function

religious seminarian

creed

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

congregation

Society of Christ Fathers for Poles Living Abroad SChrmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
(i.e. Christ Fathers)

date and place
of death

26.09.1941

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]

alt. dates and places
of death

05.11.1941, 1942

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

1095Click to display source page (KL Mauthausen‐GusenClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: exhaustion and starvation

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL Gusen IClick to display the description, KL MauthausenClick to display the description, KL Mauthausen‐GusenClick to display the description, KL StutthofClick to display the description, ZL NeufahrwasserClick to display the description, IL BrombergClick to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, UWZL Potulitz (Lebrechtsdorf)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

23.09.1914

Wieprztoday: Wieprz gm., Wadowice pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.28]

alt. dates and places
of birth

23.12.1914

religious vows

29.09.1935/29.09.1936 (temporary)
29.09.1938 (permanent)

positions held

others related
in death

POCHANKEClick to display biography Joseph, RUCZYŃSKIClick to display biography Marian

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: 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. Set up in 08.1938 initially served as a prison camp for common criminals, prostitutes and other categories of „Incorrigible Law Offenders”, but on 08.05.1939 was converted into a labour camp for political prisoners. (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])

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])

ZL Neufahrwasser: Germ. Zivilgefangenenlager (Eng. POW camp for civilians) organized by the Germans on the day of the outbreak of the war, on 01.09. 1939, in Gdańsk ‐ Nowy Port (New Port), in former artillery barracks belonging to Poland, for Poles from Pomerania arrested as part of the «Intelligenzaktion» action — extermination of Polish intelligentsia. Prisoners from ZL Neufahrwasser — 2,702 people were identified, but it is estimated that c. 10,000 arrestees passed through the camp — were sent to the KL Stutthof concentration camp or directly to the places of extermination. The camp operated till 01.04.1940 (more on: stutthof.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], ofiaromwojny.republika.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04])

IL Bromberg: Germ. „Internierungslager” (Eng. „Internment camp”) set up on 05.09.1939 — the day Germans took over Bydgoszcz — in 15 Greater Poland Light Artillery Regiment military barracks at 147 Gdańska Str. in Bydgoszcz. In 09.1939 only c. 3,500 Poles were jailed there. Prisoners were held in f. stables or f. armory building. They were maltreated and tortured. Some were shot on the spot (c. 28 victims in 09.1939). Next they were sent to concentration camps throughout Germany. Some were taken to mass execution sites in nearby forests and murdered. On 01.11.1939 the camp was moved to f. ammunition warehouses in Jachcice town district. The camp was closed in 12.1939. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30])

«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 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])

UWZL Potulitz (Lebrechtsdorf): In the fall of 1939, after invasion of Poland the Germans — i.e. „East” branch of Treuhandanstalt, Main Trust Office — took over the Society of Christ Fathers for Poles Living Abroad Congregation’s house in Potulice, following eviction of all remaining friars. Initially the SS non‐commissioned officer's school was set up. In 1940, the estate was taken over by the Gdańsk branch of the Germ. Umwandererzentralstelle (Eng. Central Resettlement Office), i.e. UWZ, with HQ in Poznań, subordinate to the Germ. Sicherheitsdienst des Reichsführers SS (Eng. Security Service of the Reichsführers SS), i.e. SD, and from 01.02.1941 it was used as a temporary UWZL Potulitz camp for Poles prior to resettlement to the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate). In the fall of 1941 it became a subcamp — briefly transformed into the Germ. SS‐Arbeitslager (Eng. SS labor camp) — of the KL Stutthof concentration camp. From 01.02.1941 it formally continued to function as the Germ. Umwandererzentralstelle Lager (Eng. camp of the Central Resettlement Office) UWZL Lebrechtsdorf (in 1942, the Germans changed the name Potulitz to Lebrechstdorf), but practically it operated as the Germ. Arbeitserziehungslager (Eng. educational labor camp), i.e. German a slave labor camp, subordinated to KL Stutthof, where by 1945 over 1,297 Poles died, most of them children. After German defeat and end of World War II hostilities, in 1945‐1950, the Commie‐Nazi authorities set up there Central Labour Camp for Germans. From overall population of c. 34,932 German prisoners c. 4,495 perished, including many children and elderly. From 1950 the buildings were used a prison for Polish political prisoners. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.10.04], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.10.04])

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:
www.gusen.org.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], www3.tchr.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.10.04]
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
„A martyrology of Polish clergy under German occupation, 1939‐1945”, Fr Szołdrski Vladislaus CSSR, Rome 1965