Non-fiction / St. Kolbe, A Light in the Dark (Analysis)
Everyone knows of the Holocaust that killed six million Jews. What many people don’t realize is that Catholics were ruthlessly persecuted by the Nazis, especially those in the religious life. Priests were hated and rounded up. One such priest was prisoner number 16770 in the death camp at Auschwitz. His name was Father Maximilian Kolbe.
Father Kolbe knew early on what his mission in life would be. He said that Our Lady appeared to him. In his own words, he said “..she came to me holding two crowns, one white, the other red…The white one meant that I should persevere in purity, and the red that I should become a martyr. I said that I would accept them both.” In 1910, he became a Franciscan. He founded a friary outside of Warsaw. He then traveled to Japan and India, establishing friaries there.
On September 1, 1939, the world changed forever. Germany invaded Poland. Before the month was out, England and France would declare war on Germany, beginning the Second World War. Things changed for Father Kolbe, as well. The Nazis began rounding up Jews and all religious. Father Kolbe was imprisoned for awhile, but then released. His friary became a haven for refugees, the men there doing what they could to help those in need.
In May of 1941, the friary was closed and Father Kolbe and four fellow priests were sent to Auschwitz. Prisoners at the camp were slowly starved and worked to death. The hardest jobs were given to the Jews and Catholic priests. In an inhuman environment designed to slowly kill him, Father Kolbe managed to survive. In fact, he did more than just survive; he did everything he could to help those around him. He gave away what little food he got, he heard the confessions of those around him. At night, he would go to each prisoner, saying “I am a Catholic priest. Can I do anything for you?” In a place where religion was forbidden, he would secretly say Mass, and give counseling to those around him.
All of this is amazing; his compassion, his selflessness are an example for us. In July 1941, his actions earned him a place in the names of those that we will never forget. A prisoner had escaped from the camp. As punishment, the guards pulled all the men from their bunkers and selected ten men to be put in the starvation bunker and left to die. One of the men chosen was Franciszek Gajowniczek, who had helped the Polish Resistence. He cried out as he was selected that he had a wife and children. Father Kolbe stepped up and asked to speak to the commander. He asked to take Gajowniczek’s place.
The prisoners were hauled off to the bunker to die. An eyewitness who would survive the camp says that something amazing happened. Father Kolbe led the men in prayer. The eyewitness said “As these fervent prayers and hymns resounded in all corners of the bunker, I had the impression I was in a church.” Two weeks went by; all but four of the men had died. Father Kolbe was still alive. To speed things up, the Nazis injected the survivors with carbolic acid, killing them. The date was August 14, 1941.
Father Kolbe would eventually be canonized by a man who had experienced the Nazi persecution for himself, Pope John Paul the II, on October 10, 1982. His feast day is August 14. Franciszek Gajowniczek found his wife after the war, but not his children, they had been killed. He died March 13, 1995 in Brzeg, Poland. Every year on August 14, he returned to Auschwitz, to pay tribute to the man who saved his life.
As Auschwitz survivor Francis Wlodarski said “Because we knew Maximilian Kolbe, we are better human beings.” So will we be, if we let his example guide us.
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St. Kolbe sounds like he was an amazing man of his faith. This is truly an inspiring story.
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I loved this story. I think because of the vast number of jews killed we usually only hear of their suffuring under the Nazi persecution,But there were many more than the jews that delt with these personifications of evil. It is amazing the courage and strenght that one man can summon with faith in his heart,and this is why good will always pervail over Evil. Very good story…..keep writing.
Very good, perhaps could be longer.
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