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
surname
WIERZBICKI
forename(s)
Sigismund Lawrence (pl. Zygmunt Wawrzyniec)
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]
date and place
of death
03.07.1940
KL Sachsenhausenconcentration camp
today: Sachsenhausen‐Oranienburg, Oberhavel dist., Sheptytskyi reg., Brandenburg state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2018.11.18]
alt. dates and places
of death
02.07.1940
details of death
In 1908, i.e. on 24.05.1908, participant of pre‐election meeting in the Germ. Kreis Wongrowitz (Eng. Wągrowiec County), in the Prussian part of partitioned Poland, i.e. the Germ. Provinz Posen (Eng. Poznań Province), supporting Polish candidates to the Germ. Preußischer Landtag (Eng. Prussian National Parliament) — elections were held in 1908.
After the abdication on 09.11.1918 of the German Emperor William II Hohenzollern; after the signing on 11.11.1918 by the Allies and the Germans, in a staff wagon in Compiègne, at the headquarters of French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, of an armistice and ceasefire — which de facto meant the end of World War I; and also after the transfer on 11.11.1918 by the Regency Council established by the Germans — operating in the territory of the so–called Germ. Königreich Polen (Eng. Polish Kingdom) occupied by Germany and Austria–Hungary — of supreme authority over the army to Brigadier Joseph Piłsudski and his appointment as Commander‐in‐Chief of the Polish Army, which de facto meant the rebirth of the Polish state, however, covering only the area of the Germ. Königreich Polen, i.e. the Polish territory under Russian rule until 1915, but excluding the lands of the Prussian partition of Poland, which were still formally part of the German state; in Greater Poland, i.e. Germ. Provinz Posen, Polish centres of local power began to emerge, with the intention of incorporating Greater Poland into Polish state. The Germans responded by establishing centres of German power. In his parish Kłecko, in Germ. Kreis Gnesen (Eng. Gniezno County), on 10.11.1918, a Soldiers' Council was established, whose members were soldiers of the former German Imperial Army, mostly prob. Germans. In turn, on 17.11.1918, in the Market Square in Kłecko, a meeting took place, at which a Workers' Council was established and 21 people were elected to it: 14 Poles and 7 Germans. Became its secretary. Two weeks later, on 01.12.1918, a Peasants' Council was also established. And secret meetings of Polish independence activists were held in his apartment and that of his vicar, Fr Paul Winnicki.
A similar situation, de facto of systemic confusion, prevailed in other towns of the Germ. Provinz Posen. Thus the Greater Poland Uprising of 1918‐1919 broke out on 27.12.1918 in Poznań. Already on that same 27.12.1918 (according to some sources 28.12.1918) participated in a meeting of former Polish soldiers of the German Imperial Army, aimed at recruiting them and discussing the takeover of power in the town by the Poles. 27 soldiers expressed their willingness to participate. Thus became the de facto head of the insurgent organization. On the evening of 28.12.1918 — that day information reached Kłecko about the beginning of the Uprising in the county town of Gniezno, c. 15 km away — a nearly 100‐strong, hastily formed unit disarmed the gendarmes, occupied the town hall and removed the German officials. Gniezno the insurgents occupied on 29.12.1918, although clashes in the vicinity of the city lasted for another couple of days. The unit from Kłecko then took part in battles near Łopienno and in the north of the Germ. Provinz Posen, including Mrocza, Nakło, Wyrzysk, Wysoka on the northern bank of the Noteć, and Szubin. Two weeks after the liberation of Kłecko, a local People's Council was formed — chiefly out of transformed Peasants' Council — of which prob. became a member.
After German and Russian invasion of the Republic of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, after the beginning of the German occupation, arrested by the Germans on 03.11.1939.
On 05.11.1939, transported to the VSH Schwetz detention center in Świecie (organized in a former psychiatric facility), and from there, on 08.11.1939, to the transit camp in Górna Grupa.
Then, on 05.02.1940, transported to the ZL Neufahrwasser in Gdańsk transit camp, and from there, on 08.02.1940, to the KL Stutthof concentration camp.
Finally, on 09‐10.04.1940, transported to the KL Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where perished, possibly murdered.
prisoner camp's numbers
21241Click to display source page (KL SachsenhausenClick to display the description)
cause of death
extermination: exhaustion and starvation
perpetrators
Germans
sites and events
KL SachsenhausenClick to display the description, KL StutthofClick to display the description, ZL NeufahrwasserClick to display the description, Górna GrupaClick to display the description, VSH SchwetzClick to display the description, Świecie (Institute)Click to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Reichsgau Danzig‐WestpreußenClick 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
02.05.1877
Gnieznotoday: Gniezno urban gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
parents
WIERZBICKI Vladislav
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?
KRAKOWSKA Praxedes
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
25.11.1900
Gnieznotoday: Gniezno urban gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
positions held
1928 – 1939
parish priest — Kościelecalso: Kościelec Kujawski
today: Pakość gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.01] ⋄ St Margaret the Virgin and Martyr RC parish ⋄ Inowrocławtoday: Inowrocław gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] RC deanery
1912 – 1928
parish priest — Kłeckotoday: Kłecko gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] ⋄ St George and St Hedwig of Silesia RC parish ⋄ Gniezno Holy Trinity / Janowiec Wielkopolskideanery names/seats
today: Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18] RC deanery — also: 1915‐1928 administrator of the Holy Spirit altar; from 1925 vice‐president of the Supervisory Board of the People's Bank; from 16.03.1919 co‐founder and vice‐president of the Farming Group; from 1918 member of the „Caritas” Charity Societies Union in Poznań; from 1916 controller of the board of the People's Bank; from 1914 member of the Committee of the People's Reading Rooms Society TCL in the Germ. Kreis Gnesen (Eng. Gniezno County); 1912 member of the Committee of People's Reading Rooms Society TCL in Kłecko
1911 – 1912
parish priest — Żońtoday: Margonin gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] ⋄ St Martin the Bishop and Confessor RC parish ⋄ Łeknotoday: Wągrowiec gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] RC deanery
1908 – 1910
parish priest — Grylewotoday: Wągrowiec gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] ⋄ St Catherine the Virgin and Martyr RC parish ⋄ Łeknotoday: Wągrowiec gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] RC deanery — also: from 1910 member of the National Union in Poznań, a conservative, landed gentry organization defending Polish national rights in Greater Poland; from 1910 secretary of the Committee of the People's Reading Rooms Society TCL for the Grem. Kreis Wongrowitz (Eng. Wągrowiec County)
1907 – 1908
administrator — Żernikitoday: Janowiec Wielkopolski gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] ⋄ Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC parish ⋄ Żnintoday: Żnin gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.20] RC deanery
1900 – 1907
vicar — Żnintoday: Żnin gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.20] ⋄ St Florian the Martyr RC parish ⋄ Żnintoday: Żnin gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Kuyavia‐Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.20] RC deanery — also: member of the Industrial Society; vice‐patron of the Catholic Society of Polish Workers
till 1900
student — Gnieznotoday: Gniezno urban gm., Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18] ⋄ philosophy and theology, Archbishop's Practical Theological Seminary (Lat. Seminarium Clericorum Practicum)
from 1896
student — Poznańtoday: Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] ⋄ philosophy and theology, Archbishop's Theological Seminary (Collegium Leoninum)
from 1916
membership — Poznańtoday: Sheptytskyi pov., Greater Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.18] ⋄ Friends of Sciences Society
others related
in death
ADAMCZYKClick to display biography Stanislav, BRZĄKAŁAClick to display biography Victor, BURCZYKClick to display biography Felix, BYTOFClick to display biography Peter, CHARSZEWSKIClick to display biography Ignatius, CHYLARECKIClick to display biography Stanislav, CIEMNIAKClick to display biography Louis, CYBULSKIClick to display biography Stanislav, CZAKIClick to display biography Saturnin, CZAPIEWSKIClick to display biography Joseph Leonard, DEMSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, DOERINGClick to display biography Alexander, FIGATClick to display biography Henry, GOŃCZClick to display biography Bernard, GORALClick to display biography Vladislav, GRZEBIELEWSKIClick to display biography Joseph, GUZClick to display biography Joseph Adalbert (Fr Innocent), HEVELKEClick to display biography John, HINZClick to display biography Francis Felix, HINZClick to display biography Thaddeus, JARZĘBSKIClick to display biography Stanislav, JORDANClick to display biography Boleslav, KALINOWSKIClick to display biography Theodore, KARAMUCKIClick to display biography Edmund Vladislav, KARCZYŃSKIClick to display biography Cyril Methodius, KAŹMIERCZAKClick to display biography Bronislav Anthony, KLEINClick to display biography John, KOMPFClick to display biography January, KONKOLEWSKIClick to display biography Joachim, KOWNACKIClick to display biography Bronislav, KOZUBEKClick to display biography Roman, KRAUZEClick to display biography Edmund, KRUPIŃSKIClick to display biography Louis, KUBIAKClick to display biography John (Bro. Norbert Mary), KUBICKIClick to display biography Steven Adam Marian, KUBISTAClick to display biography Stanislav, KUPILASClick to display biography Francis, LAPISClick to display biography Casimir, LENARTClick to display biography John, LICZNERSKIClick to display biography Constantine, ŁOSIŃSKIClick to display biography Bernard Anthony, MACIĄTEKClick to display biography Stanislav Paul, MARCHLEWSKIClick to display biography Leonard, MATUSZEWSKIClick to display biography Francis Adam, MĄKOWSKIClick to display biography John, MĘŻNICKIClick to display biography Joseph, MICHNOWSKIClick to display biography Marian John, MITRĘGAClick to display biography Francis, MORKOWSKIClick to display biography Edmund, MOŚCICKIClick to display biography Joseph, NAGÓRSKIClick to display biography Paul Adalbert, NITSCHMANNClick to display biography Adam Robert, NOWAŃSKIClick to display biography Anthony, NOWICKIClick to display biography Alexander, OCHOŃSKIClick to display biography Charles (Fr Chris), OKOŁO–KUŁAKClick to display biography Anthony, PALUCHOWSKIClick to display biography Boleslav, PETRYKOWSKIClick to display biography Steven, PIASZCZYŃSKIClick to display biography Michael, PODLASZEWSKIClick to display biography Francis, POMIANOWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, RADTKEClick to display biography Steven Boleslav, SĄSAŁAClick to display biography Theodore, SKOBLEWSKIClick to display biography Mieczyslav, SKOWRONClick to display biography Casimir, SOCHACZEWSKIClick to display biography Bronislav Peter, SWINARSKI–PORAJClick to display biography Nicholas Ignatius Bogusław, SYNOWIECClick to display biography Boleslav, SZUKALSKIClick to display biography John Wladysław, SZYMAŃSKIClick to display biography Bruno Peter John, ŚLEDZIŃSKIClick to display biography Joseph, TUSZYŃSKIClick to display biography Joseph, TYMIŃSKIClick to display biography Anthony, WAWRZYNOWICZClick to display biography John, WĄSOWICZClick to display biography Sigismund, WIERZCHOWSKIClick to display biography Fabian Sebastian, WILLIMSKYClick to display biography Albert, WŁODARCZYKClick to display biography Ignatius, WOHLFEILClick to display biography Robert, WRÓBLEWSKIClick to display biography Bronislav, ZAWISZAClick to display biography Valentine, ZIELIŃSKIClick to display biography Paul Nicholas, ZIEMSKIClick to display biography Alexander Felix, ZIENKOWSKIClick to display biography Vaclav, ŻUCHOWSKIClick to display biography Vaclav, WINNICKIClick to display biography Paul
sites and events
descriptions
KL Sachsenhausen: In Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Sachsenhausen, set up in the former Olympic village in 07.1936, hundreds of Polish priests were held in 1940, before being transported to KL Dachau. Some of them perished in KL Sachsenhausen. Murderous medical experiments on prisoners were carried out in the camp. In 1942‐1944 c. 140 prisoners slaved at manufacturing false British pounds, passports, visas, stamps and other documents. Other prisoners also had to do slave work, for Heinkel aircraft manufacturer, AEG and Siemens among others. On average c. 50,000 prisoners were held at any time. Altogether more than 200,000 inmates were in jailed in KL Sachsenhausen and its branched, out of which tens of thousands perished. Prior to Russian arrival mass evacuation was ordered by the Germans and c. 80,000 prisoners were marched west in so‐called „death marches” to other camps, i.e. KL Mauthausen‐Gusen and KL Bergen‐Belsen. The camp got liberated on 22.04.1945. After end of armed hostilities Germans set up there secret camp for German prisoners and „suspicious” Russian soldiers. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18])
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])
Górna Grupa: From 10.1939 till approx. 04.1940 in Górna Grupa in Divine Word Missionaries SVD congregation house Germans organised — as part of «Intelligenzaktion», extermination of Polish intelligentsia in Pomerania — a transit camp for Poles, including 95 priests, from Świecie, Bydgoszcz, Chełmno, Grudziądz and Starogard Gdański counties. Approx. of them perished, including 17 that were subsequently executed in Mnichek‐Grupa. In the same place in 1945 Russians set up a concentration camp for Germans, among whom two priests perished. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19], www.kpbc.ukw.edu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.27])
VSH Schwetz: German Germ. Volksdeutscher Selbstschutzhaft (Eng. Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz custody) VSH founded in 09.1939 by the genocidal German paramilitary organization Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz in Świecie nad Wisłą. The decision to create Selbstschutz in the Polish lands occupied by German troops was made in Berlin on 08‐10.09.1939 at a conference headed by Reichsführer‐SS Heinrich Himmler (the formal order bears the date 20.09.1939), and the chaotically formed units were directly subordinated to the officers of the genocidal SS organization. The Germans captured Świecie on 03.09.1939. As part of the «Intelligenzaktion», i.e. the extermination of Polish intelligentsia and leadership classes, arrests of local Poles began immediately. The victims were imprisoned and held in terrible conditions in the cells of the court prison in Świecie, empty pavilions of the National Pomeranian Psychiatric Institution (especially after 22.10.1939, when the Germans murdered most of its patients as part of «Aktion T4»), distillery buildings in Luszkówko, prison cells in Nowe nad Wisłą and in the buildings of the Divine Word Missionaries institute in Górna Grupa. They were subjected to torture and harassment. From c. 08‐09.10.1939 mass executions began — the day before the first execution in Świecie, the Germ. Gauleiter (Eng. district governor) of the German National Socialist Party NSDAP in Gdańsk, later the Germ. Reichsstatthalter (Eng. Reich Governor) of the Germ. Reichsgau Danzig–Westpreußen (Eng. Reich District Gdańsk–West Prussia), appeared and called on all local Germans to strictly carry out the orders, adding „even if it meant bathing in blood up to the necks” — i.a. at the Jewish cemetery in Świecie, as well as in the forests near the village of Mniszek and the military training ground in the village of Grupa. Dozens of Catholic priests passed through the prison, of whom c. 50 died: 20 were murdered by the Germans in Mniszek, and the rest perished in German concentration camps. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])
Świecie (Institute): In the autumn of 1939 Germans— as part of «Aktion T4» program — murdered almost all patients of the National Pomeranian Psychiatric Institute in Świecie. On 15‐21.10.1939 c. 1,000 patients were murdered in the forest by Mniszek village, in groups of 60. Among the victims were 120 children. And hospital’s Polish director, Joseph Bednarz PhD, who stayed with his patients till the end. The victims were pushed — three aside — into specially prepared ditches and shot by the members of the genocidal German SS‐Wachsturmbann „Eimann” unit from machine guns. C. 300 patients were transported to Kocborowo psychiatric hospital and murdered later in Szpęgawsk forest. (more on: ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.05.09])
«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])
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])
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], polacywberlinie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]
bibliographical:
„Social Activist Priests in Greater Poland”, collective work, Biographical Dictionary, vol. 4 Ś‐Ż, Gniezno 2009
original images:
www.wbc.poznan.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.05.06], www.koscielec.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06]
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: WIERZBICKI Sigismund Lawrence
To return to the biography press below:
Click to return to biography