function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Culm (Chełmno) diocesemore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2012.11.23]

date and place
of death

20.11.1942

KL Dachauconcentration camp
today: Dachau, Upper Bavaria reg., Bavaria state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2016.05.30]

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

22797Click to display source page (KL DachauClick to display the description), 20991 (KL SachsenhausenClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: exhaustion and starvation

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL DachauClick to display the description, KL SachsenhausenClick to display the description, KL StutthofClick to display the description, IL BonstettenClick to display the description, IL KonitzClick to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Reichsgau Danzig‐WestpreußenClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

06.06.1902

Tucholatoday: Tuchola gm., Tuchola pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.09.02]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

27.06.1926 (Pelpin cathedralmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14])

positions held

sites and events
descriptions

KL Dachau: KL Dachau in German Bavaria, set up in 1933, became the main German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL for Catholic priests and religious during World War II: On c. 09.11.1940, Reichsführer‐SS Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, Gestapo and German police, as a result of the Vatican's intervention, decided to transfer all clergymen detained in various concentration camps to KL Dachau camp. The first major transports took place on 08.12.1940. In KL Dachau Germans held approx. 3,000 priests, including 1,800 Poles. The priests were forced to slave labor in the Germ. „Die Plantage” — the largest herb garden in Europe, managed by the genocidal SS, consisting of many greenhouses, laboratory buildings and arable land, where experiments with new natural medicines were conducted — for many hours, without breaks, without protective clothing, no food. They slaved in construction, e.g. of camp's crematorium. In the barracks ruled hunger, freezing cold in the winter and suffocating heat during the summer, especially acute in 1941‐1942. Prisoners suffered from bouts of illnesses, including tuberculosis. Many were victims of murderous „medical experiments” — in 11.1942 c. 20 were given phlegmon injections; in 07.1942 to 05.1944 c. 120 were used by for malaria experiments. More than 750 Polish clerics where murdered by the Germans, some brought to Schloss Hartheim euthanasia centre and murdered in gas chambers. At its peak KL Dachau concentration camps’ system had nearly 100 slave labour sub‐camps located throughout southern Germany and Austria. There were c. 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands perished without a trace. C. 10,000 of the 30,000 inmates were found sick at the time of liberation, on 29.04.1945, by the USA troops… (more on: www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30])

KL Sachsenhausen: In Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Sachsenhausen, set up in the former Olympic village in 07.1936, hundreds of Polish priests were held in 1940, before being transported to KL Dachau. Some of them perished in KL Sachsenhausen. Murderous medical experiments on prisoners were carried out in the camp. In 1942‐1944 c. 140 prisoners slaved at manufacturing false British pounds, passports, visas, stamps and other documents. Other prisoners also had to do slave work, for Heinkel aircraft manufacturer, AEG and Siemens among others. On average c. 50,000 prisoners were held at any time. Altogether more than 200,000 inmates were in jailed in KL Sachsenhausen and its branched, out of which tens of thousands perished. Prior to Russian arrival mass evacuation was ordered by the Germans and c. 80,000 prisoners were marched west in so‐called „death marches” to other camps, i.e. KL Mauthausen‐Gusen and KL Bergen‐Belsen. The camp got liberated on 22.04.1945. After end of armed hostilities Germans set up there secret camp for German prisoners and „suspicious” Russian soldiers. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18])

KL Stutthof: In German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Stutthof (then in Eastern Prussian belonging to Germany, today: Sztutowo village) concentration camp, that Germans started to build on 02.09.1939, a day after German invasion of Poland and start of the World War II, Germans held c. 110,000‐127,000 prisoners from 28 countries, including 49,000 women and children. C. 65,000 victims were murdered and exterminated. In the period of 25.01‐27.04.1945 in the face of approaching Russian army Germans evacuated the camp. When on 09.05.1945 Russians soldiers entered the camp only 100 prisoners were still there. In an initial period (1939‐1940) Polish Catholic priests from Pomerania were held captive there before being transported to KL Dachau concentration camp. Some of them were murdered in KL Stutthof or vicinity (for instance in Stegna forest). Also later some Catholic priests were held in KL Stutthof. (more on: stutthof.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06])

IL Bonstetten: The former Bernardine OFM monastery in Zamarte (till 1909 Jakobsdorf, then Bonstetten), c. 11 km from Chojnice, which had housed a home for elderly and sick priests of the Chełmno diocese since 1842, from c. 11.11.1939, the day of Poland's national holiday, became — as part of the «Intelligenzaktion», i.e. the extermination of Polish intelligentsia in Pomerania — a place of internment of Polish catholic priests from the surrounding counties (i.a. the Chojnice county). It de facto became the Germ. „Internierungslager” (Eng. „internment camp”) IL Bonstetten. On 03‐04.04.1940 the Germans entered the monastery by force and deported all the internees to the KL Stutthof camp. (more on: www.new.eksploracja.euClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.10])

IL Konitz: Germ. „Internierungslager” (Eng. „Internment camp”) set up by the Germans on c. 02.09.1939, immediately after the occupation of Chojnice and the beginning of the German occupation, intended for the inhabitants of Chojnice and the Chojnice poviat. The camp — until 07.09.1939, subordinated to the German army Wehrmacht, and then managed by officers of the genocidal organization Germ. Einsatzgruppen (Eng. Operational Groups), subordinated to the Germ. Reichssicherheitshauptamt RSHA (Eng. Main Reich Security Office) — was organized on the premises of the Juvenile Reformatory Institute in Chojnice. It operated till the end of 11.1939. At least 2,000 Poles were held there, mainly representatives of the local intelligentsia, as well as members of Polish patriotic organizations, e.g. Polish Western Union. Most of them, along with c. 215 mentally ill children from the National Social Welfare Institution in Chojnice (a branch of the psychiatric hospital in Kocborowo), were murdered — as part of the „Intelligenzaktion” — including at the nearby execution site at Pola Igielskie. In the years 1941‐1943, a transit camp for Poles destined for a slave labor in Germany. (more on: www.sdnchojnice.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04])

«Intelligenzaktion»: (Eng. „Action Intelligentsia”) — extermination program of Polish elites, mainly intelligentsia, executed by the Germans right from the start of the occupation in 09.1939 till around 05.1940, mainly on the lands directly incorporated into Germany but also in the so‐called Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate) where it was called «AB‐aktion». During the first phase right after start of German occupation of Poland implemented as Germ. Unternehmen „Tannenberg” (Eng. „Tannenberg operation”) — plan based on proscription lists of Poles worked out by (Germ. Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen), regarded by Germans as specially dangerous to the German Reich. List contained names of c. 61,000 Poles. Altogether during this genocide Germans methodically murdered c. 50,000 teachers, priests, landowners, social and political activists and retired military. Further 50,000 were sent to concentration camps where most of them perished. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.04])

Reichsgau Danzig‐Westpreußen: 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. Vistula Pomerania 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 02.11.1939 transformed into the Germ. Reichsgau Danzig‐Westpreußen (Eng. Reich District of Gdańsk‐West Prussia) 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 85% of its inhabitants were Poles, was Germ. „Entpolonisierung” (Eng. „Depolonisation”), i.e. forced Germanization. C. 60,000 Poles were murdered in 1939‐1940, as part of the Germ. „Intelligenzaktion”, i.e. extermination of Polish intelligentsia and ruling classes, in c. 432 places of mass executions — including c. 220 Polish Catholic priests. The same number were sent to German concentration camps, from where few returned (over 300 priests were arrested, of whom c. 130 died in concentration camps). C. 124,000‐170,000 were displaced, including c. 90,000 to the Germ. Generalgouvernement. Poles were forced en masse to sign the German nationality list, the Germ. Deutsche Volksliste DVL. Polish children could only learn in German. It was forbidden to use the Polish language during Catholic Holy Masses and during confession. Polish landed estates were confiscated..To further reduce the number of the Polish population, Poles were sent to forced labor deep inside Germany. The remaining Poles were treated as low‐skilled labor, isolated from the Germans and strictly controlled — legally, three or three of them could only meet together, even in their own apartments. Many were conscripted into the German Wehrmacht army. 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, Albert Maria Forster, was executed. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.06.24])

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])

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:
michaelstanislaus.salon24.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.06.01], www.zapiskihistoryczne.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2017.01.21]
bibliographical:
„Martyrology of the Polish Roman Catholic clergy under nazi occupation in 1939‐1945”, Victor Jacewicz, John Woś, vol. I‐V, Warsaw Theological Academy, 1977‐1981
„Biographical dictionary of priests ordained in the years 1921‐1945 working in the Chełmno diocese”, Fr Anastasius Nadolny, prof., Bernardinum publishing house 2021
original images:
www.wsks.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.18], www.wsks.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.18], gdziebylec.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.11.11]