function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Culm (Chełmno) diocesemore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2012.11.23]
RC Military Ordinariate of Polandmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.12.20]

honorary titles

Order of „Polonia Restituta”more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.04.16]
Gold „Cross of Merit”more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.04.16]
honorary canonmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14] (Pelpin cathedralmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14])

date and place
of death

11.11.1939

Wielka Piaśnicaknown as Piaśnica
today: Puck gm., Puck pov., Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09]

details of death

cause of death

mass murder

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

PiaśnicaClick to display the description, KL StutthofClick to display the description, ZL NeufahrwasserClick to display the description, DL Victoriaschule (Gdańsk)Click to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Collective responsibility („Hostages”)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, Polish‐Russian war of 1919‐1921Click to display the description, Greater Poland UprisingClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

11.09.1888

Chełmnotoday: Chełmno urban gm., Chełmno pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.25]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

24.03.1912 (Pelpin cathedralmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14])

positions held

others related
in death

ANGRYKClick to display biography Louis, BIEŃKOWSKIClick to display biography John Anthony, BLAJERClick to display biography Blase, BŁAŻEWSKIClick to display biography Ignatius, BORYSIAKClick to display biography John, BRODOWSKIClick to display biography John, DUNAJSKIClick to display biography Peter Paul, FIEREKClick to display biography Anastasius, FITTKAUClick to display biography Edmund, GASIŃSKIClick to display biography Louis, GLISZCZYŃSKIClick to display biography John, GŁOWAClick to display biography Ceslav, HEINIGClick to display biography Julius, HOEFTClick to display biography Walter Joseph, JAKUBOWSKIClick to display biography John Stanislav, JAMRÓGClick to display biography Witold (Fr Henry), JÓŹWIAKClick to display biography Joanna, KALISZClick to display biography Casimir Francis, KASZUBOWSKIClick to display biography Louis, KITZERMANNClick to display biography Francis, KNITTERClick to display biography Louis Bernard, KONEWECKIClick to display biography Joseph, KOTOWSKAClick to display biography Mary Hedwig (Sr Alice), KRĘCKIClick to display biography Anastasius, LABUDAClick to display biography Bronislav, LEHMANNClick to display biography Joseph, MOJKOWSKIClick to display biography Julian, MÓWIŃSKIClick to display biography Joseph, NIKLEWSKIClick to display biography Felix, OLKIEWICZClick to display biography Bruno, PRONOBISClick to display biography Adalbert, PRZYBYSZClick to display biography Francis, RACKIClick to display biography Ceslav, ROMPCAClick to display biography Leo, SARNOWSKIClick to display biography Robert Joseph, SUDYClick to display biography Charles, SZYNALEWSKIClick to display biography Francis Xavier Alex, SZYPNIEWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, UGOFOWSKIClick to display biography Francis, WARCZAKClick to display biography Augustine, WĄTRÓBSKIClick to display biography Adalbert, WIELEWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav Silvester, WILEMSKIClick to display biography Ceslav Casimir, WILEMSKIClick to display biography Paul Felix, WITKOWSKIClick to display biography Boleslav, WOHLFEILClick to display biography Edmund Casimir, ZAKRZEWSKIClick to display biography John, ZĄBEKClick to display biography Edmund Leopold, ŻUREKClick to display biography Mieczyslav

sites and events
descriptions

Piaśnica: In the forests of Piaśnica, c. 1 km from the center of Wielka Piaśnica village near Wejherowo in Pomerania, as part of the Germ. «Intelligenzaktion», from 10.1939 to 04.1940, the Germans murdered, in mass executions, 12,000‐14,000 Poles from Gdańsk Pomerania, mostly Polish intelligentsia. Genocides were committed by SS units (including the Wachsturmbann „Eimann” unit) with the help of members of the paramilitary organization Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, consisting of treacherous Polish citizens of German origin. Arrested people who found themselves on the so‐called German „Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen” — a named proscription list of „enemies of the Reich”. The victims were usually transported by trains to Wejherowo, in closed wagons attached to a regular passenger services. There, the wagons were detached and the victims, after a brutal selection, with families and children separated, were loaded onto trucks and buses. There pits were awaiting them, dug out initially by local German farmers, and later by Polish‐prisoners from the Germ. Neufahrwasser camp in Gdańsk, known as the Germ. „Himmelfahrtskommando” (Eng. „Ascension into Heaven commando”) — these after some time were murdered and new ones were brought in. The victims had to undress to their underwear, and then in groups of 5‐6 people were murdered with a shot to the back of the head, standing or kneeling over a dug hole. The wounded were finished off — some with rifle butts. Some of the children were murdered by smashing their heads against tree trunks. The graves were then covered, and in 1940 seedlings of trees and bushes were planted on them. In 1944, in the face of the impending defeat of the war, the Germans forced Polish prisoners from the KL Stutthof concentration camp to dig up the graves and burn the bodies, and then murdered the prisoners. Piaśnica is referred to as „Pomeranian Katyn” or „Kashubian Golgota”. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.10.09])

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])

DL Victoriaschule (Gdańsk): On 01‐15.09.1939 in the school building Germans set up Germ. Durchgangslager (Eng. Transit Camp) — formally subordinated to the command of the Germ. Schutzpolizei (Eng. Protective Police) i.e. Schupo in Gdańsk, but actually subordinated to the German Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police) i.e. Gestapo — for Poles arrested in Gdańsk after invasion of Poland. The arrested were tortured and badly maltreated. The number of detainees is estimated at cl 3,000. On 07‐15.09.1939 the prisoners were transferred to ZL Neufahrwasser transit camp and other places of extermination, including KL Stutthof. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], ofiaromwojny.republika.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04])

«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])

Collective responsibility („Hostages”): A criminal practice implemented by the Germans in the occupied territories of Poland, applied from the very first day of World War II. At its core was an appointment and public announcement of a list of names of selected people whose lives depended on absolute compliance with German orders. Any violation of these ordinances, by any person, regardless of the circumstances, resulted in the murder of the designated „hostages”. In the first days of the war and occupation, it was used i.a. by the German Wehrmacht army to prevent acts of continuation of the defense by the Poles. Later, especially in the German‐run General Governorate, it was part of the official policy of the occupation authorities — collective responsibility for any acts of resistance to the occupier's practices. For the life of one German, even if death was due to customary reasons, the Germans carried out executions from a dozen to even a hundred Poles previously designated as „hostages”.

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])

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. 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:
pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19], work.brp.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.12.28], biblioteka.wejherowo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]
bibliographical:
„Biographical dictionary of priests of the Chełmno diocese ordained in the years 1821‐1920”, Henry Mross, Pelplin, 1995
original images:
bibliotekacyfrowa.euClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.05.30], biblioteka.wejherowo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19], docplayer.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.02.15], 2wojna.gdynia.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18], www.audiovis.nac.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], www.audiovis.nac.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], rocznikgdynski.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.12.09], www.szkolaslup.zafriko.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.04], biblioteka.wejherowo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]