beatification date

13.06.1999more on
www.swzygmunt.knc.pl
[access: 2013.05.19]

the RC Pope John Paul IImore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]

function

religious cleric

creed

Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]

congregation

Order of Friars Minor Conventual OFMConvmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
(i.e. Conventual Franciscans)

diocese / province

Immaculate Mary province OFMConvmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.08.18]

date and place
of death

13.12.1941

KL Auschwitzconcentration camp
today: Oświęcim, Oświęcim gm., Oświęcim pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.09]

alt. dates and places
of death

12.12.1941

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

12832Click to display source page (KL AuschwitzClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: exhaustion and starvation

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL AuschwitzClick to display the description, Regierungsbezirk KattowitzClick to display the description, PawiakClick to display the description, Warsaw (Szucha Ave.)Click to display the description, GeneralgouvernementClick to display the description, Stalag XXI A SchildbergClick to display the description, Stalag III B Fürstenberg/Oder — Amtitz branchClick to display the description, Stalag VIII B LamsdorfClick to display the description, Help to the JewsClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

21.08.1909

Kokanintoday: Żelazków gm., Kalisz pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

religious vows

08.09.1927 (temporary)
21.02.1931 (permanent)

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

23.06.1935 (Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07])

positions held

biography (own resources)

Click to read biography details from our resources

others related
in death

BAJEWSKIClick to display biography John Eugene (Fr Antoninus), KOLBEClick to display biography Raymond (Fr Maximilian Mary), TROJANOWSKIClick to display biography Stanislav Anthony (Bro. Timothy), ŻUKOWSKIClick to display biography Peter (Bro. Boniface)

sites and events
descriptions

KL Auschwitz: German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL and Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Auschwitz was set up by Germans around 27.01.1940 n. Oświęcim, on the German territory (initially in Germ. Provinz Schlesien — Silesia Province; and from 1941 Germ. Provinz Oberschlesien — Upper Silesia Province). Initially mainly Poles were interned. From 1942 it became the centre for holocaust of European Jews. Part of the KL Auschwitz concentration camps’ complex was Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Auschwitz II Birkenau, located not far away from the main camp. There Germans murder possibly in excess of million people, mainly Jews, in gas chambers. Altogether In excess of 400 priests and religious went through the KL Auschwitz, approx. 40% of which were murdered (mainly Poles). (more on: en.auschwitz.org.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], www.meczennicy.pelplin.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06])

Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz: After the Polish defeat in the 09.1939 campaign, which was the result of the Ribbentrop‐Molotov Pact and constituted the first stage of World War II, and the beginning of German occupation in part of Poland (in the other, eastern part of Poland, the Russian occupation began), the Germans divided the occupied Polish territory into five main regions (and a few smaller). The largest one was transformed into Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), intended exclusively for Poles and Jews and constituting part of the so‐called Germ. Großdeutschland (Eng. Greater Germany). From two separate new provinces were created. The two remaining were incorporated into existing German provinces. One of those was Polish Upper Silesia, which on 08.09.1939, by decree of the German leader Adolf Hitler (formally came into force on 26.10.1939), was incorporated into Germany as the Germ. Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz (Eng. Katowice Regency) and became part of the Germ. Provinz Schlesien (Eng. Province of Silesia) based in Wrocław. On 01.04.1940, the Germ. Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz was enlarged by several pre‐war German counties, and on 18.01.1941, a new German province was created, the Germ. Provinz Oberschlesien (Eng. Province of Upper Silesia), which, apart from the Germ. Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz, also included the Opole region. From 26.10.1939, when the regency was established, the law of the German state was in force there, the same as in Berlin. The main axis of the policy of the new regency, the territory of which the Germans recognized as the Germ. „Ursprünglich Deutsche” (Eng. „natively German”), despite the fact only 6% of its pre–war Polish part were Germans, was Germ. „Entpolonisierung” (Eng. „Depolonisation”), i.e. forced Germanization. The main mechanism was the introduction of the Germ. Deutsche Volksliste DVL, a German nationality list that was supposed to specify the national affiliation of the inhabitants of the region. The largest group marked in the compulsory registrations was Group 3, people who identified themselves as „Silesians” (in 1943 about 41%), and people remaining outside the DVL (about 36%). The latter group was intended to be deported to the Germ. Generalgouvernement (which did not happen en masse because German industry needed slave labor). Group 3, considered by the Germans as capable of Germanization, was subject to certain legal restrictions, and was subject to, among others, to conscription into the German Wehrmacht army. Children could only learn in German. A policy of terror was pursued against the Polish population. There was a special police court, controlled by the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. the Gestapo, before which c. 4,000‐5,000 people were detained. For the years 1942‐1945 over 2,000 of them were verified, of which 1,890 were sentenced to death, including 286 in public executions. Thousands of people were murdered during the so‐called «Intelligenzaktion Schlesien», including 300‐650 Polish teachers and c. 61 Polish Catholic priests. The regency hosted a German concentration and extermination camp KL Auschwitz, where the Germans imprisoned c. 1,100,000 Jews (murdering c.1,000,000, i.e. c. 90% of them) and c. 140,000 Poles (murdering c. 70,000, i.e. c. 50% of them). After the end of hostilities of World War II, the overseer of this province, the Germ. Reichsstatthalter (Eng. Reich Governor) and the Germ. Gauleiter (Eng. district head) of the German National Socialist Party, Fritz Brecht, committed suicide. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.06.24])

Pawiak: Investigative prison in Warsaw, built by the Russian occupiers of Poland in 1830‐1835. During the Poland partition's period, a Russian investigative prison, both criminal and political. During World War II and the German occupation, the largest German prison in the General Government. Initially, it was subordinate to the Justice Department of the General Governorate, and from 03.1940 Germ. Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst (Eng. Security Police and Security Service) of the Warsaw District — in particular the German Secret Political Police Gestapo. c. 3,000 prisoners were kept in Pawiak permanently, of which about 2,200 in the men's unit and c. 800 in the women's unit (the so‐called Serbia) — with a „capacity” of c. 1,000 prisoners. In total, in the years 1939‐1944, c. 100,000 Poles passed through the prison, of which c. 37,000 were murdered in executions — from 10.1943 Pawiak prisoners were murdered in open executions on the streets of Warsaw (sometimes several times a day) — during interrogations, in cells or in a prison „hospital”, and c. 60,000 were taken in 95 transports to concentration camps (mainly KL Auischwitz), other places of isolation or to forced labor. The prison Germans demolished during the Warsaw Uprising in 08‐10.1944. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.08.17])

Warsaw (Szucha Ave.): At 25 John Christian Szucha Avenue in Warsaw — then in German‐occupied General Governorate — at the heart of so‐called police district (with status Germ. „Nur für Deutsche” — End. „Only for Germans”), from 07.10.1939 headquarters of Germ. Der Kommandeur Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst für den Distrikt Warschau (Eng. Bureau of Security Police and Security Service Commander for Warsaw District), Germans organised Warsaw HQ of Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo. In the basements a Germ. Hausgefängnis (Eng. Detention Centre) was set. Prisoners from Warsaw prisons, mainly Pawiak (twice a day) where brought there for interrogations. Tortures were widely used — „beating (with a club, whip, rubber, iron poles, butts of pistols), kicking, setting dogs on, burning flesh with cigarettes or an iron rod (especially the face, heels and abdomen), crushing fingers and genitals, hanging on the hands at the back, breaking bones, knocking out front teeth, damaging eyeballs, strangling with a gas mask with a damaged absorber, irritating with electric current, pouring water into the nose with gagged mouth, dipping the prisoner's head in a bucket with water and holding it there until signs of suffocation, plucking out nails and driving steel needles under them” (Wikipedia). Often tortures were done with family members present. Even women in last months of pregnancy were tortured. During Warsaw Uprising of 08‐10.1944 Germans conducted mass executions in the building. Number of victims — unknown (in 06.1946 in Szucha Avenue building basements 5.5. tons of human ashes and bones were discovered). (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.02.02])

Generalgouvernement: After the Polish defeat in the 09.1939 campaign, which was the result of the Ribbentrop‐Molotov Pact and constituted the first stage of World War II, and the beginning of German occupation in part of Poland (in the other, eastern part of Poland, the Russian occupation began), the Germans divided the occupied Polish territory into five main regions. In two of them new German provinces were created, two other were incorporated into other provinces. However, the fifth part was treated separately, and in a political sense it was supposed to recreate the German idea from 1915 (during World War I, after the defeat of the Russians in the Battle of Gorlice in 05.1915) of creating a Polish enclave within Germany. Illegal in the sense of international law, i.e. Hague Convention, and public law, managed by the Germans according to separate laws — especially established for the Polish Germ. Untermenschen (Eng. subhumans) — till the Russian offensive in 1945 it constituted the Germ. Großdeutschland (Eng. Greater Germany). Till 31.07.1940 formally called Germ. Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete (Eng. General Government for the occupied Polish lands) — later simply Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), as in the years 1915‐1918. From 07.1941, i.e. after the German attack on 22.06.1941 against the erstwhile ally, the Russians, it also included the Galicia district, i.e. the Polish pre‐war south‐eastern voivodeships. A special criminal law was enacted and applied to Poles and Jews, allowing for the arbitrary administration of the death penalty regardless of the age of the „perpetrator”, and sanctioning the use of collective responsibility. After the end of the military conflict of the World War UU, the government of the Germ. Generalgouvernement was recognized as a criminal organization, and its leader, governor Hans Frank, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and executed. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04])

Stalag XXI A Schildberg: Stalag XXI A Schildberg — German POW camp complex located in Schildberg (today: Ostrzeszów). Almost all inhabitants of the town were evicted to make space for the camp. During initial period 1939‐1940 civilians (c. 12,000) were also held there — apart from Polish POWs — brought from all over Poland, including Franciscan Fathers from Niepokalanów (11.11.1939‐08.12.1939). Later British and Norwegian POWs, among others, were held captive. In practice operated also as a Germ. Durchgangslager (Eng. transit camp). In 1939‐1945 c. 125,000 Polish and Allied POWs were held there. In peak up to 30,000 were incarcerated. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.11.17])

Stalag III B Fürstenberg/Oder — Amtitz branch: Stalag III B Fürstenberg/Oder — German POW camp. Founded in Fürstenberg/Oder (today part of Eisenhüttenstadt). POWs slaved at weapons and chemicals manufacture, among others. In 1938 in Amtitz (today Gębice) the camp’s branch, functioning in 1938‐1943, was constructed. Initially a few dozen Czechs were held there. After German attack of Poland in 09.1939 Poles were brought in, including c. 100 priests and friars (among them bl. Maximilian Kolbe). Altogether c. 20,000‐25,000 prisoners were held captive. From 1940 a transit camp for people sent subsequently for slave labour deep into Germany. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.11.06])

Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf: Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf (from 1943 Stalag 344 Lamsdorf) — German POW camp in Łambinowice, mainly for privates and NCOs. In 1930‐1940 in excess of 40,000 Poles where kept there. Altogether c. 100,000 prisoners from Australia, Belgium, British India, British Palestine, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the United States and Yugoslavia passed through this camp. In 1941 a separate camp, Stalag VIII‐F was set up close by to house the Soviet prisoners. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.11.17])

Help to the Jews: During World War II on the Polish occupied territories Germans forbid to give any support to the Jews under penalty of death. Hundreds of Polish priests and religious helped the Jews despite this official sanction. Many of them were caught and murdered.

Ribbentrop‐Molotov: Genocidal Russian‐German alliance pact between Russian leader Joseph Stalin and German leader Adolf Hitler signed on 23.08.1939 in Moscow by respective foreign ministers, Mr. Vyacheslav Molotov for Russia and Joachim von Ribbentrop for Germany. The pact sanctioned and was the direct cause of joint Russian and German invasion of Poland and the outbreak of the World War II in 09.1939. In a political sense, the pact was an attempt to restore the status quo ante before 1914, with one exception, namely the „commercial” exchange of the so‐called „Kingdom of Poland”, which in 1914 was part of the Russian Empire, fore Eastern Galicia (today's western Ukraine), in 1914 belonging to the Austro‐Hungarian Empire. Galicia, including Lviv, was to be taken over by the Russians, the „Kingdom of Poland” — under the name of the General Governorate — Germany. The resultant „war was one of the greatest calamities and dramas of humanity in history, for two atheistic and anti‐Christian ideologies — national and international socialism — rejected God and His fifth Decalogue commandment: Thou shall not kill!” (Abp Stanislav Gądecki, 01.09.2019). The decisions taken — backed up by the betrayal of the formal allies of Poland, France and Germany, which on 12.09.1939, at a joint conference in Abbeville, decided not to provide aid to attacked Poland and not to take military action against Germany (a clear breach of treaty obligations with Poland) — were on 28.09.1939 slightly altered and made more precise when a treaty on „German‐Russian boundaries and friendship” was agreed by the same murderous signatories. One of its findings was establishment of spheres of influence in Central and Eastern Europe and in consequence IV partition of Poland. In one of its secret annexes agreed, that: „the Signatories will not tolerate on its respective territories any Polish propaganda that affects the territory of the other Side. On their respective territories they will suppress all such propaganda and inform each other of the measures taken to accomplish it”. The agreements resulted in a series of meeting between two genocidal organization representing both sides — German Gestapo and Russian NKVD when coordination of efforts to exterminate Polish intelligentsia and Polish leading classes (in Germany called «Intelligenzaktion», in Russia took the form of Katyń massacres) where discussed. Resulted in deaths of hundreds of thousands of Polish intelligentsia, including thousands of priests presented here, and tens of millions of ordinary people,. The results of this Russian‐German pact lasted till 1989 and are still in evidence even today. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30])

Pius XI's encyclicals: Facing the creation of two totalitarian systems in Europe, which seemed to compete with each other, though there were more similarities than contradictions between them, Pope Pius XI issued in 03.1937 (within 5 days) two encyclicals. In the „Mit brennender Sorge” (Eng. „With Burning Concern”) published on 14.03.1938, condemned the national socialism prevailing in Germany. The Pope wrote: „Whoever, following the old Germanic‐pre‐Christian beliefs, puts various impersonal fate in the place of a personal God, denies the wisdom of God and Providence […], whoever exalts earthly values: race or nation, or state, or state system, representatives of state power or other fundamental values of human society, […] and makes them the highest standard of all values, including religious ones, and idolizes them, this one […] is far from true faith in God and from a worldview corresponding to such faith”. On 19.03.1937, published „Divini Redemptoris” (Eng. „Divine Redeemer”), in which criticized Russian communism, dialectical materialism and the class struggle theory. The Pope wrote: „Communism deprives man of freedom, and therefore the spiritual basis of all life norms. It deprives the human person of all his dignity and any moral support with which he could resist the onslaught of blind passions […] This is the new gospel that Bolshevik and godless communism preaches as a message of salvation and redemption of humanity”… Pius XI demanded that the established human law be subjected to the natural law of God , recommended the implementation of the ideal of a Christian state and society, and called on Catholics to resist. Two years later, National Socialist Germany and Communist Russia came together and started World War II. (more on: www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28], www.vatican.vaClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.05.28])

sources

personal:
old.franciszkanie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04], radioniepokalanow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.10.26]
original images:
www.archiwum.kalisz.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.11.06], radioniepokalanow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.10.26], radioniepokalanow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.10.26], radioniepokalanow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.10.26], radioniepokalanow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.10.26], commons.wikimedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.11.06], www.archiwum.kalisz.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.11.06], old.franciszkanie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], commons.wikimedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.11.06], www.sowiniec.com.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.07.11], www.harmeze.franciszkanie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.21], www.szczecin.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.09.21]