ALEKSANDER SKOTNICKI "ZEMSTA": A HEROIC PARTISAN COMMANDER AND A VETERINARY SURGEON BY EDUCATION AND PROFESSION

In 1941, the Germans deported and murdered almost all the local Polish Jews from Dawidgródek. Among those murdered were Zygmunt and Adela Skotnicki, the parents of Aleksander Skotnicki. Despite his excellent education, his good position in Warsaw, and his family, Aleksander Skotnicki left his wife, Genowefa, and daughter and crossed the Bug River to the vicinity of Pińsk, where he joined the partisans in order to avenge the deaths of his parents. He adopted the pseudonym “Zemsta” (“Revenge”). To me, the veterinarians of that period were admirable citizens of the young Polish Republic, distinguished by courage and patriotism.