Born on 24th June 1889 in Krakow, Joachim Metallmann, son of  Menasze  and Regina, née Friedner, was a  philosopher of natural science, methodologist and professor at the Jagiellonian University.

A St.Ann’s Gymnasium (currently Ist Secondary School) graduate, Metallmann studied Philosophy and Physics at the Philosophy Department at the Jagiellonian University between 1907-1912. He obtained the PhD title in 1912. Since 1917 he held the position of a gymnasium teacher in Mielec and Krakow (the Adam Mickiewicz Gymnasium number VII, the Hebrew Gymnasium, Vth Secondary School).  From 1931 up to the outbreak of WWII Metallmann was a Philosophy lecturer at the  National Pedagogium in Krakow. In 1932 he went to France on a scholarship and obtained his habilitation after returning to Poland in 1933. In  1934, having the title of Associate Professor, Metallmann started lecturing at the Jagiellonian University and at the Pedagogical University of Katowice. 

As part of  Aktion gegen Universitäts-Professoren, commonly known as Sonderaktion Krakau,  Metallmann was arrested on 6th November 1939 and driven to the  Sachsenhausen camp.  In spring  1940 he got to  Mauthausen, followed by Dachau and finally Buchenwald, where he lost his life on 21st August 1942. 

Read more: Janusz Mączka, Życie i poglądy filozoficzne Joachima Metallmanna (1889-1942) [W:] Prace Komisji Historii Nauki Polskiej Akademii Umiejętności VIII, p. 5-27, Kraków 2007.