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]

academic distinctions

Habilitation Doctor of Literature

honorary titles

„Medal of Independence”more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.02.02]

date and place
of death

19.06.1943

KL Gusen Iconcentration camp
today: n. St. Georgen an der Gusen, Sankt Georgen an der Gusen, Perg dist., Salzburg state, Austria
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.09]

details of death

cause of death

murder

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL Gusen IClick to display the description, KL Mauthausen‐GusenClick to display the description, RawiczClick to display the description, KL Zwickau / Schloß OstersteinClick to display the description, WronkiClick to display the description, KL PosenClick to display the description, Poznań (Młyńska str.)Click to display the description, Reichsgau WarthelandClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description, Polish‐Russian war of 1919‐1921Click to display the description, Greater Poland UprisingClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

03.09.1892

Sierakówtoday: Sieraków gm., Międzychód pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

alt. dates and places
of birth

03.12.1892

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

13.02.1916 (Gniezno cathedralmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14])

positions held

sites and events
descriptions

KL Gusen I: German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL „Grade III” (Germ. „Stufe III”), part of KL Mauthausen‐Gusen complex, intended for the „Incorrigible political enemies of the Reich”. The prisoners slaved at a nearby granite quarry, but also in local private companies: at SS guards houses' construction at a nearby Sankt Georgen for instance. Initially opened in 05.1940 as the „camp for Poles”, captured during the program of extermination of Polish intelligentsia («Intelligenzaktion»). Till the end most of the prisoners were Poles. Many Polish priests from the Polish regions incorporated in the Germany were brought there in 1940, after start of German occupation of Poland, from KL Sachsenhausen and KL Dachau concentration camps. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.10])

KL Mauthausen‐Gusen: A large group of German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL camps set up around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, c. 30 km east of Linz, operational from 1938 till 05.1945. Over time it became of the largest labour camp complexes in the German‐controlled part of Europe encompassing four major camps concentration camps (Mauthausen, Gusen I, Gusen II and Gusen III) and more than 50 sub‐camps where inmates slaved in quarries (the granite extracted, previously used to pave the streets of Vienna, was intended for a complete reconstruction of major German towns according to Albert Speer plans), munitions factories, mines, arms factories and Me 262 fighter‐plane assembly plants. The complex served the needs of the German war machine and also carried out extermination through labour. Initially did not have a its own gas chamber and the intended victims were mostly moved to the infamous Hartheim Castle, 40.7 km east, or killed by lethal injection and cremated in the local crematorium. Later a van with the exhaust pipe connected to the inside shuttled between Mauthausen and Gusen. In 12.1941 a permanent gas chamber was built. C. 122,000‐360,000 of prisoners perished. Many Polish priests were held, including those captured during the program of extermination of Polish intelligentsia («Intelligenzaktion»). The camp complex was founded and run as a source for cheap labour for private enterprise. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.10])

Rawicz: Prison, founded in 1819‐1821, in place of the Franciscan Friars Minor's monastery, which was liquidated by the Prussian occupation authorities. During the World War II, during the German occupation of 1939‐1945, the German Germ. Zuchthaus (Eng. heavy prison), intended for men sentenced to long‐term imprisonment and penal camp sentences, levied mainly by the Germ. Warthegau (Eng. Wartha region) occupation courts. A large part of the prisoners were next transported from there to German concentration camps. After the end of the military operations of World War II, the prison was managed by the Commie‐Nazi authorities of the Russian prl republic. Many activists of the Polish clandestine independence underground were detained there, including soldiers of the Home Army AK. Political prisoners were finally released in 1956. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.17])

KL Zwickau / Schloß Osterstein: A heavy German prison in Zwickau in Saxony, founded in 1770‐1775 at the Schloß Osterstein castle. In the XIX c., among its detainees were Karl May, August Bebel, Rosa Luxemburg. During World War II, prob. had the status of Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Zwickau / Schloß Osterstein and political prisoners were held there under an extralegal system, euphemistically known as the German Schutzhaft (Eng. protective custody). Prisoners, living in overcrowded cells, slave laboured in the city receiving starvation rations. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2010.08.11])

Wronki: Penal prison in 1939‐1945 managed by the Germans — called Strafgefüngnis Wronki — for the prisoners sentenced to 6 months to 2 years incarceration, mainly Poles. Altogether up to 28,000 inmates were held there. After 1945 it was a jail for political prisoners, „enemies” of Russian‐Polish Commie‐Nazis. (more on: www.sw.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.17], pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.17])

KL Posen: German Posen — Fort VII — camp founded in c. 10.10.1939 in Poznań till mid of 11.1939 operated formally as Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Posen, and this term is used throughout the White Book, also later periods. It was first such a concentration camp set up by the Germans on Polish territory — in case of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) directly incorporated into German Reich. In 10.1939 in KL Posen for the first time Germans used gas to murder civilian population, in particular patients of local psychiatric hospitals. From 11.1939 the camp operated as German political police Gestapo prison and transit camp (Germ. Übergangslager), prior to sending off to concentration camps, such as KL Dachau or KL Auschwitz. In 28.05.1941 the camp was rebranded as police jail and slave labour corrective camp (Germ. Arbeitserziehungslager). At its peak up to 7‐9 executions were carried in the camp per day, there were mass hangings of the prisoners and some of them were led out to be murdered elsewhere, outside of the camp. Altogether in KL Posen Germans exterminated approx. 20,000 inhabitants of Greater Poland (Wielkopolska) region, including many representatives of Polish intelligentsia, patients and staff of psychiatric hospitals and dozen or so Polish priests. Hundreds of priests were held there temporarily prior to transport to other concentration camps, mainly KL Dachau. From 03.1943 the camp had been transformed into an industrial complex (from 25.04.1944 — Telefunken factory manufacturing radios for submarines and aircrafts). (more on: www.wmn.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.02.02], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.27])

Poznań (Młyńska str.): Germ. Untersuchungshaftanstalt Posen — German detention centre run by German political police Gestapo at 1 Młyńska Str. in Poznań. Death sentences were carried out there, by guillotine and hanging — in total, during World War II, the Germans murdered c. 1,600 people there. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.10.05])

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])

Polish‐Russian war of 1919‐1921: War for independence of Poland and its borders. Poland regained independence in 1918 but had to fight for its borders with former imperial powers, in particular Russia. Russia planned to incite Bolshevik‐like revolutions in the Western Europe and thus invaded Poland. Russian invaders were defeated in 08.1920 in a battle called Warsaw battle („Vistula river miracle”, one of the 10 most important battles in history, according to some historians). Thanks to this victory Poland recaptured part of the lands lost during partitions of Poland in XVIII century, and Europe was saved from the genocidal Communism. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.12.20])

Greater Poland Uprising: Military insurrection of Poles of former German Germ. Posen Provinz (Eng. Poznań province) launched against German Reich in 1918‐1919 — after the abdication on 09.11.1918 of the German Emperor William II Hohenzollern; after the armistice between the Allies and Germany signed on 11.1.1918 in the HQ wagon in Compiègne, the headquarters of Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch — which de facto meant the end of World War I — against the German Weimar Republic, established on the ruins of the German Empire, aiming to incorporate lands captured by Prussia during partitions of Poland in XVIII century into Poland, reborn in 1918. Started on 27.12.1918 in Poznań and ended on 16.02.1919 with the armistice in Trier (which included provisions ordering the Germans to stop their actions against Poland), which meant a de facto Polish victory. Many Polish priests took part in the Uprising, both as chaplains of the insurgents units and members and leaders of the Polish agencies and councils set up in the areas covered by the Uprising. In 1939 after German invasion of Poland and start of the World War II those priests were particularly persecuted by the Germans and majority of them were murdered. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.08.14])

sources

personal:
www.wtg-gniazdo.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], www.filipini.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], www.straty.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.03.14], pw.ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.04.16], pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.21], www.filipini.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23]
original images:
ro.com.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30], www.wbc.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.08.14], www.parafia.sierakow.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06]