beatification date

13.06.1999more on
www.swzygmunt.knc.pl
[access: 2013.05.19]

the RC Pope John Paul IImore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.09.21]

function

nun

creed

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

congregation

Roman Union of the Order of st Ursula OSUmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]
(i.e. Ursulines)

date and place
of death

27.07.1943

KL Auschwitzconcentration camp
today: Oświęcim, Oświęcim gm., Oświęcim pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.09]

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

38102Click to display source page (KL AuschwitzClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: exhaustion and starvation

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL AuschwitzClick to display the description, Regierungsbezirk KattowitzClick to display the description, Cracow (Montelupich)Click to display the description, Zakopane (Palace)Click to display the description, Help to the JewsClick to display the description, GeneralgouvernementClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

30.07.1890Birth certification on:
metryki.genealodzy.pl
[access: 2025.09.17]

Złoczewtoday: Złoczew gm., Sieradz pov., Łódź voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.12.16]

parents

STASZEWSKI Charles
🞲 1853, ? — 🕆 ?, ?

KASZYŃSKA Marianne
🞲 1862, ? — 🕆 1918, ?

baptism

04.08.1890Birth certification on:
metryki.genealodzy.pl
[access: 2025.09.17]

Złoczewtoday: Złoczew gm., Sieradz pov., Łódź voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2020.12.16]
St Andrew the Apostle RC_church

religious vows

1923 (temporary)
30.08.1926 (permanent)

positions held

biography (own resources)

Click to read biography details from our resources

others related
in death

BUKOWSKIClick to display biography Leopold, DAŃKOWSKIClick to display biography Peter Edward, DROŹDZIKClick to display biography Peter, PRZYWARAClick to display biography Peter, ROZMUSClick to display biography Vincent, SOSINClick to display biography Joseph, SZEMBEKClick to display biography Francis Vladimir, SZOTTClick to display biography Francis Michael

sites and events
descriptions

KL Auschwitz: German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL and Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Auschwitz was set up by Germans around 27.01.1940 n. Oświęcim, on the German territory (initially in Germ. Provinz Schlesien — Silesia Province; and from 1941 Germ. Provinz Oberschlesien — Upper Silesia Province). Initially mainly Poles were interned. From 1942 it became the centre for holocaust of European Jews. Part of the KL Auschwitz concentration camps’ complex was Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Auschwitz II Birkenau, located not far away from the main camp. There Germans murdered likely in excess of million people, mainly Jews, in gas chambers. In KL Auschwitz alone, the Germans murdered c. 30,000 prisoners by lethal injection. Until 1941, people were killed by intravenous injections of concentrated hydrogen peroxide, ether, hydrogen peroxide, or gasoline. Later, an intracardiac injection was used — with a needle about 10 cm long — of 10‐15 ml of a 30% solution of phenol C6H5OH (acquired from the German concern IG Farben, or more precisely from its subsidiary Bayer, and still used by Bayer AG, among others, for the production of aspirin), which killed within 15 seconds. Altogether In excess of 400 priests and religious went through the KL Auschwitz, c. 40% of which were murdered (mainly Poles). (more on: en.auschwitz.org.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], www.meczennicy.pelplin.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06])

Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz: 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). From two separate new provinces were created. The two remaining were incorporated into existing German provinces. One of those was Polish Upper Silesia, which on 08.09.1939, by decree of the German leader Adolf Hitler (formally came into force on 26.10.1939), was incorporated into Germany as the Germ. Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz (Eng. Katowice Regency) and became part of the Germ. Provinz Schlesien (Eng. Province of Silesia) based in Wrocław. On 01.04.1940, the Germ. Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz was enlarged by several pre‐war German counties, and on 18.01.1941, a new German province was created, the Germ. Provinz Oberschlesien (Eng. Province of Upper Silesia), which, apart from the Germ. Regierungsbezirk Kattowitz, also included the Opole region. From 26.10.1939, when the regency was established, the law of the German state was in force there, the same as in Berlin. The main axis of the policy of the new regency, the territory of which the Germans recognized as the Germ. „Ursprünglich Deutsche” (Eng. „natively German”), despite the fact only 6% of its pre–war Polish part were Germans, was Germ. „Entpolonisierung” (Eng. „Depolonisation”), i.e. forced Germanization. The main mechanism was the introduction of the Germ. Deutsche Volksliste DVL, a German nationality list that was supposed to specify the national affiliation of the inhabitants of the region. The largest group marked in the compulsory registrations was Group 3, people who identified themselves as „Silesians” (in 1943 about 41%), and people remaining outside the DVL (about 36%). The latter group was intended to be deported to the Germ. Generalgouvernement (which did not happen en masse because German industry needed slave labor). Group 3, considered by the Germans as capable of Germanization, was subject to certain legal restrictions, and was subject to, among others, to conscription into the German Wehrmacht army. Children could only learn in German. A policy of terror was pursued against the Polish population. There was a special police court, controlled by the Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. the Gestapo, before which c. 4,000‐5,000 people were detained. For the years 1942‐1945 over 2,000 of them were verified, of which 1,890 were sentenced to death, including 286 in public executions. Thousands of people were murdered during the so‐called «Intelligenzaktion Schlesien», including 300‐650 Polish teachers and c. 61 Polish Catholic priests. The regency hosted a German concentration and extermination camp KL Auschwitz, where the Germans imprisoned c. 1,100,000 Jews (murdering c.1,000,000, i.e. c. 90% of them) and c. 140,000 Poles (murdering c. 70,000, i.e. c. 50% of them). 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, Fritz Brecht, committed suicide. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.06.24])

Cracow (Montelupich): Cracow penal prison, during occupation run by the Germans — from 28.02.1941 by Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police, known as Gestapo. In 1940‐1944 Germans jailed there approx. 50,000 prisoners, mainly Poles and Jews. Some of them were transported to KL Auschwitz concentration camp, some were executed. After cease in war effort the prison was used by UB — a Polish unit of Russian NKVD — as a prison for Polish independence resistance fighters, some of which were subsequently sent to prisons and slave labour camps in Russia. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.31])

Zakopane (Palace): Penal institution and investigative prison set up by German Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police), i.e. Gestapo, in „Palace” guesthouse in renown spa Zakopane at the foot of Tatra mountains. Functioned from the start of German occupation in 10.1939 to 01.1945. Place of mass executions and cruel tortures — the victims were beaten, tormented, hanged — of scores of Poles. It is estimated that c. 2,000 inmates were held captive in „Palace” prison 400 of which were murdered by the Germans — some in the prison itself, others at the local Sucha Dolina (Eng. Dry Valley) cemetery. Most of the others were sent to German concentration camps, mainly KL Auschwitz, were the majority perished. (more on: z-ne.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])

Help to the Jews: During World War II on the Polish occupied territories Germans forbid to give any support to the Jews under penalty of death. E.g., on 15.10.1941, the Germ. Generalgouverneur (Eng. General Governor) of the Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), i.e. GG, Hans Frank, issued the „3rd Ordinance on Restrictions on Residence in the General Governorate”, in which § 1 stated that: „1) Jews who leave their designated district without authorization are subject to the death penalty. The same penalty applies to persons who knowingly provide such Jews with a hiding place”; and „2) Instigators and accomplices are subject to the same punishment as the perpetrator; an attempted act will be punished as a completed act. In less serious cases, severe imprisonment or prison may be imposed”. This ordinance was further elaborated by the district leaders of GG. E.g., on 10.11.1941, the Germ. Gouverneur (Eng. Governor) of the Germ. Distrikt Warschau (Eng. Warsaw District) in GG, Ludwig Fischer, issued a proclamation stating that: „A Jew who in the future unauthorizedly leaves the residential district assigned to him will be punished with death”. And added: „The same punishment applies to anyone who knowingly provides shelter to such Jews or helps them in any other way (e.g., by providing accommodation, board, by taking them on vehicles of any kind, etc.)”. In practice, this meant that responsibility for hiding Jews rested not only with the owners of the premises, but also with all the people being there, generally the family of the person hiding them. When at the turn of 1941/1942 the Germans began to implement the genocidal plan Germ. Endlösung der Judenfrage (Eng. Final Solution of the Jewish Question), when the deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto to the Germ. Vernichtungslager (Eng. extermination camp) VL Treblinka was underway, the Polish writer Sophie Kossak–Szczucka on 11.08.1942 issued an appeal „Protest!”, published in the underground press in a circulation of 5,000 copies. She wrote: „The world looks at this crime, more terrible than anything history has ever seen, and — it remains silent […] This silence cannot be tolerated any longer. Whatever its motives — it is despicable. We cannot remain passive in the face of crime. Whoever remains silent in the face of murder becomes an accomplice to the murderer. Whoever does not condemn, consents. Therefore, we, Catholics — Poles, are speaking out. Our feelings towards Jews have not changed. We do not cease to consider them political, economic, and ideological enemies of Poland. Moreover, we realize that they hate us more than they hate Germans […] Awareness of these feelings, however, does not release us from the obligation to condemn the crime […] Whoever does not understand this, whoever would dare to link Poland's proud, free future with the despicable joy of their neighbor's misfortune — is therefore neither a Catholic nor a Pole!” The „Protest” was signed by the „Front for the Rebirth of Poland”, i.e. FOP, a clandestine Catholic organization that was a continuation of Catholic Action during the German occupation. On 27.09.1942, the Polish Clandestine State, the largest resistance organization in German–occupied Europe, at the initiative of Sophie Kossak–Szczucka and Wanda Krahelska–Filipowicz, a member of the Polish Socialist Party, established the Provisional Committee to Aid Jews. On 04.12.1942, the Council to Aid Jews at the Polish Government Delegature in occupied Poland, codenamed „Conrad Żegota”, was established in its place. Hundreds of Polish priests and religious extended help to the Jews, under threat of life. Many of them were caught and murdered.

Generalgouvernement: 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. In two of them new German provinces were created, two other were incorporated into other provinces. However, the fifth part was treated separately, and in a political sense it was supposed to recreate the German idea from 1915 (during World War I, after the defeat of the Russians in the Battle of Gorlice in 05.1915) of creating a Polish enclave within Germany. Illegal in the sense of international law, i.e. Hague Convention, and public law, managed by the Germans according to separate laws — especially established for the Polish Germ. Untermenschen (Eng. subhumans) — till the Russian offensive in 1945 it constituted part of the Germ. Großdeutschland (Eng. Greater Germany). Till 31.07.1940 formally called Germ. Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete (Eng. General Government for the occupied Polish lands) — later simply Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), as in the years 1915‐1918. From 07.1941, i.e. after the German attack on 22.06.1941 against the erstwhile ally, the Russians, it also included the Galicia district, i.e. the Polish pre‐war south‐eastern voivodeships. A special criminal law was enacted and applied to Poles and Jews, allowing for the arbitrary administration of the death penalty regardless of the age of the „perpetrator”, and sanctioning the use of collective responsibility. After the end of the military conflict of the World War UU, the government of the Germ. Generalgouvernement was recognized as a criminal organization, and its leader, governor Hans Frank, guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity and executed. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2024.12.13])

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:
swzygmunt.knc.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.11.23], metryki.genealodzy.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2025.09.17]
bibliographical:
„A martyrology of Polish clergy under German occupation, 1939‐1945”, Fr Szołdrski Vladislaus CSSR, Rome 1965
original images:
www.osu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.06.02], ursulines.union.romaine.catholique.frClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.06.02], www.sprokiciny.rabawyzna.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04], www.harmeze.franciszkanie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.21], www.szczecin.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.09.21]