From 1933 ministered as the parish priest of Navahrudak — the capital of the Polish Nowogródek Voivodeship — and simultaneously as the Dean of Navahrudak deanery.

Estimating the population of this town seems difficult. Data from the 1931 census is available, indicating that Navahrudak had a population of c. 13,252, of which 4,026 were Roman Catholics — mostly Poles, 2,383 were Orthodox — mostly Belarusians, and 6,309 were Jews. In the preceding decade, the town's population had doubled — this prob. was the result of with establishing the capital of the voivodeship and related offices in Navahrudak. It is not known how the population changed in the years 1931‐1939. However, assuming that it did not grow so rapidly, and rather in accordance with the estimated rate of population growth of the entire Navahrudak voivodeship, c. 15,500 people could have lived in Navahrudak in 1939, of which Roman Catholics constituted c. 32%, Orthodox Christians c. 18%, and Jews c. 45%.

After the German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and the start of World War II, after start of the Russian occupation, a series of great „ethnic experiments” — i.e. solving social and national problems through mass deportations — of which the Russians proved to be masters, drawing on centuries of experience in this field, took place. The Russians subjected Poles in particular to repression, arresting Polish intelligentsia, teachers, doctors, landowners, government officials, foresters, policemen, and even the families of Polish military personnel. Many other Poles became victims of four large waves of deportations. In Belarus, e.g. in Navahrudak, two deportations were particularly tragic: the first, around 10‐11.02.1940, „to Siberia”.

and the last, fourth, around 04‐05.1941, mainly to Kazakhstan. Accounts of the first often mention that „they came at night, without warning, and took away entire families, from infants to the elderly”. Within a few minutes, people lost their entire lives: „10.02.1940, was the day I parted with what I loved. With an NKVD revolver at his head, my father signed a document stating that we would be resettled to another place out of good and free will. I will not describe what happened during the twenty minutes we had to gather. It was Saturday and my mother had only put bread in the oven… so we didn't have that for the trip either. NKVD‐man snatched the ham from my father, saying that they had plenty of everything there, but not to forget to take a saw and an axe”. „We practically didn't take anything with us, because they didn't let us move around the house […] There were big snowdrifts and heavy frost”. In the first large deportation alone, c. 140,000 Poles were sent „to Siberia”.

including c. 50,000 from the area that the Russians called Western Belarus, where i.a. Navahrudak was located. Furthermore, 150,000‐200,000 men were conscripted into the Russian army, and c. 100,000 were forced to work for Russian industry, mainly in the mines of the Donets Basin and in heavy industry plants in the Urals and Siberia.

During the German attack on 22.06.1941, on their erstwhile ally, the Russians — the German occupation started on 04/06.07.1941 — the town was partially destroyed. On 28.06.1941, the Germans carried out a three‐hour air raid on the defenseless town — though the Russian troops were no longer there. According to sources, „Navahrudak […] was one erupting volcano of fire and smoke. Fortunately, there were few casualties among the population. The inhabitants largely managed to disperse into the surrounding fields and settlements”.

Navahrudak became the seat of the Germ. Kreisgebiete (Eng. county) Nowogrodek, within the Germ. Generalbezirk Weiß­ruthenien (Eng. General District of Belarus), part of the German‐occupied and run quasi‐state called the Germ. Reichs­kommissariat Ostland (Eng. Reich Commissariat East). And the persecution of Poles and Jews began immediately, which was in harmony with the opinions of millions of Germans, e.g. Claus Schenk Graf von Stauffenberg, the future failed assassin of the leader of the German ruling National Socialist German Workers' Party, i.e. NSDAP, Adolf Hitler: „The local population is an incredible rabble, with a great many Jews and mixed–race people. A nation that clearly needs a whip to feel good. Thousands of prisoners will certainly contribute to the development of our agriculture. Germans can benefit from this, because they are diligent, hard‐working, and undemanding”.

As early as on 26.07.1941, the Germans gathered — with the help of the Germ. Judenrat (Eng. Jewish Council), which had been established a little earlier — a group of men in the town square. They lined them up, selected c. 50 and murdered them on the spot. Father Aleksander Zienkiewicz — then rector of a former parish church in Navahrudak and chaplain to the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, and later the successor to Father Dalecki as parish priest and dean‐ recalled: „Scarred corpses lie on the cobblestones in front of the market hall, and a [military] brass band concert is taking place a few dozen steps from the crime scene. The group of musicians, dressed in their best, with fresh and cheerful faces, is looked upon only by the rows of gloomy eye sockets of burnt–out tenement houses. Among the ashes, the stench, and the smoke, the light waves of Strauss's waltzes flow and echo against the stumps of the blackened walls, creating a macabre, hellish atmosphere”.

Immediately afterwards, the Germans began terrorizing the Polish community. Fr Zienkiewicz noted: „In August, the field gendarmerie executes Poles and Belarusians suspected of sympathizing with communism. I intervened at the commandant's office regarding a few people. Heard a repy: Germ. 'Zu spat' (Eng. 'Too late') […] [After the troops have passed], a civil administration is being organized. One of its first acts is the shooting [in 08.1941] of engineer Vincent Smolski ([a Pole, elected] mayor) and several other prominent Poles for 'sabotaging' the orders of the German authorities — as the official announcement stated. A Belarusian becomes mayor”….

The persecution of Jews intensified. At the end of 08.1941, another 50 Jews were murdered, including members of the first Germ. Judenrat. On 28.09.1941, Jews were forbidden to leave the city. At the end of 1941 the Germans began implementing the genocidal state plan Germ. «Endlösung der Juden­frage» (Eng. „Final Solution of the Jewish Question”). On 08.12.1941, a detachment of c. 260 German infantrymen surrounded the city. A selection was made among the Jews in the square in front of the courthouse. C. 1,300 were herded to the northern suburb of Peresyeka, where the area around the market square — c. 28 houses — had been surrounded by a wooden fence the day before. The remaining, over 5,000 Jews, were loaded onto trucks and taken c. 3 km southwest, to the vicinity of the village of Skrydlevo. There, behind the military barracks, the Germans and prob. members of the collaborationist Germ. Weißruthenische Hilfspolizei (Eng. Belarusian Auxiliary Police) and Germ. Litauische Schutz­mann­schaftsbataillone (Eng. Lithuanian Schutz­mann­schaft Battalions) shot them all over previously dug ditches. And at the end of winter, in the beginning of spring 1942, the gathering of the remaining Jews from all over the Germ. Kreisgebiete began in Navahrudak. By 05.1942, c. 6,500 Jews were gathered in the ghetto in Peresyeka.

At the same time, in the Naliboki Forest, c. 40‐50 km to the northeast, Russian soldiers who had avoided internment by the Germans in 1941 began to gather. A large partisan center was established, c. 3,000 strong. The first significant skirmish with the Germans took place on 09.06.1942, near the town of Naliboki, when the 125th „Stalin” unit destroyed the „German SS formation, Lithuanian and the German police”. At the same time, Russian partisan units began to attack neighboring villages in search of provisions, treating the villagers „as enemies”. The Polish resistance Home Army AK (part of the Polish Clandestine State) began to defend them, although it did not attack the Germans frontally at that time — in accordance with the ban on such actions issued by the Polish government („Resolution of the Committee for National Affairs of 27.04.1940”), that excluded from the ban only „repressions against spies and provocateurs”.

The German reaction was to intensify the persecution of the Polish community. „All forms and manifestations of the cultural life of Poles were destroyed. No Polish school was allowed to open” — in accordance with the guidelines articulated as early as 28.09.1939, by two officials of the German Central Germ. Rassenpolitisches Amt der NSDAP (Eng. National Office of Racial Policy), Erhard Wetzel and Günther Hecht — both with doctoral degrees, of course: the former in law, the latter in herpetology, i.e. the branch of zoology that studies amphibians and reptiles — based on the guidelines articulated two days earlier by the German socialist leader, Adolf Hitler. In the memorandum Germ. „Die Frage der Behandlung der Bevölkerung der ehemaligen polnischen Gebiete nach rassepolitischen Gesichtspunkten” (Eng. „The Treatment of the Population of the Former Polish Territories from the Point of View of Racial Policy”) these outstanding representatives of the „master race” wrote, i.a. that in the occupied Polish territories: „Universities and other higher education institutions, vocational schools and secondary schools have always been centers of Polish chauvinistic upbringing and therefore should be closed altogether. Only elementary schools should be allowed, which should teach only the most primitive things: arithmetic, reading and writing. Education in nationally important subjects, such as geography, history, the history of literature, and gymnastics, must be banned”. The response of the Polish Clandestine State — the largest resistance movement in occupied Europe — was to create a network of secret education. Participants included e.g. a nun of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth in Navahrudak, Sr Canisia Eugenie Mackiewicz. The aforementioned Fr Zienkiewicz recalled: „Sister Canisia, a very talented teacher, organized, at the request of parents, secret teaching of Polish children their native language and history”. And added: „The groups gathered in private homes. Although caution was exercised and the number of children probably did not exceed fifty, the Belarusians found out about it and reported it […] to the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. the Gestapo”.

Observed and witnessed these events. Did not remain passive; prob. collaborated with — and even ministered as a chaplain for — the Home Army AK in the Navahrudak District.

Years later, another witness, Ms Czeslava Piotrkowska–Zwierko, recalled that during the Easter season — Easter Sunday fell on 05.04.1942 — he said „during his sermon, that «it was difficult for him to sing the traditional Easter hymn to the Risen Christ when so many people of various nationalities were dying on our soil»”. Consequently, during the Resurrection procession — held at the conclusion of the Easter Vigil, which preceded the sermon — „instead of the well‐known Easter hymn 'A Joyful Day Has Dawned for Us', the Dean sang «At Thy Door I Stand, O Lord»”.

Must have sensed something, though certainly did not know that the Germans — alongside the Germ. «Endlösung der Juden­frage» — were beginning to implement Germ. «Generalplan Ost» (Eng. „General Plan East”), the German government’s plan for the settlement and Germanization of the occupied eastern territories, primarily Polish ones.

In 1958, the article Germ. „Der Generalplan Ost” (Eng. „General Plan East”) was published in the German journal Germ. „Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte” (Eng. „Quarterly for Contemporary History”). It i.a. included the Germ. „Stellungnahme und Gedanken zum Generalplan Ost des Reichsführers‐SS” (Eng. „Position and Observations Regarding the Reichsführer‐SS's Generalplan Ost”) dated 27.04.1942, prepared by — who else? — Dr Erhard Wetzel. As early as 1939, in the aforementioned memorandum titled Germ. „Die Frage der Behandlung der Bevölkerung der ehemaligen polnischen Gebiete nach rassepolitischen Gesichtspunkten”, he not only wrote about methods for „educating” Poles but also stated: „In the spiritual realm, the Pole can be described as completely uncreative, both culturally and in terms of national politics […] Psychologically, the Pole must be characterized as a herd animal, filled with deep distrust toward those who rise above the level of the crowd. Consequently, there is a lack of a sense of order and an inability to comprehend the products of higher culture, as well as the need to maintain and cultivate it”. Therefore, he suggested „improving the cultural and economic situation of the Jewish population — and of those 'infected by Jews' — relative to the Poles”. This was intended to facilitate the „greater economic subjugation” of Poles and to keep Jews in a state „capable of emigration”. When the situation changed two years later and the Germ. «Endlösung der Juden­frage» began, he revised his views and described the „Polish question” as follows: „The number of Poles is estimated at 20‐24 million. They are the most hostile to Germany, the most numerous, and therefore the most dangerous of all the foreign nations considered in the resettlement plan. It is a nation with the greatest propensity for conspiracy. The role that Poles are inevitably forced to play today is perhaps one they fulfill more willingly than we realize from our perspective. Today, they can conspire to their heart's content and play the role abroad of persecuted, unfortunate, noble Poles, forming governments that cannot suffer disasters, because they have nothing to administer and thus bear no responsibility, and furthermore, because their various factions fight one another with the utmost ferocity.

[…] The current plan envisages the expulsion of 80‐85% of Poles — meaning that, depending on whether the total population is reckoned at 20 or 24 million, between 16 and 20.4 million Poles would be expelled, while 3 to 4.8 million would remain within the German settlement area. These figures, cited by the Germ. Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Eng. Reich Main Security Office), i.e. RSHA, conflict with the estimates provided by the Germ. Reichskommissar für die Festigung deutschen Volkstums (Eng. Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood), i.e. RKFDV, regarding Poles deemed racially desirable and capable of Germanization. Based on findings concerning the rural populations of the Germ. Reichsgau Danzig–Westpreußen (Eng. Reichs District of Gdańsk–West Prussia) and the Germ. Reichsgau Wartheland (Eng. Reichs District of Wartheland), the RKFDV estimates the proportion of Poles capable of Germanization at 3%. If this figure were adopted, the number of Poles slated for expulsion would rise to between 19 and 23 million”.

Where were the Poles to be deported to? Well, „Regarding the Poles, it was determined that only in relation to the eastern territory could a solution involving deportation to Western Siberia be considered”. Another option was also considered: „It is obvious that the Polish question cannot be resolved by liquidating the Poles — as was done with the Jews. Such a solution to the Polish question would burden the German nation far into the future and cost us sympathy everywhere, especially since other neighboring nations would also have to reckon with the possibility of being treated similarly at some point. In my view, a solution to the Polish question must be found that minimizes the aforementioned political risks to the greatest extent possible. [It is possible] to partially resolve the Polish question through more or less voluntary emigration overseas”.

The first step in the implementation of the «Generalplan Ost» indeed entailed the physical extermination of the Polish intelligentsia and leadership strata. The Germans had an easier task — the Russians had already murdered a significant portion of this group between 1939 and 1941 as part of the «Katyn genocide» and had deported many others to — naturally — Siberia and Kazakhstan. Furthermore, they had their own „experience” with the Germ. «Intelligenzaktion» (Eng. „Intelligentsia Operation”) — a German program for the extermination of the Polish elite, carried out primarily in territories directly annexed to Germany but also in the dict. Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), where the program had a codename «AB‐aktion». At that time‐relying, among other things, on the „Son­der­fahn­dungs­liste” (Eng. „Special Wanted List”), i.e. proscription lists containing the details of 61,000 to 88,000 Poles deemed particularly dangerous to the Third Reich — c. 50,000 teachers, Catholic priests, members of the landed gentry, professionals, social and political activists, and retired military officers were murdered in a genocidal campaign, while another 50,000 were sent to concentration camps, where few survived.

And in the summer of 1942, in the German‐occupied Germ.Generalbezirk Weiß­ruthenien — i.a. in the Navahrudak region — while the Germ. «Endlösung der Juden­frage» was still underway, the Germans implemented a plan to exterminate the Polish elites. It went down in history as Germ. «Polenaktion» (Eng. Operation Poles) — a codename derived from a special resolution issued by the German RSHA. «Polenaktion» entailed i.a. removal of Poles from the district's civil service and police force and replacing them with Belarusians. It also involved the deportation of Poles to Germany for slave labor. On 26‐30.06.1942, more than 1,000 members of the Polish intelligentsia were arrested and subsequently executed across all counties of the district, largely in small towns. In the vicinity of Lida, for instance, 16 Polish priests were arrested. Five priests from the Głębokie and Postawy deaneries were murdered. At the same time, the KL Koldichevo concentration camp was established near Baranavichy.

The execution of this genocidal undertaking was entrusted to i.a. collaborationist Belarusian political, administrative, and police formations — e.g. the aforementioned Germ. Weißruthenische Hilfspolizei. It was members of these formations who prepared the local equivalent of the „Son­der­fahn­dungs­liste” — proscription lists of Poles marked for extermination. The murders — coordinated with the liquidation of Jewish ghettos — were carried out by the Germ. Weißruthenische Hilfspolizei, under German direction and with German participation, assisted by Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Latvian, and Russian collaborators, e.g. RONA.

It was precisely then, on 29.06.1942 — as part of the Germ. «Polenaktion» — that the Germans arrested him. On the same day, they arrested the parish priest of the neighboring parish of Vselyub, located c. 14 km to the north, Fr Joseph Kuczyński, and Fr Stephen Sieczka, the parish priest of Byarozavka, c. 26 km northwest of Navahrudak.

They were held for a month in the Navahrudak prison, where prob. it was made clear to them that the reason for their arrest included the hiding of Jewish children.

On 31.07.1942, was shot — along with c. 60 other Poles, including Fr Kuczyński — in a small wood near the aforementioned military barracks in the vicinity of the village of Skrydlevo, not far from the site where Jews had been murdered on 08.12.1941.

The aforementioned witness, Ms Czeslava Piotrkowska–Zwierko, recalled: „Among those executed was Leo Augustyn, a history teacher from our [Adam Mickiewicz] gymnasium, who had left behind a wife and three small children. Fluent in German, he spoke to the German soldiers while standing over the pit before the execution, asking them to send his regards to their wives. He also told them that by acting this way, they would never win the war. Louis Kaczmarski, in turn, shouted: 'Long live Poland! I die for Poland!' After shouting this, he tried to flee and was shot while running.

Then, our beloved priest, Father Dalecki, began singing the hymn «At Thy Door I Stand, O Lord».

Everyone joined in the singing, and the Germans opened fire on the defenseless people”.

A week later, on 07.08.1942, the Germans, together with Belarusian collaborators from Germ. Weißruthenische Hilfspolizei, as well as the Estonian Germ. Schutz­mann­schaft–Front–Bataillon 36 „Arensburg” (Eng. 36th Police Front Battalion „Arensburg”), i.e. Estonian collaborators, who had arrived in Navahrudak a few days earlier, carried out the second Germ. Aktion (Eng. operation) against the Jews. In a forest c. 5 km to the north, near the village of Litovka, on the road to Vselyub, they murdered c. 5,500 Jews from the Navahrudak ghetto, in previously prepared pits.

Lat. „O bone Deus! In quae tempora me reservasti, ut ista patiar!” (Eng. „O good God! For what times have you reserved me, that I may suffer these things?”).