Roman Catholic
St Sigismund parish
05-507 Słomczyn
85 Wiślana Str.
Konstancin deanery
Warsaw archdiocese, Poland
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Martyrology of the clergy — Poland
XX century (1914 – 1989)
personal data
religious status
Servant of God
surname
WITOWSKI
forename(s)
Charles Otto (pl. Karol Otton)
religious forename(s)
Michael (pl. Michał)
function
religious cleric
creed
Latin (Roman Catholic) Church RCmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]
congregation
Order of Saint Benedict OSBmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
(i.e. Benedictines, Black Monks)
diocese / province
Berlin diocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.12.04]
nationality
German
date and place
of death
01.02.1945
Paradyżtoday: Gościkowo, Świebodzin gm., Świebodzin pov., Lubusz voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
details of death
In 1933 left Weingerten abbey with an aim to set up a new abbey in Berlin.
After this failed became a diocesan priest in Berlin.
In 1941, during World War II started by German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939, moved nuns from congregation he founded east to the former Cistercian abbey in Paradies (today Gościkowo).
There in 01/02.1945, in the last months of the war Russian troops arrived.
Perished in the abbey shot by Russians soldiers attempting to defend nuns from rapes.
cause of death
murder
perpetrators
Russians
sites and events
Mass rapes in 1945Click to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description
date and place
of birth
17.09.1885
Berlintoday: Berlin state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.07.31]
religious vows
1921 (temporary)
presbyter (holy orders)
ordination
1925 (Rometoday: Rome prov., Lazio reg., Italy
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18])
positions held
1941 – 1945
priest — Paradyżtoday: Gościkowo, Świebodzin gm., Świebodzin pov., Lubusz voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18] ⋄ post–Cistercian abbey — chaplain of the female religious congregation he founded; also: prob. chaplain of the State Secondary School operating in the buildings of the former abbey
1938 – 1941
priest — Strausbergtoday: Märkisch‐Oderland dist., Brandenburg state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.12.05] ⋄ Immaculatahaus (Eng. Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary's Congregation house) — founder of a female religious congregation also: commuting chaplain and choir director of the St John the Evangelist parish in Berlin–Südende (1940‐1941)
1936 – 1938
priest — Berlintoday: Berlin state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.07.31] — chaplain of the Catholic German Women's League chapel; also: music director at the Our Lady of Sorrows church in the Berlin–Lankwit district
1936
leaving — Benedictines OSB
friar — Triertoday: Trier urban dist., Rhineland‐Palatinate state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.12.05] ⋄ St Matthias Abbey, Benedictines OSB — temporarily, prob. during an attempt to found an abbey in Berlin
1929 – 1933
abbot — Weingartentoday: Ravensburg dist., Tübingen reg., Baden‐Württemberg state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.12.05] ⋄ St Martin Abbey, Benedictines OSB
1926 – 1929
friar — Heidelbergtoday: Heidelberg urban dist., Karlsruhe reg., Baden‐Württemberg state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.12.05] ⋄ St Bartholomew Abbey (Neuburg), Benedictines OSB — depury abbot
till c. 1925
student — Beurontoday: Sigmaringen dist., Tübingen reg., Baden‐Württemberg state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.04.12] ⋄ philosophy and theology, St Martin Archabbey, Benedictines OSB
student — Maria Laachtoday: in Glees, Ahrweiler dist., Rhineland‐Palatinate state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.12.05] ⋄ philosophy, Abbey (Germ. Abtei Maria Laach), Benedictines OSB
1920 – 1921
novitiate — Gerlevetoday: in Billerbeck, Coesfeld dist., Münster reg., North Rhine‐Westphalia state, Germany
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.12.05] ⋄ Abbey, Benedictines OSB
1920
accession — Benedictines OSB
sites and events
descriptions
Mass rapes in 1945: During capture in 1944‐1945 of pre‐war German territories and territories incorporated into Germany in 1939 after German invasion of Poland Russian soldiers committed mass, often multiple, rapes on mainly German, but also Polish, women. Up to 2 mln women might have been violated, from 8 to 80 or more years old. Many were murdered as a consequence. Rapes were prob. tolerated if not encouraged by Russian military and civilian NKVD commanders. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.03.01])
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.benediktinerlexikon.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06], www.enzyklo.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06], newsaints.faithweb.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06], www.bautz.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06], newsaints.faithweb.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06]
original images:
thema.erzbistum-koeln.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.09.26], www.benediktinerlexikon.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06]
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