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]

honorary titles

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

date and place
of death

06.05.1942

KL Dachau ‐ MunichGermany (Bavaria) ‐ Austria

alt. dates and places
of death

13.06.1942 (KL Dachau „death certificate” date)

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

21886Click to display source page (KL DachauClick to display the description), 3738Click to display source page (KL BuchenwaldClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: gassing in a gas chamber

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

TA HartheimClick to display the description, «Aktion T4»Click to display the description, KL DachauClick to display the description, KL BuchenwaldClick to display the description, IL LubinClick to display the description, IL ChludowoClick to display the description, 02‐03.1940 arrests (Warthegau)Click to display the description, Reichsgau WarthelandClick to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description, Greater Poland UprisingClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

11.03.1882

Wysocko Wielkietoday: Ostrów Wielkopolski gm., Ostrów Wielkopolski pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

parents

GROCHOLSKI Andrew
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?

GAŁĄZKA Providentia
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

10.02.1907

Gnieznotoday: Gniezno urban gm., Gniezno pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

positions held

comments

others related
in death

GIZOWSKIClick to display biography Edmund, GLISZCZYŃSKIClick to display biography Francis, GŁADYSZClick to display biography Bronislav, GŁOGOWSKIClick to display biography Lawrence, GMEREKClick to display biography Ceslav, GODLEWSKIClick to display biography Julian, GOLĘDZINOWSKIClick to display biography John Ignatius, GOŁĘBIOWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav (Bro. Alex), GOSTYŃSKIClick to display biography Casimir Witold, GOZDEKClick to display biography Adolph Roman, GÓRECKIClick to display biography Joseph (Fr Vladislav), GRABARCZYKClick to display biography James, GRABARCZYKClick to display biography John, GRABAREKClick to display biography Bronislav, GRODKIEWICZClick to display biography John, GRONWALDClick to display biography Thaddeus Edward, GRYSZKAClick to display biography Joachim Thomas, GRZESIEKClick to display biography Francis, GUDERClick to display biography John, GURANOWSKIClick to display biography Sigismund Stanislav, GUTKAClick to display biography Bronislav, HAMERLINGClick to display biography Casimir Valentine, HEINTZELClick to display biography Joseph Leopold, HOFMANClick to display biography Francis, HUCHRACKIClick to display biography Joseph Victor (Fr Eusebius), JANIAKClick to display biography Steven, JARCZEWSKIClick to display biography John Alexander, JARZĘBIŃSKIClick to display biography Steven Dominic Alexander, JARZYNAClick to display biography Arcadius Casimir, JASKULSKIClick to display biography Telesphorus, JAŚKIEWICZClick to display biography Joseph Benedykt, JAWORSKIClick to display biography Thomas, JĘDRYCHOWSKIClick to display biography John, KACZOROWSKIClick to display biography Henry, KALINOWSKIClick to display biography Leo, KAMIŃSKIClick to display biography Steven (Bro. Vaclav), KARBOWIAKClick to display biography John, KARCZEWSKIClick to display biography Apollinaris Casimir, KARCZEWSKIClick to display biography Steven, KASIŃSKIClick to display biography Stanislav Lamberto, KATUSZEWSKIClick to display biography Felix, KICIŃSKIClick to display biography John, KISZKURNOClick to display biography Anthony, KOCHANOWICZClick to display biography Bronislav Stanislav, KOCHANOWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav

sites and events
descriptions

TA Hartheim: From 05.1940, in the Germ. Tötungsanstalt (Eng. Killing/Euthanasia Center) TA Hartheim, at the Schloss Hartheim castle in Alkoven in Upper Austria, belonging to KL Mauthausen‐Gusen complex of concentration camps, as part of «Aktion T4» program, the Germans murdered victims — people mentally retarded and disabled — in gas chambers with carbon monoxide. Till 24.08.1941 and the formal end of the «Aktion T4» program, c. 18,000 people were murdered in TA Hartheim. In 04.1941 the program was extended to include concentration camp prisoners. Most, if not all, of the murdered clergy from the KL Dachau concentration camp were taken to TA Hartheim in the so‐called Germ. „Invalidentransport” (Eng. „transport of invalids”), prisoners who were sick and, according to the Germans, „unable to work” (initially under the pretext of transfer to a better camp) — after the formal end of «Aktion T4» as part of the program codenamed «Aktion 14 f 13». It is estimated that at this stage — until 11.12.1944 — c. 12,000 prisoners were gassed at TA Hartheim.
Note: The dates of death of victims murdered in Schloss Hartheim indicated in the „White Book” are the dates of deportations from the last concentration camp the victims where held in. The real dates of death are unknown — apart from c. 49 priests whose names were included in the niem. „Invalidentransports”, but who did not arrive at TA Hartheim. Prob. perished on the day of transport, somewhere between KL Dachau and Munich, and their bodies were thrown out of the transport and cremated in Munich. The investigation conducted by Polish Institute of National Remembrance IPN concluded, that the other victims were murdered immediately upon arrival in Schloss Hartheim, bodies cremated and the ashes spread over local fields and into Danube river. In order to hide details of the genocide Germans falsified both dates of death (for instance those entered into KL Dachau concentration camp books, which are presented in „White Book” as alternative dates of death) and their causes. (more on: ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.05.30], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.05.30])

«Aktion T4»: German state euthanasia program, systematic murder of people mentally retarded, chronically, mentally and neurologically ill — „elimination of live not worth living” (Germ. „Vernichtung von lebensunwertem Leben”). At a peak, in 1940‐1941, c. 70,000 people were murdered, including patients of psychiatric hospitals in German occupied Poland — German formalists noted then that, among others, „performing disinfection [i.e. gassing] of 70,273 people with a life expectancy of up to 10 years saved food in the amount of 141,775,573.80 Deutschmark”. From 04.1941 also mentally ill and „disabled” (i.e. unable to work) prisoners held in German concentration camps were included in the program — denoted then as «Aktion 14 f 13». C. 20,000 inmates were then murdered, including Polish Catholic priests held in KL Dachau concentration camp, who were murdered in Hartheim gas chambers. The other „regional extension” of «Aktion T4» was «Aktion Brandt» program during which Germans murdered chronically ill patients in order to make space for wounded soldiers. It is estimated that at least 30,000 were murdered in this program. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.31])

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 TA Hartheim euthanasia centre set up in Schloss Hartheim in Austria 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 Buchenwald: In German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Buchenwald concentration camp, founded in 1937 and operational till 1945, Germans held c. 238,380 prisoners and murdered approx. 56,000 of them, among them thousands of Poles. Prisoners were victims of pseudo‐scientific experiments, conducted among others by Behring‐Werke from Marburg and Robert Koch Institute from Berlin companies. They slaved for Gustloff in Weimar and Fritz‐Sauckel companies manufacturing armaments. To support Erla‐Maschinenwerk GmbH in Leipzig, Junkers in Schönebeck (airplanes) and Rautal in Wernigerode Germans organized special sub‐camps. In 1945 there were more than 100 such sub‐camps. Dora concentration camp was initially one of them, as well as KL Ravensbrück sub‐camps (from 08.1944). On 08.04.1945 Polish prisoner, Mr Guido Damazyn, used clandestinely constructed short wave transmitter to sent, together with a Russian prisoner, a short message begging for help. It was received and he got a reply: „KZ Bu. Hold out. Rushing to your aid. Staff of Third Army” (American). Three days later the camp was liberated. (more on: www.buchenwald.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10])

IL Lubin: The Gestapo District Office in Poznań issued on 13.12.1939 executive instruction Ref. IIB No. 406/39 Tgb. No. 3045/39, ordering: „Based on the regulation of the Germ. Höherer SS‐ und Polizeiführer (Eng. Higher Commander of the SS and Police) [of the Germ. Warthegau (Eng. Greater Poland)] province of 12.11.1939 [SS‐Gruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe], apart from Poles and Jews, also Catholic clergy will be expelled. Action against this group of people should be carried out in such a way that internment and transport are separate […] C. 80% of Catholic clergy are expected to be expelled. The selection based on political threat posed. Internees cannot be placed in regular transit camps due to the possibility of international protest. Catholic clergy should be interned in men's monasteries and held there till mass transportation out”. And so at the Benedictine abbey in Lubiń near Kościan, at the beginning of 1940, the Germans — Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo — organized an temporary Germ. „Internierungslager” (Eng. „Internment camp”) IL Lubin for priests and friars from Greater Poland (dated from 15.02.1940, although the Germans brought several priests to the abbey earlier). E.g. in 04.1941 Franciscan friars from Goruszki monastery were brought in. In total, 104 clergymen were held in the monastery. On 06.10.1941, as part of the third great operation of arrests of the Polish clergy of Greater Poland — more precisely, from the Germ. Warthegau occupational province — all interned priests were transported to the KL Dachau concentration camp. Religious brothers were allowed to return to their family homes. The monastery was turned into an old people's home, and later as a training center for national‐socialist German youth, Germ. „Hitler‐Jugend” (Eng. „Hitler youth”). Rich library collections and other goods were plundered. The Benedictines returned to the monastery on 25.01.1945, after the German defeat. (more on: www.benedyktyni.netClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10])

IL Chludowo: The Gestapo District Office in Poznań issued on 13.12.1939 executive instruction Ref. IIB No. 406/39 Tgb. No. 3045/39, ordering: „Based on the regulation of the Germ. Höherer SS‐ und Polizeiführer (Eng. Higher Commander of the SS and Police) [of the German province of Warthegau (Eng. Greater Poland)] of 12.11.1939 [SS‐Gruppenführer Wilhelm Koppe], apart from Poles and Jews, also Catholic clergy will be expelled. Action against this group of people should be carried out in such a way that internment and transport are separate […] C. 80% of Catholic clergy are expected to be expelled. The selection based on political threat posed. Internees cannot be placed in regular transit camps due to the possibility of international protest. Catholic clergy should be interned in men's monasteries and held there till mass transportation out”. One of them was the house of the Divine Word Missionaries SVD in Chludowo, c. 20 km north of Poznań, purchased by the Congregation in 1934 from one of the most outstanding Polish politicians and publicists, Roman Dmowski. The Germans — Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo — on 25.01.1940 established there the Germ. „Internierungslager” (Eng. „internment camp”) IL Chludowo for the Catholic clergy. All the friars present were interned, effectively deprived of means of subsistence, and over 60 arrested priests from nearby parishes of the Poznań and Gniezno archdioceses were transported in. On 22.05.1940, most of them were deported — through the KL Posen concentration camp — to the KL Dachau concentration camp in Bavaria. The facility was then handed over to the German Wehrmacht army, its XXI Wehrkreis (Eng. Military District), covering Greater Poland occupied by the Germans, and prob. was still used as a IL XXI Chludowo POW camp for Poles. In 1943, the camp was liquidated and the Germans established an observation point for the German Luftwaffe Air Force in the buildings. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23])

02‐03.1940 arrests (Warthegau): First large wave of arrests of Polish Catholic clergy from German occupied Greater Poland region, transformed in to German province Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland (Eng. Greater Poland Reichs District), started in fact in 01.1940 but the largest numbers of priest were captured in 02‐03.1940. In accordance with a plan of „Ohne Gott, ohne Religion, ohne Priesters und Sakramenten” — „without God, without religion, without priest and sacrament” — being implemented by the Germ. Gauleiter (Eng. regional leader) of Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland, Artur Greiser, few hundred of Polish priests were interned in transit camps in Puszczykowo, IL Lubin in Lubiń, IL Bruckau in Bruczków, IL Görchen in Goruszki, IL Chludowo in Chludowo and KL Posen (Fort VII) concentration camp in Poznań, prior to transfer to concentration camps deep within Germany.

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])

«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])

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])

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. The Republic of Poland, reborn on 11.11.1918, initially formally included only the so‐called Germ. Königreich Polen (Eng. Kingdom of Poland), i.e. the territory that had been under Russian rule until 1915 and then under the control of Central States (Germany and Austria–Hungary), but did not include the Prussian partition. Started on 27.12.1918 in Poznań and ended on 16.02.1919 with the armistice pact in Trier, forced by the victorious Entente states, which included provisions ordering Germany to cease operations against Poland and, importantly, recognizing the Polish insurgent Greater Poland Army as an allied armed force of the Entente. De facto it turned out to be a Polish victory, confirmed in the main peace treaty after World War I, the Treaty of Versailles of 28.06.1919, which came into force on 10.01.1920 and in which most of the lands of the Prussian partition were recognized as Polish. 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.ipgs.usClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], arolsen-archives.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.05.30]
bibliographical:
„Urns kept at the Am Perlacher Forst cemetery — analysis”, Mr Gregory Wróbel, curator of the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź, private correspondence, 25.05.2020
„Social Activist Priests in Greater Poland”, collective work, Biographical Dictionary, vol. 1 A‐H, 2007