Rosenberg , Joanna Kopytowa , Stanisława Antoszewska , Zygmunt Kamiński , Emil Planer , Kazimiera Skwarczyńska , Stanisław Szczepanowski , Władysław Begier , Włodzimierz Kamiński , Franciszek Sawicki , Aleksander Ilczyszyn , Marian Stefanów , Stanisława Czaprażanka , Władysława Rozozińska , Kamila Szczepanowska , Józef Drozd , Marcin Folger , Marian Płaczek , Jadwiga Robinowa , Irena Moldauer , Józef Kujbida . Post - war . Mass graves were discovered in Czarny Las in 1988 , due to efforts of families of victims , and with help from local people . In 1991 , Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites erected a monument there . In August 2011 a commemorative cross was placed in Czarny Las , during a ceremony attended by governor of Ivano - Frankivsk Oblast , Mykhailo Vyshyvaniuk , Andrzej Kunert of Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites , and families of victims . During the ceremony , Kunert said : " It was not only a brutal attack of the Germans on Polish intelligentsia , regarded by them as main enemy , as the most dangerous part of the nation . It also was part of a broader plan of both occupiers " .