function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Mogilev archdiocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.06.23]

nationality

Belarusian-Latvian-Swedish

date and place
of death

03.11.1937

Sandarmokhtoday: Medvezhyegorsk reg., Karelia rep., Russia
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.07.16]

alt. dates and places
of death

08.12.1937

details of death

cause of death

mass murder

perpetrators

Russians

sites and events

SandarmokhClick to display the description, 09.10.1937 judicial murderClick to display the description, 11.08.1937 Russian genocideClick to display the description, Great Purge 1937Click to display the description, ITL BelbaltLagClick to display the description, Trial of 05.07.1932Click to display the description, OLP AnzerLagClick to display the description, ITL SLONClick to display the description, GulagClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

11.03.1888

barrack/station no 52 on Dyneburg‐Orel railway linetoday: Augšdaugava mun., Latvia

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

13.04.1914

Sankt Petersburgtoday: Saint Petersburg city, Russia
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.07.31]
Dormition of the Blessed Virgin Mary RC cathedral churchmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.11.01]

positions held

others related
in death

BARANOWSKIClick to display biography Peter, DZIEMIANClick to display biography Joseph, DZIEMIESZKIEWICZClick to display biography Anthony, JARMOŁOWICZClick to display biography Anthony, JUREWICZClick to display biography Boleslav, KAPUSTOClick to display biography Peter Bernard, KARPIŃSKIClick to display biography Joseph, KOWALSKIClick to display biography Joseph, ŁUKASZClick to display biography John, SPALWINI–KRECZETOWClick to display biography Valentine, SZACIŁŁOClick to display biography Albin, WIERZBICKIClick to display biography Joseph, ŻAWRYDClick to display biography John

sites and events
descriptions

Sandarmokh: Former shooting range of Russian slave labour ITL BelbaltLag concentration camp — n. Powienec village on Onega lake shore, c. 19 km from Bear Hill (Medvezhegorsk), in Karelia republic, a seat of Russian ITL BelbaltLag slave labour concentration camp’s headquarters — where from 11.08.1937 till 27.11.1938 in excess of 9,500 victims from 58 nations, including many Poles, mainly from ITL BelbaltLag concentration camp for prisoners constructing White Sea ‐ Baltic canal and c. 1,111 prisoners from Solovetsky Islands concentration camps on White Sea (c. 250 km from Sandarmokh) were murdered in mass executions. At least 32 priests, including 12 Poles and 11 Germans, one bishop among them, were shot through the back of the head at the site 27.10‐04.11.1937. Their remains were unearthed in 1997 — 236 mass grave ditches were discovered spread over c. 10 hectares of land. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.11.14], www.gulagmuseum.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.11.14])

09.10.1937 judicial murder: On 09.10.1937 a «NKVD Troika» — a genocidal Russian kangaroo court from Sankt Petersburg consisting of three „summary judges” — sentenced to death, at a single stroke of pen, 1,116 Solovetsky Islands concentration camp’s prisoners. 1,111 names are known — they were murdered in Sandarmokh. The names of the genocidal „judges” are also know. It is also known that on 25.11.1937 similar «NKVD Troika» Russian genocidal kangaroo court sentenced to death few remaining in Solovetsky Islands Catholic priests. All in 12.1937 were transported out towards Sankt Petersburg and murdered prob. in ITL SvirLag camp (or in Sankt Petersburg). (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.03.14])

11.08.1937 Russian genocide: On 11.08.1937 Russian leader Stalin decided and NKVD head, Nicholas Jeżow, signed a «Polish operation» executive order no 00485. 139,835 Poles living in Russia were thus sentenced summarily to death. According to the records of the „Memorial” International Association for Historical, Educational, Charitable and Defense of Human Rights (Rus. Международное историко‐просветительское, правозащитное и благотворительное общество „Мемориал”), specialising with historical research and promoting knowledge about the victims of Russian repressions — 111,091 were murdered. 28,744 were sentenced to deportation to concentration camps in Gulag. Altogether however more than 100,000 Poles were deported, mainly to Kazakhstan, Siberia, Kharkov and Dniepropetrovsk. According to some historians, the number of victims should be multiplied by at least two, because not only the named persons were murdered, but entire Polish families (the mere suspicion of Polish nationality was sufficient). Taking into account the fact that the given number does not include the genocide in eastern Russia (Siberia), the number of victims may be as high as 500,000 Poles. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.03.14])

Great Purge 1937: „Great Terror” (also «Great Purge», also called „Yezhovshchyna” after the name of the then head of the NKVD) — a Russian state action of political terror, planned and directed against millions of innocent victims — national minorities, wealthier peasants (kulaks), people considered opponents political, army officers, the greatest intensity of which took place from 09.1936 to 08.1938. It reached its peak starting in the summer of 1937, when Art. 58‐14 of the Penal Code about „counter‐revolutionary sabotage” was passed , which became the basis for the „legalization” of murders, and on 02.07.1937 when the highest authorities of Russia, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, issued a decree on the initiation of action against the kulaks. Next a number of executive orders of the NKVD followed, including No. 00439 of 25.07.1937, starting the liquidation of 25,000‐42,000 Germans living in Russia (mainly the so‐called Volga Germans); No. 00447 of 30.07.1937, beginning the liquidation of „anti‐Russian elements”, and No. 00485[2] of 11.08.1937, ordering the murder of 139,835 people of Polish nationality (the latter was the largest operation of this type — encompassed 12.5% of all those murdered during the «Great Purge», while Poles constituted 0.4% of the population). In the summer of 1937 Polish Catholic priests held in Solovetsky Islands, Anzer Island and ITL BelbaltLag were locked in prison cells (some in Sankt Petersburg). Next in a few kangaroo, murderous Russian trials (on 09.10.1937, 25.11.1937, among others) run by so‐called «NKVD Troika» all were sentenced to death. They were subsequently executed by a single shot to the back of the head. The murders took place either in Sankt Petersburg prison or directly in places of mass murder, e.g. Sandarmokh or Levashov Wilderness, where their bodies were dumped into the ditches. Other priests were arrested in the places they still ministered in and next murdered in local NKVD headquarters (e.g. in Minsk in Belarus), after equally genocidal trials run by aforementioned «NKVD Troika» kangaroo courts.

ITL BelbaltLag: Russian Rus. Исправи́тельно‐Трудово́й Ла́герь (Eng. Corrective Labor Camp) ITL Rus. Беломоро‐Балтийский (Eng. White Sea ‐ Baltic Sea) — concentration and slave forced labor camp (within the Gulag complex) — headquartered in Medvezhjegorsk on Lake Onega, and in 1933‐1934 also in the town of Nadvoytsy (both then in the Karelo‐Finnish Republic, today the Karelian Republic). Founded on 16.11.1931, on the basis of the former ITL SLON camp (i.a. on the Solovetsky islands on the White Sea). Prisoners slaved at the construction of a canal between the White Sea and the Baltic Sea (opened on 30.06.1933). Later, as part of the newly created White Sea ‐ Baltic Sea Combine, managed by the criminal GPU (later the genocidal NKVD), slaved on forest clearing, in sawmills, on the construction of factories for wooden products and paper production, on the construction of hydroelectric power plants (Tulomskaya and Onda), a nickel factory and alcohol distilleries, construction of ports, and laying of railway lines., etc. One of heads of the camp was a Jew, Naftali Frenkel, regarded as the originator of the Gulag system. At its peak c. 110,000 prisoners were held there: e.g. 107,900 (12.1932); 70,373 (01.01.1934); 66,418 (01.01.1935); 90,290 (01.01.1936); 58,965 (01.01.1937); 79,232 (01.10.1938); 86,567 (01.01.1939); 71,269 (01.01.1941); 67,928 (15.06.1941). In 1938 there were 3,946 women among them. According to official data, 12,300 perished during the construction of the canal itself — according to unofficial data, from 50,000 to 300,000. The camp operated until 18.09.1941, and the entire project — in economic terms — turned out to be a total failure. (more on: ru.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.09.02], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.05.09])

Trial of 05.07.1932: Russian trial of Catholic priests held in Solovetsky Islands and Anzer Island, accused of „creation of an anti‐Russian group that conducted anti‐Russian agitation, clandestinely celebrated Mass and religious rites and maintained an illegal contact with a free worker for purposes of transmitting abroad information of an espionage character about the situation of Catholics in the Russia”. The prisoners were given prolonged sentences in concentration camp and spread them among the various Gułag camps.

OLP AnzerLag: Russian Rus. Отдельный лагерный пункт (Eng. Separate Camp Unit) OLP on the Anzer Island on White Sea. On the Island, 47 km2, belonging to Solovetsky Islands archipelago, Russians organised one of the first concentration camps in Russia (part of ITL SLON Solovetsky Islands concentratoin camp). In 1930s c. 32 Catholic priests were held there most of who perished. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.12.20])

ITL SLON: Russian Rus. Исправи́тельно‐Трудово́й Ла́герь (Eng. Corrective Labor Camp) ITL Rus. Солове́цкий ла́герь осо́бого назначе́ния Ла́герь (Eng. Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp) SLON — concentration and slave forced labor camp (within what was to become Gulag complex) — headquartered in Solovetsky Islands in Arkhangelsk Oblast. Founded on 13.10.1923 in a famous Orthodox monastery. In the 1920s, one of the first and largest concentration camps in Russia. The place of slave labor of prisoners — at forest felling, sawmills, peat extraction, fishing, loading work on the Murmansk Railway Main Line, in road construction, production of food and consumer goods, at the beginning of the construction of the White Sea ‐ Baltic canal, etc. The concept of the later system of Russian Gulag concentration camps prob. had its origins in the Solovetsky Islands camp — from there the idea spread to the camps in the area covered by the construction of the White Sea ‐ Baltic canal, i.e. ITL BelBaltLag, and from there further, to the entire territory of the Russian state. From the network of camps on the Solovetsky Islands — also called the Solovetsky Islands archipelago — prob. also comes the concept of the „Gulag Archipelago” created by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. It is estimated that tens to hundreds of thousands of prisoners passed through the Solovetsky Islands concentration camps. At its peak, c. 72,000 prisoners were held there: e.g. 14,810 (12.1927); 12,909 (03.1928); 65,000 (1929); 53,123 (01.01.1930); 63,000 (01.06.1930); 71,800 (01.01.1931); 15,130 (1932); 19,287 (1933) — c. 43,000 of whom were murdered, including the years 1937‐1938 when c. 9,500 prisoners were transported from the camp and murdered in several places of mass executions, including Sandarmokh, Krasny Bor and Lodeynoye Polye. Among them were many Catholic and Orthodox priests. After the National Socialist Party came to power in Germany in 1933, a German delegation visited the ITL SLON camp, to „inspect” Russian solutions and adopt them later in German concentration camps. It operated until 04.12.1933, with a break from 16.11.1931 to 01.01.1932, when it was part of and later became a subcamp of the ITL BelBaltLag camp. It operated as such until 1939 (from 1936 as a prison). (more on: old.memo.ruClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.04.08])

Gulag: The acronym Gulag comes from the Rus. Главное управление исправительно‐трудовых лагерей и колоний (Eng. Main Board of Correctional Labor Camps). The network of Russian concentration camps for slave labor was formally established by the decision of the highest Russian authorities on 27.06.1929. Control was taken over by the OGPU, the predecessor of the genocidal NKVD (from 1934) and the MGB (from 1946). Individual gulags (camps) were often established in remote, sparsely populated areas, where industrial or transport facilities important for the Russian state were built. They were modeled on the first „great construction of communism”, the White Sea‐Baltic Canal (1931‐1932), and Naftali Frenkel, of Jewish origin, is considered the creator of the system of using forced slave labor within the Gulag. He went down in history as the author of the principle „We have to squeeze everything out of the prisoner in the first three months — then nothing is there for us”. He was to be the creator, according to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, of the so‐called „Boiler system”, i.e. the dependence of food rations on working out a certain percentage of the norm. The term ZEK — prisoner — i.e. Rus. заключенный‐каналоармец (Eng. canal soldier) — was coined in the ITL BelBaltLag managed by him, and was adopted to mean a prisoner in Russian slave labor camps. Up to 12 mln prisoners were held in Gulag camps at one time, i.e. c. 5% of Russia's population. In his book „The Gulag Archipelago”, Solzhenitsyn estimated that c. 60 mln people were killed in the Gulag until 1956. Formally dissolved on 20.01.1960. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.04.08])

sources

personal:
biographies.library.nd.eduClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.12.20], sand.mapofmemory.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.02.02], ru.openlist.wikiClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.03.21]
bibliographical:
„Fate of the Catholic clergy in USSR 1917‐1939. Martyrology”, Roman Dzwonkowski, SAC, ed. Science Society KUL, 2003, Lublin
original images:
ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.02.02]