Bullets and grenades during school exams?! Only in Poland

This is the Vilnius School Massacre that occurred on 6 May 1925 at Joachim Lelewel high school in Poland.                      At about 11am during the final exams, at least two eighth grade students attacked the board of examiners with revolvers and hand grenades. They killed 1 teacher ,2 students and then committed suicide!

Hi, I just wanted to correct your post:
Vilnius is in Lithuana not Poland. Joachim Lelewel, the man the school is named after, was Polish though but lived in Vilnius, hence it got named after him.

Well you are both right in a way.
Vilnius is today in Lithuania. But before ww2 it was in Poland and know unde rthe polish name of Wilno.

So back in 1925 it was definitlaly Poland. I'm not going to go into the whole historical debate ion wether Wilno is Polish or Lithuanian, as it has a complex history. Back in the 1920s the majority of the population was IIRc polish speaking catholics, but lithuanian-speaking catholics and various orthodox groups (including Belorussains) were a visible minority living in the city. There were also a jewish minority.

Its hard to be entirely sure, as the barriers between nationalities in the region were often somewhat fluid, but the surname of one of the perpetrators (Ławrynowicz) is imho definitally Belorussian. The other perp's surname (Obrąbalski) can be either polish or belorussian. One thing is sure, these are certainly neither jewish nor lithuanian surnames.

My best bet is that both shooters were Belorussians by ethnicity.

Check this thread, its been discussed in more lenght there:

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Sabratha wrote:

So back in 1925 it was definitlaly Poland. I'm not going to go into the whole historical debate ion wether Wilno is Polish or Lithuanian, as it has a complex history.

We are writing on this board today, which is 2015 and not 1925, so from today's perspective and the perspective of the readers who live in the now, it is Lithuania and not Poland. So the origin doesn't really matter, I think, as we are talking city... Belorussians, Polish and Jews are everywhere over here, not only in that town and country... What I mean is that it is confusing for certain readers and that he may should've noted that more detailed to prevent confusion. Something like "back then Poland today Lithuania" would have been perfect. Because it is misleading to write such a generalizing remark "Only in Poland" in the headline.

klebomb wrote:

Sabratha wrote:

So back in 1925 it was definitlaly Poland. I'm not going to go into the whole historical debate ion wether Wilno is Polish or Lithuanian, as it has a complex history.

We are writing on this board today, which is 2015 and not 1925, so from today's perspective and the perspective of the readers who live in the now, it is Lithuania and not Poland. So the origin doesn't really matter, I think, as we are talking city... Belorussians, Polish and Jews are everywhere over here, not only in that town and country... What I mean is that it is confusing for certain readers and that he may should've noted that more detailed to prevent confusion. Something like "back then Poland today Lithuania" would have been perfect. Because it is misleading to write such a generalizing remark "Only in Poland" in the headline.

Sure, no poroblem. I just wanted to point this out, as when you say "Lithuania" people today will think of a small coutry that is inhabited mostly by Lithuanians. Back in the 1920s things were different, the city in question was full of people from numerous ethnic groups and different religions. Poles were the largest group and the classes in said school were held in the polish language.

Just wanted to stress how different the place was then from what it is now.