function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Włocławek diocesemore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]

date and place
of death

18.11.1939

Mniszek - Grupa foresttoday: Dragacz gm., Świecie pow., Kuyavia–Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

details of death

cause of death

mass murder

perpetrators

Germans

date and place
of birth

02.10.1910

Kierzkówtoday: district of Radom, Radom city pow., Masovia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.09.29]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

20.06.1937 (Włocławek cathedral)

positions held

others related
in death

BERTELClick to display biography Ceslaus, BORUCKIClick to display biography, BRZÓSKOWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, BURDYNClick to display biography Bernard, BUSSClick to display biography Casimir, CZOGAŁAClick to display biography Ignatius, DĄBROWSKIClick to display biography, ECHAUSTClick to display biography Bronislaus, HOŁUBOWSKIClick to display biography Bonaventure, KNEBLEWSKIClick to display biography Vaclav, KOTEWICZClick to display biography Stanislaus, KOWALClick to display biography Henry Stanislaus, KUCZYŃSKIClick to display biography Marian, MAKOWSKIClick to display biography Roman, MALORNYClick to display biography Francis, MAŃKIEWICZClick to display biography Henry, MEGGERClick to display biography Vladislav, MIKUCZEWSKIClick to display biography Louis, NODZYŃSKIClick to display biography Andrew, PEŁKAClick to display biography Leo, REPIŃSKIClick to display biography Sigismund Louis, ROGALSKIClick to display biography John, SOŁTYSIAKClick to display biography John, WALECKIClick to display biography Vaclav, WOJTASZEWSKIClick to display biography Casimir, ŻUKOWSKIClick to display biography Vincent

murder sites
camp 
(+ prisoner no)

Mniszek / Grupa forest: From 10.1939 till approx. 04.1940 in the complex of forests by villages of Mniszek (in a former gravel mine) and Grupa (on the former Polish military training ground), c. 16 km to the north–east of Świecie and c. 10 km to the west of Grudziądz, Germans murdered in mass executions approx. 10,000 Poles, brought from prison in Świecie, from Psychiatric Hospital in Świecie (c. 1,000 patients — the patients were brought in parties 60‑strong, having been given sedatives prior to dispatch), prison in Grudziądz, internment camp in Nowe on Vistula, from Steyler Missionaries (Verbite friars) missionary house in Górna Grupa — mainly intelligentsia, from Świecie, Bydgoszcz, Chełmno, Grudziądz and Starogard Gdański counties in Pomerania. Among the victims were c. 120 children brought out under a school trip guise. Murders were perpetrated by Germans from Selbstschutz and SS genocidal organisations. Wehrmacht soldiers served as truck drivers. The victims were being killed of with shovels, sticks, sometimes buried alive. Those who attempted to defend themselves were hung. In 1944 Germand dug out most of the bodies and burnt them. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])

Górna Grupa: From 10.1939 till approx. 04.1940 in Górna Grupa in Divine Word Missionaries (SVD) congregation house Germans organised — as part of „Intelligenzaktion”, extermination of Polish intelligentsia in Pomerania — a transit camp for Poles, including 95 priests, from Świecie, Bydgoszcz, Chełmno, Grudziądz and Starogard Gdański counties. Approx. of them perished, including 17 that were subsequently executed in Mnichek‑Grupa. In the same place in 1945 Russians set up a concentration camp for Germans, among whom two priests perished. (more on: www.kpbc.ukw.edu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.27])

Świecie (Institute): In the autumn of 1939 Germans— as part of „Aktion T4” program — murdered almost all patients from the Świecie psychiatric hospital. On 15‑21.10.1939 c. 1,000 patients were murdered in the forest by Mniszek village, in groups of 60. Among the victims were 120 children. And hospital’s Polish director who stayed with his patients till the end. The victims were pushed — three aside — into specially prepared ditches and shot from machine guns. C. 300 patients were transported to Kocborowo psychiatric hospital and murdered later in Szpęgawsk forest. (more on: ipn.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.05.09])

Świecie: Detention centre run by Germans. Most of the prisoners in 1939 Germans took to Mniszek‑Grupa and executed. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19])

Toruń (Fort VII): Between 10.1939 and 01.1940 in Fort VII in Toruń Germans set up — as part of their „Intelligenzaktion”, extermination of Polish intelligentsia from Pomerania — a prison for local, chiefly from Toruń, Poles, mainly from intelligentsia, 1,500 of which were subsequently murdered in Barbarka and Przysieka. The remaining approx. 600 prisoners were transported in 01.1940 to KL Stutthof concentration camp. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10])

Piaski (Aleksandrów Kujawski): In Piaski (today district of Aleksandrów Kujawski) Germans in 10‑11.1939 held in provisional(?) prison priests from Alekandrów Kujawski and Nieszawa deanery, prior to sending them to the Fort VII camp in Toruń. (more on: salezjanie.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.31])

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 II World War 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 Stanislaus 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])

sources

personal:
www.kowal.q4.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.12.28], groby.radaopwim.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.01.13], pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19]
bibliograhical:, „Victims of German crime among Włocławek diocese clergy”, Fr Stanislau Librowski, „Włocławek Diocese Chronicle”, 07‑08.1947, „Annals of the Włocławek diocese — 1926‑39 (also: Catalogus Ecclesiarum et Utriusque Cleri tam Saecularis quam Regularis dioecesis Wladislaviensis seu Calissiensis — till 1925)”, Włocławek and Włocławel-Kalisz diocesan Curia