"On Auschwitz" (23): the sacrifice and death of father Maximilian Kolbe

At the end of July 1941 the camp commander Karl Fritzch selected
10 hostages from among the prisoners in Block 14 in retaliation
for the escape of a prisoner. He condemned them to death by
starvation in the bunker of Block 11.


During the selection, a Polish prisoner who was a Franciscan monk
and missionary, Maksymilian Kolbe (no. 16670), stepped out of
link and asked the camp commander to take him instead of a
desperate selected prisoner Franciszek Gajowniczek (np. 5659).
After a brief dispute with Father Kolbe, Fritzch agreed to the
substitution, especially when he found out that Kolbe is a
Catholic priest. The 10 selected prisoners were led off to Block
11. In the Bunker Register the admission of them is noted without
listing names, numbers, day of admission or day of death.


Franciszek Gajowniczek survived the war and died in 1995.


Maksymilian Kolbe was murdered with a poisonous injection on 14
August 1941. He was canonized by pope John Paul II in October
1982.


Teresa Wontor Cichy from the Auschwitz Memorial Research Center
talks about Father Maksymilian Kolbe.
The Germans incarcerated at least 464 priests, seminarians &
monks as well as 35 nuns in #Auschwitz. Learn about the fate of
Christian clergy and religious life in the camp:
http://lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_18_duchowienstwo/