function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Katowice diocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]

honorary titles

Cross on the Silesian Ribbon of Valor and Merit

date and place
of death

22.02.1940

KL Buchenwaldconcentration camp
today: n. Weimar, Weimar urban dist., Thuringia state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.09]

details of death

alt. details of death

cause of death

murder

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL BuchenwaldClick to display the description, RawiczClick to display the description, GliwiceClick to display the description, DL NeubersdorfClick to display the description, CieszynClick to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion Schlesien»Click to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Regierungsbezirk KattowitzClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description, Silesian UprisingsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

05.09.1899

Królewska Hutatoday: Chorzów /from 1934/, Chorzów city pov., Silesia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

24.08.1928

positions held

others related
in death

BUKOWSKIClick to display biography Leopold, DOMERACKIClick to display biography Joseph, DRWALClick to display biography Francis, DRWĘSKIClick to display biography Stanislav (Bro. Felician), GLAKOWSKIClick to display biography Stanislav, HANKEClick to display biography Francis, HUWERClick to display biography Joseph, KULISZClick to display biography Charles, KUPILASClick to display biography Francis, LANGNERClick to display biography Herbert, PANKOWSKIClick to display biography Marian, POLEDNIAClick to display biography Paul, ROGACZEWSKIClick to display biography Adalbert Theophilus, SCHULZClick to display biography Joseph Valentine, SEKRECKIClick to display biography Henry, STOCKClick to display biography Joseph, GÓREKClick to display biography Francis, ROBOTAClick to display biography Vladislav

sites and events
descriptions

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])

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])

Gliwice: Founded in 1868 by the Germans. Extended in 1902 in the shape of the letter 'T'. In 1927, the only investigative prison in Upper Silesia in which prisoners were held for up to 1 year. During World War II, Polish families with children, where held there, among others,. After the German defeat and the start of the Russian occupation, the prison of the Commie‐Nazi UB, a unit of the Russian genocidal MGB. Up to 1,000 prisoners were held there, including soldiers of the Home Army (part of the Polish Underground State). (more on: www.sw.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10])

DL Neubersdorf: Germ. Durchgangslager (Eng. transit camp), established in 09.1939 by the Germans in Nieborowice for c. 3,000 Polish soldiers, activists and Silesian insurgents, listed on German proscription's lists, which were part of the German «Intelligenzaktion» plan, i.e. the extermination the Polish intelligentsia and leadership classes. Information identifying Polish prisoners was posted on the camp gate: Germ. „Insurgenten — schwarverbrecher” (Eng. „Insurgents — Criminals”), therefore also popularly known as Germ. Afständisches Lager (Eng. insurgents' camp). 2,000 of them died there of subsequently during World War II — some murdered in the camp itself, for instance c. 18 Poles during so‐called „bloody night” of 05‐06.09.1939. The camp was soon dissolved prob. in 09.1939. (more on: pppilchowice.pilchowice.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.17])

Cieszyn: Remand jail run by German political police Gestapo — in the southern part (today: Czech) of town — and investigative prison — in northern (Polish) side, on the other bank of Olza river — run by Germans. In 1940 the prisoners were initially held in Cieszyn jail but next, due to an overcrowding, taken to former Josef and Jacob Kohn furniture manufacturing plant, by Frydecka Str. and Jabłonkowa Str. junction on the southern bank of Olza, where a transit camp was set up. The prisoners — more than 1,000 Poles went through the camp — were interrogated and whipped with horsewhips, prior to being sent to German concentration camps. (more on: www.sw.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10])

«Intelligenzaktion Schlesien»: A planned action of arrests and extermination of Polish Upper Silesia intellectual elite in general recorded in a proscription list called „Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen” — participants of Upper Silesia uprisings, former Polish plebiscite activists, journalists, politicians, intellectuals, civil servants, priests — organised by Germans mainly in 04‐05.1940, aiming at total Germanisation of the region. The relevant decree, no IV‐D2‐480/40, was issued by the RSHA, i.e. Germ. Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Eng. Reich Security Office), and signed by Heinrich Himmler or Reinhard Heydrich. Some of those arrested were murdered in mass executions, some were deported to the German‐run General Governorate, and some were sent to concentration camps. The personal details of 3,047 people deported within two months of 1940 were established. Among the victims were 33 Catholic priests, 22 of whom perished in concentration camps (the clergy were sent — in 5 transports — first to KL Dachau, and then to KL Gusen, where they slaved in quarries). Altogether, the Germans murdered c. 2,000 members of the Polish Upper Silesia intellectual elite. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30])

«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 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])

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])

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])

Silesian Uprisings: Three armed interventions of the Polish population against Germany in 1919‐1921 aiming at incorporation of Upper Silesia and Opole region into Poland, after the revival of the Polish state in 1918. Took place in the context of a plebiscite ordered on the basis of the international treaty of Versailles of 28.06.1919, ending the First World War, that was to decide national fate of the disputed lands. The 1st Uprising took place on 16‐24.08.1919 and broke out spontaneously in response to German terror and repression against the Polish population. Covered mainly Pszczyna and Rybnik counties and part of the main Upper Silesia industrial district. Suppressed by the Germans. 2nd Uprising took place on 19‐25.08.1920 in response to numerous acts of terror of the German side. Covered the entire area of the Upper Silesia industrial district and part of the Rybnik county. As a result Poles obtained better conditions for the campaign prior the plebiscite. The poll was conducted on 20.03.1921. The majority of the population — 59.6% — were in favor of Germany, but the results were influenced by the admission of voting from former inhabitants of Upper Silesia living outside Silesia. As a result the 3rd Uprising broke out, the largest such uprising of the Silesian in the 20th century. It lasted from 02.05.1921 to 05.07.1921. Spread over almost the entire area of Upper Silesia. Two large battles took place in the area of St. Anna Mountain and near Olza. As a result on 12.10.1921 the international plebiscite commission decided on a more favorable for Poland division of Upper Silesia. The territory granted to Poland was enlarged to about ⅓ of the disputed territory. Poland accounted for 50% of metallurgy and 76% of coal mines. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.05.25])

sources

personal:
encyklo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19], newsaints.faithweb.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06]
original images:
www.bsip.miastorybnik.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2017.11.07], www.sjozef.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30], www.bj.uj.edu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]