• OUR LADY of CZĘSTOCHOWA: st Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionOUR LADY of CZĘSTOCHOWA
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
link to OUR LADY of PERPETUAL HELP in SŁOMCZYN infoSITE LOGO

Roman Catholic
St Sigismund parish
05-507 Słomczyn
85 Wiślana Str.
Konstancin deanery
Warsaw archdiocese, Poland

  • St SIGISMUND: St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
  • St SIGISMUND: XIX c., feretory, St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland; source: own collectionSt SIGISMUND
    XIX c., feretory
    St Sigismund parish church, Słomczyn, Poland
    source: own collection
LINK to Nu HTML Checker

full list:

displayClick to display full list

wyświetlKliknij by wyświetlić pełną listę po polsku


Martyrology of the clergy — Poland

XX century (1914 – 1989)

personal data

review in:

po polskuKliknij by wyświetlić to bio po polsku

link do KARTY OSOBOWEJ - POLSKA WERSJAKliknij by wyświetlić to bio po polsku
  • GRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary), source: docplayer.pl, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOGRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary)
    source: docplayer.pl
    own collection

surname

GRUSZKA

forename(s)

Francis (pl. Franciszek)

religious forename(s)

Matthias Mary (pl. Maciej Maria)

religious forename(s)
versions/aliases

Matthew (pl. Mateusz)

  • GRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary) - Commemorative plaque, St Francis Stygmata church, Warsaw-New Town, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOGRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary)
    Commemorative plaque, St Francis Stygmata church, Warsaw-New Town
    source: own collection
  • GRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary) - Commemorative plaque, St Francis Stygmata church, Warsaw-New Town, source: own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOGRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary)
    Commemorative plaque, St Francis Stygmata church, Warsaw-New Town
    source: own collection
  • GRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary) - Commemorative plaque, Franciscans' church, Cracow, 5 Franciszkańska str., source: www.sowiniec.com.pl, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOGRUSZKA Francis (Bro. Matthias Mary)
    Commemorative plaque, Franciscans' church, Cracow, 5 Franciszkańska str.
    source: www.sowiniec.com.pl
    own collection

function

laybrother

creed

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

congregation

Order of Friars Minor Conventual OFMConvmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]

(i.e. Conventual Franciscans)

diocese / province

Immaculate Mary province OFMConvmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.08.18]

st Anthony of Padua and bl. James Strzemię province OFMConvmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.08.18]

date and place
of death

02.04.1941

KL Gusen Iconcentration camp
today: n. St. Georgen an der Gusen, Sankt Georgen an der Gusen, Perg dist., Salzburg state, Austria

more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.09]

alt. dates and places
of death

12.02.1941, 11.06.1944

details of death

After German invasion of Poland on 01.09.1939 (Russians invaded Poland 17 days later) and start of the World War II, after start of German occupation, arrested on 14.09.1939 by the Germans.

Held in Gdynia jail and following that from 12.10.1939 in ZL Neufahrwasser transit camp.

Next on 17.01.1940 moved to KL Stutthof concentration camp.

From there on 19.04.1940 transported to KL Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Finally moved to KL Gusen I concentration camp — part of KL Mauthausen‑Gusen concentration camps' complex — where slaved in quarries and where perished.

cause of death

extermination: exhaustion and starvation

perpetrators

Germans

date and place
of birth

01.01.1912

Jabłonica Polskatoday: Haczów gm., Brzozów pov., Subcarpathia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

religious vows

21.07.1935 (temporary)

positions held

1938 – 1939

friar — Gdyniatoday: Gdynia city pov., Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.09.02]
⋄ St Anthony of Padua monastery („on the Foch Hill”, at 40 Ujejskiego Str.), Conventual Franciscans OFMConv — monastery cook

1935 – 1938

friar — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07]
⋄ St Francis of Assisi monastery, Conventual Franciscans OFMConv — monastery cook

till 1935

friar — Niepokalanówtoday: part of Paprotnia village, Teresin gm., Sochaczew pov., Masovia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09]
⋄ Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Conventual Franciscans OFMConv

from 12.12.1933

novitiate — Niepokalanówtoday: part of Paprotnia village, Teresin gm., Sochaczew pov., Masovia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09]
⋄ Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary monastery, Conventual Franciscans OFMConv

1933

resident — Krakówtoday: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07]
⋄ St Francis of Assisi monastery, Conventual Franciscans OFMConv

from 05.05.1933

accession — Conventual Franciscans OFMConv

murder sites
camp 
(+ prisoner no)

KL Gusen I (prisoner no: 1550): German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL „Grade III” (Germ. „Stufe III”), part of KL Mauthausen‑Gusen complex, intended for the „Incorrigible political enemies of the Reich”. The prisoners slaved at a nearby granite quarry, but also in local private companies: at SS guards houses' construction at a nearby Sankt Georgen for instance. Initially opened in 05.1940 as the „camp for Poles”, captured during the program of extermination of Polish intelligentsia («Intelligenzaktion»). Till the end most of the prisoners were Poles. Many Polish priests from the Polish regions incorporated in the Germany were brought there in 1940, after start of German occupation of Poland, from KL Sachsenhausen and KL Dachau concentration camps. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.10]
)

KL Mauthausen‑Gusen: A large group of German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL camps set up around the villages of Mauthausen and Gusen in Upper Austria, c. 30 km east of Linz, operational from 1938 till 05.1945. Over time it became of the largest labour camp complexes in the German‑controlled part of Europe encompassing four major camps concentration camps (Mauthausen, Gusen I, Gusen II and Gusen III) and more than 50 sub‑camps where inmates slaved in quarries (the granite extracted, previously used to pave the streets of Vienna, was intended for a complete reconstruction of major German towns according to Albert Speer plans), munitions factories, mines, arms factories and Me 262 fighter‑plane assembly plants. The complex served the needs of the German war machine and also carried out extermination through labour. Initially did not have a its own gas chamber and the intended victims were mostly moved to the infamous Hartheim Castle, 40.7 km east, or killed by lethal injection and cremated in the local crematorium. Later a van with the exhaust pipe connected to the inside shuttled between Mauthausen and Gusen. In 12.1941 a permanent gas chamber was built. C. 122,000‑360,000 of prisoners perished. Many Polish priests were held, including those captured during the program of extermination of Polish intelligentsia («Intelligenzaktion»). The camp complex was founded and run as a source for cheap labour for private enterprise. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.03.10]
)

KL Sachsenhausen: In Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Sachsenhausen, set up in the former Olympic village in 07.1936, hundreds of Polish priests were held in 1940, before being transported to KL Dachau. Some of them perished in KL Sachsenhausen. Murderous medical experiments on prisoners were carried out in the camp. In 1942‑1944 c. 140 prisoners slaved at manufacturing false British pounds, passports, visas, stamps and other documents. Other prisoners also had to do slave work, for Heinkel aircraft manufacturer, AEG and Siemens among others. On average c. 50,000 prisoners were held at any time. Altogether more than 200,000 inmates were in jailed in KL Sachsenhausen and its branched, out of which tens of thousands perished. Prior to Russian arrival mass evacuation was ordered by the Germans and c. 80,000 prisoners were marched west in so‑called „death marches” to other camps, i.e. KL Mauthausen‑Gusen and KL Bergen‑Belsen. The camp got liberated on 22.04.1945. After end of armed hostilities Germans set up there secret camp for German prisoners and „suspicious” Russian soldiers. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18]
)

KL Stutthof (prisoner no: 4800): In German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Stutthof (then in Eastern Prussian belonging to Germany, today: Sztutowo village) concentration camp, that Germans started to build on 02.09.1939, a day after German invasion of Poland and start of the World War II, Germans held c. 110,000‑127,000 prisoners from 28 countries, including 49,000 women and children. C. 65,000 victims were murdered and exterminated. In the period of 25.01‑27.04.1945 in the face of approaching Russian army Germans evacuated the camp. When on 09.05.1945 Russians soldiers entered the camp only 100 prisoners were still there. In an initial period (1939‑1940) Polish Catholic priests from Pomerania were held captive there before being transported to KL Dachau concentration camp. Some of them were murdered in KL Stutthof or vicinity (for instance in Stegna forest). Also later some Catholic priests were held in KL Stutthof. (more on: stutthof.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18]
, en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.07.06]
)

ZL Neufahrwasser: Germ. Zivilgefangenenlager (Eng. POW camp for civilians) organized by the Germans on the day of the outbreak of the war, on 01.09. 1939, in Gdańsk ‑ Nowy Port (New Port), in former artillery barracks belonging to Poland, for Poles from Pomerania arrested as part of the «Intelligenzaktion» action — extermination of Polish intelligentsia. Prisoners from ZL Neufahrwasser — 2,702 people were identified, but it is estimated that c. 10,000 arrestees passed through the camp — were sent to the KL Stutthof concentration camp or directly to the places of extermination. The camp operated till 01.04.1940 (more on: stutthof.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10]
, ofiaromwojny.republika.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04]
)

«Intelligenzaktion»: (Eng. „Action Intelligentsia”) — extermination program of Polish elites, mainly intelligentsia, executed by the Germans right from the start of the occupation in 09.1939 till around 05.1940, mainly on the lands directly incorporated into Germany but also in the so‑called General Governorate where it was called «AB‑aktion». During the first phase right after start of German occupation of Poland implemented as Germ. Unternehmen „Tannenberg” (Eng. „Tannenberg operation”) — plan based on proscription lists of Poles worked out by (Germ. Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen), regarded by Germans as specially dangerous to the German Reich. List contained names of c. 61,000 Poles. Altogether during this genocide Germans methodically murdered c. 50,000 teachers, priests, landowners, social and political activists and retired military. Further 50,000 were sent to concentration camps where most of them perished. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.04]
)

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:
www.gedenkstaetten.atClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.10.04]
, www.ksiegazmarlych.franciszkanie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]
, www.myheritage.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.02.15]
, www.teresin.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.04.18]

bibliographical:
Martyrology of the Polish Roman Catholic clergy under nazi occupation in 1939‑1945”, Victor Jacewicz, John Woś, vol. I‑V, Warsaw Theological Academy, 1977‑1981
Biographical–bibliographical dictionary of Polish Conventual Franciscan Fathers murdered and tragically dead in 1939‑1945”, Lukas Janecki, Franciscan Fathers’ Publishing House, Niepokalanów, 2016
A martyrology of Polish clergy under German occupation, 1939‑1945”, Fr Szołdrski Vladislaus CSSR, Rome 1965
original images:
docplayer.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.02.15]
, www.sowiniec.com.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.07.11]

LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATOR

If you have an Email client on your communicator/computer — such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Windows Mail or Microsoft Outlook, described at WikipediaPatrz:
en.wikipedia.org
, among others  — try the link below, please:

LETTER to CUSTODIAN/ADMINISTRATORClick and try to call your own Email client

If however you do not run such a client or the above link is not active please send an email to the Custodian/Administrator using your account — in your customary email/correspondence engine — at the following address:

EMAIL ADDRESS

giving the following as the subject:

MARTYROLOGY: GRUSZKA Francis

To return to the biography press below:

Click to return to biographyClick to return to biography