Roman Catholic
St Sigismund parish
05-507 Słomczyn
85 Wiślana Str.
Konstancin deanery
Warsaw archdiocese, Poland
full list:
displayClick to display full list
searchClick to search full list by categories
wyświetlKliknij by wyświetlić pełną listę po polsku
szukajKliknij by przeszukać listę wg kategorii po polsku
Martyrology of the clergy — Poland
XX century (1914 – 1989)
personal data
religious status
Servant of God
surname
SPYRŁAK
forename(s)
John (pl. Jan)
religious forename(s)
Justin (pl. Justyn)
function
religious cleric
creed
Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
congregation
Order of Preachers OPmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.07.06]
(i.e. Dominican Order, Dominicans)
diocese / province
St Hyacinth Polish Province
St Hyacinth Galicia Province OP
Lviv archdiocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
date and place
of death
02.07.1941
Chortkivtoday: Chortkiv urban hrom., Chortkiv rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20]
details of death
In 1939, Chortkiv, a district town in the Ternopil Voivodeship, where the Dominican Fathers OP had their monastery and where he resided, was inhabited by c. 17,500 people, of whom c. 48% were Roman Catholic Poles, c. 24% Greek Catholic Ukrainians, and c. 27% Jews.
After the German and Russian attack on Poland in 09.1939, World War II began. According to the agreement between the two allies, ratified by the genocidal Ribbentrop–Molotov Pact of 23.08.1939, the Ternopil Voivodeship, including Chortkiv, fell to the Russians. The Russian occupation began.
In the autumn of 1939, arrests of the intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, landowners, government officials, and families of Polish military personnel began. Among them were residents of Chortkiv, including Vitold Błażyński, president of the District Court in Chortkiv, and former soldiers of the Border Protection Corps KOP Battalion „Chortkiv”. Several of them were included on the so‐called Ukrainian Katyn List, also known as the „Tsvetukhin List”, of Poles murdered — prob. in Kiev — on the decision and order of 05.03.1940 of the highest Russian authorities.
And then a group of young people — aged 18‐22, or even younger — threatened with conscription into the Russian army, mainly associated with the Polish National Party, set up the „Young Poland” underground organization. Around Christmas 1939, or at the beginning of 01.1940, in the choir of the Dominican OP church in Chortkiv — with his, as the prior of the monastery, knowledge and support — a clandestine oath was taken by its members. The decision was made to attempt to get to France, where the Polish government was then forming Polish military units. The intention was to seize Russian military barracks, free those held in prison, take over the railway station and, by captured train, reach Romania through the border town of Zalishchyky, c. 45 km south, and from there to France.
The action — the first such uprising during World War II, which went down in history as the „Czortków Uprising” — was planned for the anniversary of the outbreak of the anti‐Russian January Uprising of 1863. On Sunday, 21.01.
1940, at 8:00 p.m. in the Dominican OP church, c. 200 participants met. The attack on the barracks failed, however, and the Russians quickly mobilized large armed forces, including the genocidal NKVD. News of the Polish action reached the highest levels of Russian power, the Kremlin. C. 128 young Poles were quickly arrested. By 23.01.1940, 242 people had been arrested, and by 25.04.1940, as many as 540 suspected of clandestine activity — mainly members of the Armed Struggle Union ZWZ. All were interrogated and tortured. A show trial was held for those arrested, at which at least 21 people were sentenced to death — the sentences were carried out — 55 were sent to Russian Gulag slave labor camps, and most of the rest were deported deep into Russia, „to Siberia”.
In 1940‐1941 many other Poles from Chortkiv became victims of four large waves of deportations „to Siberia”. Surveillance of the friars began. The monastery property was parceled out. Part of the monastery itself was occupied by the Russian army. High taxes were imposed on the Dominican Order.
On 22.06.1941, Germany attacked its erstwhile ally, the Russians. Panic gripped the Russians to a large extent. Despite this, the genocidal NKVD, among whom in Chortkiv a large number of members were of Jewish nationality, began to implement the order of the highest authorities to liquidate the local prison. Some prisoners were driven on foot eastwards, towards Uman, over 400 km away. Most were murdered by the NKVD along the way. Another group was transported by rail over 1,700 km over 17 days to Gorky, the former Nizhny Novgorod — prob. c. 30% died in the transport. The remaining c. 200 inmates were murdered by the NKVD in prison, using machine guns — they were found bricked up or buried in the prison yard. One of the killers was a local Jew named Blum, a member of the NKVD, who murdered his victims in a kneeling position with shots to the back of the skull. The murdered had their hands tied behind their backs.
And then, on 02.07.1941 — four days before the Germans entered Chortkiv — the genocidal NKVD, in agreement with the Russian front‐line troops, broke into the Dominican monastery and church. They plundered both the monastery and the church.
The criminals captured him and, along with three other friars, led him across the Seret River, to the Staryi Chortkiv district — a former village — to the so‐called Berda causeway.
There, they were murdered with shots to the back of the head.
A witness reported: „Father Jack [Misiuta] was lying about four steps from the river. He was lying on his right side, curled up, with his eyes open and his face in a pool of blood. Above his head was a flat cap and glasses. He was dressed in civilian clothes and had shoes on. He was shot from behind because he had two bullet wounds in his neck, one above the other. A few steps above Father Jack lay: first, Father Justin [Spyrłak], next to him, Father Anatol [Znamirowski] and Brother Andrew [Bojakowski]. They were all lying on their backs. Father Justin had his eyes closed […] A handkerchief, damp with sweat, lay next to his hand, and glasses, stained with blood and broken, lay next to his head.
Father Anatol was lying next to him in his habit […] with a flat cap on his head, bloody inside, with shoes on his feet. He was shot from behind.
People dipped handkerchiefs in the blood of the Martyrs, collected it in vessels, and took away the earth with the blood as relics”.
Four other brethren were murdered in the monastery itself.
The executioners were local Jews serving in the NKVD, which apparently has been confirmed by the surviving testimonies of Chortkiv residents. Jews harbored particular animosity towards him from the beginning of his ministry in Chortkiv, for one of his first decisions was to build a special tenement house within the monastery grounds and bring in Polish merchants from Poznań. They constituted direct competition to Jewish interests, which before 1939 had essentially monopolized trade in the Chortkiv area (and not only there). Two of the murderers, after the end of World War II, were to serve in the ranks of the Commie‐Nazi Polish Army in the Russian‐occupied Russian republic of Poland, i.e. prl, gaining high officer ranks. Some sources even claim that one of them became a general.
Lat. „O Tempora! O mores!”
cause of death
mass murder
perpetrators
Russians / Jews
sites and events
ChortkivClick to display the description, 06.1941 massacres (NKVD)Click to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description
date and place
of birth
07.12.1895
Bronowice Małetoday: part of VI Bronowice District of Kraków city, Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2023.08.19]
religious vows
15.09.1913 (temporary)
23.03.1917 (permanent)
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
20.09.1919
Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16]
positions held
17.05.1937 – 1941
prior — Chortkivtoday: Chortkiv urban hrom., Chortkiv rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] ⋄ St Stanislav the Bishop and Martyr monastery, Dominicans OP
1935 – 1937
friar — Chortkivtoday: Chortkiv urban hrom., Chortkiv rai., Ternopil obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.20] ⋄ St Stanislav the Bishop and Martyr monastery, Dominicans OP — also. trustee, i.e. administrator of monastery estate, catechist
24.11.1933 – 1935
friar — Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16] ⋄ Corpus Christi monastery, Dominicans OP — also. trustee, i.e. administrator of monastery estate, confessor of the St Joseph Sisters
26.11.1930 – 1933
prior — Jarosławtoday: Jarosław gm., Jarosław pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.04.01] ⋄ Blessed Virgin Mary of Sorrows monastery, Dominicans OP — also: chaplain of the Third Order of Saint Dominic TOP
1928 – 1930
deputy prior — Zhovkvatoday: Zhovkva urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.22] ⋄ Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Dominicans OP — also: prefect of the boarding school for boys, catechist at the Felician Sisters Teachers' Seminary
1927 – 1928
friar — Zhovkvatoday: Zhovkva urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.22] ⋄ Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Dominicans OP — also: prefect of the boarding school for boys
1926 – 1927
friar — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07] ⋄ Holy Trinity monastery, Dominicans OP — monastery major sacristan and cantor
1923 – 1926
friar — Zhovkvatoday: Zhovkva urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.22] ⋄ Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Dominicans OP — deputy prefect of the boarding school for boys
1919 – 1923
friar — Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16] ⋄ Corpus Christi monastery, Dominicans OP — also: further theological studies
till 1919
student — Lvivtoday: Lviv urban hrom., Lviv rai., Lviv obl., Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.16] ⋄ Philosophical and Theological Studies, Corpus Christi monastery, Dominicans OP
from 1913
friar — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07] ⋄ Holy Trinity monastery, Dominicans OP — also: student of the last years of gymnasium
15.09.1912 – 15.09.1913
novitiate — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07] ⋄ Holy Trinity monastery, Dominicans OP
15.09.1912
accession — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07] ⋄ Holy Trinity monastery, Dominicans OP
others related
in death
BOJAKOWSKIClick to display biography Stanislav (Bro. Andrew Mary), CZERWONKAClick to display biography Martin (Bro. Reginald), IWANISZCZÓWClick to display biography Charles (Bro. Methodius), LONGAWAClick to display biography Francis (Fr Jerome), MISIUTAClick to display biography Stanislav (Fr Hyacinth), WINCENTOWICZClick to display biography Joseph, ZNAMIROWSKIClick to display biography Adam (Fr Anatol Mary), ŚWIEŻEWSKIClick to display biography Casimir (Bro. Fidelis Mary)
sites and events
descriptions
Chortkiv: When the news of German attack reach Chortkiv Russians murdered approx. 200 prisoners in local jail (some where walled over, the other massacred on the prison yard). The rest were driven to Humań, where approx. 700 of them were massacred. 350 more died deported to Russia. On 02.07.1941 Russians entered the Dominican convent in Chortkiv and murdered, with the help of local Jews, all religious (four were murdered within the walls of the monastery, four others were marched out to the banks of Seret river and there executed with a shot to the head). Next they defiled the church and burnt the monastery. Chortkiv remembered then — now totally forgotten — an attempt on 20.01.1940 by mainly Polish gymnasium students to free Polish prisoners from local jail, taking over the train station and driving a train to a nearby Romania. The attempt failed, 3 Russians died. In reprisal Russians arrested 128 people, murdered 35 and the rest exiled to Siberia. (more on: www.blogpress.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.31], www.fronda.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.05.09])
06.1941 massacres (NKVD): After German attack of Russian‐occupied Polish territory and following that of Russia itself, before a panic escape, Russians murdered — in accordance with the genocidal order issued on 24.06.1941 by the Russian interior minister Lawrence Beria to murder all prisoners (formally „sentenced” for „counter‐revolutionary activities”, „anti‐Russian acts”, sabotage and diversion, and political prisoners „in custody”), held in NKVD‐run prisons in Russian occupied Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia — c. 40,000‐50,000 prisoners. In addition Russians murdered many thousands of victims arrested after German attack regarding them as „enemies of people” — those victims were not even entered into prisons’ registers. Most of them were murdered in massacres in the prisons themselves, the others during so‐called „death marches” when the prisoners were driven out east. After Russians departure and start of German occupation a number of spontaneous pogroms of Jews took place. Many Jews collaborated with Russians and were regarded as co‐responsible for prison massacres. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])
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])
sources
personal:
www.jerzyrobertnowak.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.06], www.zulice31.parafia.info.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.06], krzysztofpozarski.files.wordpress.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.04.16], cracovia-leopolis.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.06]
bibliographical:
„Biographical lexicon of Lviv Roman Catholic Metropoly clergy victims of the II World War 1939‐1945”, Mary Pawłowiczowa (ed.), Fr Joseph Krętosz (ed.), Holy Cross Publishing, Opole, 2007
„Lexicon of Polish clergy repressed in USSR in 1939‐1988”, Roman Dzwonkowski, SAC, ed. Science Society KUL, 2003, Lublin
„Mysterium iniquitatis. Clergy and religious of the Latin rite murdered by Ukrainian nationalists in 1939‐1945”, Fr Józef Marecki, Institute of National Remembrance IPN, Kraków 2020
„Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933‐1945”, The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, ed. Martin Dean, volume II: „Ghettos in German–Occupied Eastern Europe”, part A
original images:
newsaints.faithweb.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.13], bobrka.przemyska.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.09.02], nieobecni.com.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.04.18], mbc.malopolska.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.03.14], ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.02.02]
LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATOR
If you have an Email client on your communicator/computer — such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Windows Mail or Microsoft Outlook, described at WikipediaPatrz:
en.wikipedia.org, among others — try the link below, please:
LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATORClick and try to call your own Email client
If however you do not run such a client or the above link is not active please send an email to the Custodian/Administrator using your account — in your customary email/correspondence engine — at the following address:
giving the following as the subject:
MARTYROLOGY: SPYRŁAK John
To return to the biography press below:
Click to return to biography