German AB-Aktion in Poland: After capturing Lwów, the Nazis executed professors of the University of Lwów along with their families.

The AB-Aktion was the second stage of the Nazi German campaign of violence in Poland early in World War II, taking place between March and September 1940. As with the previous Intelligenzaktion, during the 1939 invasion of Poland, it aimed to eliminate the intellectuals and the upper classes of the Second Polish Republic. While the Intelligenzaktion had taken place in the territories of western Poland annexed by Germany, perpetrated by Einsatzgruppen following closely behind the German Army, AB took place in the General Government (GG), the territories that were merely occupied and remained nominally part of Poland. Both primarily targeted present and former government officials, social and political activists, artists, educators, local business leaders and priests, all of whom the Germans believed would be instrumental in leading resistance to their rule, regardless of whether those targeted were actually inclined to do so. With the intellectuals eliminated, the Germans believed the remaining Polish population would be docile and useful to them as unskilled labour while they completed their plans to Germanize Poland and extirpate Polish cultural, ethnic and national identity.

Lviv is the largest city in western Ukraine, as well as the fifth-largest city in Ukraine, with a population of 717,500. It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine. Lviv also hosts the administration of Lviv urban hromada. It was named after Leo I of Galicia, the eldest son of Daniel, King of Ruthenia.

In July 1941, 25 Polish academics from the city of Lwów along with 25 of their family members were killed by Nazi German occupation forces. By targeting prominent citizens and intellectuals for elimination, the Nazis hoped to prevent anti-Nazi activity and to weaken the resolve of the Polish resistance movement. According to an eyewitness the executions were carried out by an Einsatzgruppe unit under the command of Karl Eberhard Schöngarth with the participation of Ukrainian translators in German uniforms.