• OUR LADY of CZĘSTOCHOWA: st Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionOUR LADY of CZĘSTOCHOWA
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
link to OUR LADY of PERPETUAL HELP in SŁOMCZYN infoSITE LOGO

Roman Catholic
St Sigismund parish
05-507 Słomczyn
85 Wiślana Str.
Konstancin deanery
Warsaw archdiocese, Poland

  • St SIGISMUND: St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
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Martyrology of the clergy — Poland

XX century (1914 – 1989)

personal data

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  • COFTA Ceslav, source: issuu.com, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    source: issuu.com
    own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - 1934; source: thanks to Mr Zbigniew Cofta's kindness (private correspondence, 03.04.2019), own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    1934
    source: thanks to Mr Zbigniew Cofta's kindness (private correspondence, 03.04.2019)
    own collection

surname

COFTA

forename(s)

Ceslav (pl. Czesław)

  • COFTA Ceslav - Commemorative plaque, church, Lubasz, source: www.wtg-gniazdo.org, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Commemorative plaque, church, Lubasz
    source: www.wtg-gniazdo.org
    own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - Monument, f. concentration camp, Żabikowo, source: zabikowo.home.pl, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Monument, f. concentration camp, Żabikowo
    source: zabikowo.home.pl
    own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - Commemorative plaque, Underground Resistance State monument, Poznań, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Commemorative plaque, Underground Resistance State monument, Poznań
    source: own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - Underground Resistance State monument, Poznań, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Underground Resistance State monument, Poznań
    source: own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - Underground Resistance State monument, Poznań, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Underground Resistance State monument, Poznań
    source: own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - Altar, Martyrs' Chapel, St Peter and St Paul cathedral, Poznań, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Altar, Martyrs' Chapel, St Peter and St Paul cathedral, Poznań
    source: own collection
  • COFTA Ceslav - Commemorative plague, altar, Martyrs' Chapel, St Peter and St Paul cathedral, Poznań, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOCOFTA Ceslav
    Commemorative plague, altar, Martyrs' Chapel, St Peter and St Paul cathedral, Poznań
    source: own collection

function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Gniezno and Poznań archdiocese (aeque principaliter)more on
www.archpoznan.pl
[access: 2012.11.23]

Military Ordinariate of Polandmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.12.20]

date and place
of death

04.10.1944

AL Posen‐Lenzingeneducation” slave labour camp
today: Żabikowo‐Luboń, Poznań pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland

more on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.08.03]

details of death

After German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and start of the World War II, after start of German occupation and arrests of most of the local priests ministered — apart from Lubasz — in a number of local parishes as well (among others in Boruszyn and Połajewo), partly clandestinely.

In his Lubasz parish, in 1939 already, organized a clandestine resistance cell assisting POWs and political prisoners held in German POW and concentration camps, as well as their families and Poles deported by the Germans to German‐run General Governorate.

Organized clandestine collections and dispatch of food, clothes, medicines parcels, as well as money — not from his parish but in order to avoid interest from out of Czarnków county.

Collaborated, as a chaplain, with Polish resistance Home Army AK (part of Polish Clandestine State) under nom‐de‐guerre „Tutejszy” (Eng. „Local”).

Arrested on 08.03.1944 by the Germans after accidental discovery of his resistance cell.

Jailed in Szamotuły prison.

On 25.04.1944 transferred to AL Posen‐Lenzingen penal camp.

There continued to help, also pastorally, to the prisoners, mainly the weak and sick ones.

Tortured.

Repeatedly locked in a cage secured with barbed wire, where for days had stand half–bent out on the open — and in between being thrown into a fire pool full of cold water and forced to swim in it for half an hour or so.

Scourged.

Taking on himself penalties levied at others perished in a basement where corpses were held, thrown there by the Germans.

prisoner camp's numbers

619 (SzamotułyClick to display the description)

cause of death

murder

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

AL Posen‐LenzingenClick to display the description, SzamotułyClick to display the description, GeneralgouvernementClick to display the description, Deportations from Reichsgau WarthelandClick to display the description, Reichsgau WarthelandClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

26.06.1910

Rogoźnotoday: Rogoźno gm., Oborniki pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

17.06.1934 (Poznań cathedralmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14]
)

positions held

1934 – 1944

vicar — Lubasztoday: Lubasz gm., Czarnków/Trzcianka pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.20]
⋄ Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Czarnkówtoday: Czarnków gm., Czarnków/Trzcianka pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.20]
RC deanery

1934

vicar — Konarzewotoday: Dopiewo gm., Poznań pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.19]
⋄ St Martin, the Bishop and Confessor RC parish ⋄ Buktoday: Buk gm., Poznań pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.20]
RC deanery

1931 – 1934

student — Poznańtoday: Poznań city pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18]
⋄ philosophy and theology, Archbishop's Theological Seminary (Collegium Leoninum)

1929 – 1931

student — Gnieznotoday: Gniezno urban gm., Gniezno pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
⋄ philosophy and theology, Archbishop's Theological Seminary

1928 – 1929

student — Poznańtoday: Poznań city pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18]
⋄ Department of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Poznań University [i.e. Adam Mickiewicz University (from 1955) / Poznań University (1945‐1955, 1920‐1939) / Piast University (1919‐1920) / Polish University (1918‐1919) / Royal Academy (1903‐1918)]

sites and events
descriptions

AL Posen‐Lenzingen: German detention‐penal Germ. Arbeitserziehungslager (Eng. corrective labour camp) in Luboń‐Żabikowo — c. 10 km from Poznań city center, in Greater Poland historical region, after start of German occupation in 1939 in German province Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland — functioning from 04.1943 till 1945, taking over the role of KL Posen concentration camp. Approx. 40,000 prisoners, mainly Polish intelligentsia, members of underground clandestine independence organizations and Russian POWs, were held captive. Most of them perished in the camp (some in mass executions). (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.09.21]
, issuu.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.06.23]
)

Szamotuły: Detention Center in Szamotuły was founded in the interwar period. There was a municipal court by the jail. After the German attack on Poland on 01.09.1939, the Germans captured Szamotuły on 07.09.1939. Since then, the jail in Szamotuły was administered by the Germans, in accordance with German law, as the town was part of the Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland (Eng. Reich's District, Warta Region). (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04]
)

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]
)

Deportations from Reichsgau Wartheland: After defeating Poland in 1939 a new province was created in Germany, Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland (Eng. Warta German Region) and defined as „indigenous German”, although in 1939 Germans constituted less than 10% of the total population there. In the same 1939, the national‐socialist leader of Germany, Adolf Hitler, announced the need to move Germans from the East to the Reich, mainly to the Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland. Another German leader, Robert Ley, stated, „In 50 years there will be a thriving German country where there will be neither a Pole nor a Jew! If someone asks me where they will be, I will answer: I don't know. In Palestine or in the Sahara desert, I don't care. But German people will live here!” Deportations began. By the end of 1939, c. 80 railway transports were sent to the General Governorate — a total of 87,883 people, mainly Poles and Jews. By 03.1941, over 280,000 people had been displaced. The deported had the right to take with them 12‐30 kg per person. They were given half an hour to pack. Over 60,000 Germans from Estonia, Latvia, Finland, later from other regions, were brought in to replace them. In 1941, c. 70,000 remaining Jewsa were displaced. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.11.20]
)

Reichsgau Wartheland: 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). Two were added to existing German provinces. From two other separate new provinces were created. Greater Poland region was one of them, incorporated into Germany on 08.10.1939, by decree of the German leader Adolf Hitler (formally came into force on 26.10.1939), and on 24.01.1940 transformed into the Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland province, in which the law of the German state was to apply. The main axis of the policy of the new province, the territory of which the Germans recognized as the Germ. „Ursprünglich Deutsche” (Eng. „natively German”), despite the fact that 90% of its inhabitants were Poles, was Germ. „Entpolonisierung” (Eng. „Depolonisation”), i.e. forced Germanization. C. 100,000 Poles were murdered as part of the Germ. „Intelligenzaktion”, i.e. extermination of Polish intelligentsia and ruling classes. C. 630,000 were forcibly resettled to the Germ. Generalgouvernement, and their place taken by the Germans brought from other areas occupied by Germany (e.g. the Baltic countries, Bessarabia, Bukovina, etc.). Poles were forced to sign the German nationality list, the Germ. Deutsche Volksliste DVL. As part of the policy of „Ohne Gott, ohne Religion, ohne Priesters und Sakramenten” (Eng. „No God, no religion, no priest or sacrament”) most Catholic priests were arrested and sent to concentration camps. All schools teaching in Polish, Polish libraries, theaters and museums were closed. Polish landed estates confiscated. To further reduce the number of the Polish population, Poles were sent to forced labor deep inside Germany, and the legal age of marriage for Poles was increased (25 for women, 28 for men). The German state office, Germ. Rasse‐ und Siedlungshauptamt (Eng. Main Office of Race and Settlement) RuSHA, under the majesty of German law, abducted several thousand children who met specific racial criteria from Polish families and subjected them to forced Germanization, handing them over to German families. 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, Arthur Karl Greiser, was executed. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.06.21]
)

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:
www.wtg-gniazdo.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]
, www.filipini.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23]
, issuu.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30]

original images:
issuu.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30]
, www.wtg-gniazdo.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]
, zabikowo.home.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06]

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