German AB - Aktion in Poland AB - Aktion ( Außerordentliche Befriedungsaktion ) ( ) , was a Nazi German campaign during World War II aimed to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of the Polish people and of Polish nationhood . In the spring and summer of 1940 , more than 30 , 000 Poles were arrested by the Nazi authorities in German - occupied Poland . About 7 , 000 leaders and professors , teachers and priests ( labeled as suspected of criminal activities ) were subsequently massacred at various locations including at the Palmiry Forest . The others were sent to German concentration camps . History . The mass murder of Polish leaders , politicians , artists , aristocrats , the intelligentsia , and people suspected of potential anti - Nazi activity was seen as a pre - emptive measure to keep the Polish resistance scattered and to prevent the Poles from revolting during the planned German invasion of France . The anti - Polish campaign was prepared by Hans Frank , the commander of the General Government , and was also discussed with Soviet officials during a series of secretive Gestapo - NKVD Conferences . The first elimination of Polish intelligentsia took place soon after the German invasion of Poland , lasting from autumn 1939 until spring 1940 . Operation " Intelligenzaktion " was a plan to eliminate the Polish intelligentsia , Poland ' s leadership class , realized by " Einsatzgruppen " and " Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz " . As the result of this operation 60 , 000 Polish nobles , teachers , entrepreneurs , social workers , priests , judges and political activists were killed in 10 regional actions . The Intelligenzaktion was continued by the German " AB - Aktion " operation in Poland . People were arrested according to an " enemies of the Reich list " - " Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen " prepared before the war by members of the German minority in Poland in cooperation with German Intelligence . Prior to the action , in late 1939 and early 1940 , most Polish university professors , intellectuals , writers , politicians , teachers and other members of the elite of Polish society were briefly arrested by the Gestapo and had their names registered . Frank finally accepted and approved the " Ausserordentliche Befriedungsaktion " on May 16 , 1940 . In the following weeks , the German police , the Gestapo , the SD ( " Sicherheitsdienst " ) and units of the " Wehrmacht " arrested roughly 30 , 000 Poles in major Polish cities , including Warsaw , Łódź , Lublin and Kraków . The interned were held in a number of prisons , including the infamous Pawiak , where they were subject to brutal interrogations by Nazi officials . After time spent in the prisons of Warsaw , Kraków , Radom , Kielce , Nowy Sącz , Tarnów , Lublin or Wiśnicz , the arrested Poles were transferred to German concentration camps , most notably to the newly created camp of Auschwitz , as well as Sachsenhausen and Mauthausen . Approximately 3 , 500 members of the Polish intelligentsia were executed at the mass murder sites in Palmiry near Warsaw , Firlej , Wincentynów near Radom , and in the Bliżyn forest near Skarżysko - Kamienna . Among those killed were Maciej Rataj , Stefan Bryła , Tadeusz Tański , Mieczysław Niedziałkowski and Janusz Kusociński . Actions were started on a similar scale in other Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany . According to many historians , including Norman Davies , the action against Polish leaders was coordinated with the authorities of the Soviet Union , who at the same time perpetrated the mass murder of 22 , 000 Polish military officers at Katyń and other places . The active persecution of Polish intellectuals was continued until the end of the war . The direct continuation of the AB Action was a German campaign in the east started after the German invasion of the USSR . Among the most notable mass executions of Polish professors was the massacre of Lwów professors , in which approximately 45 professors of the university in Lwów were murdered together with their families and guests . Among those killed in the massacre were Tadeusz Boy - Żeleński , former Polish prime minister Kazimierz Bartel , Włodzimierz Stożek , and Stanisław Ruziewicz . Thousands more perished in the Ponary massacre , in German concentration camps , and in ghettos . Aftermath . After the war , many people responsible for organizing the AB Action were tried before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals . However , the majority of responsible German commanders were either killed or vanished during the war before being held legally accountable for their crimes . The exact numbers of victims , and the dates of the executions , the causes of death of the Polish intelligentsia members in German captivity , are often contested by other European historians who dismiss a similarity with the Katyn massacres .