function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

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

date and place
of death

05.06.1942

on Vienna ‐ KL Dachau roadAustria ‐ Germany (Bavaria)

alt. dates and places
of death

04.06.1942

details of death

prisoner camp's numbers

30262Click to display source page (KL DachauClick to display the description), 34877Click to display source page (KL AuschwitzClick to display the description)

cause of death

extermination: exhaustion and starvation

perpetrators

Germans

sites and events

KL DachauClick to display the description, KL AuschwitzClick to display the description, KL Zwickau / Schloß OstersteinClick to display the description, CieszynClick to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion Schlesien»Click to display the description, «Intelligenzaktion»Click to display the description, Regierungsbezirk KattowitzClick to display the description, Ribbentrop‐MolotovClick to display the description, Pius XI's encyclicalsClick to display the description

date and place
of birth

07.10.1906

Ustrońtoday: Ustroń urban gm., Cieszyn pov., Silesia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]

parents

LATOCHA Joseph
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?

GROSS Anne
🞲 ?, ? — 🕆 ?, ?

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

21.06.1931

Katowicetoday: Katowice city pov., Silesia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.08.12]
St Peter and St Paul the Apostles RC cathedral churchmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2016.04.23]

positions held

comments

sites and events
descriptions

KL Dachau: KL Dachau in German Bavaria, set up in 1933, became the main German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL for Catholic priests and religious during World War II: On c. 09.11.1940, Reichsführer‐SS Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, Gestapo and German police, as a result of the Vatican's intervention, decided to transfer all clergymen detained in various concentration camps to KL Dachau camp. The first major transports took place on 08.12.1940. In KL Dachau Germans held approx. 3,000 priests, including 1,800 Poles. The priests were forced to slave labor in the Germ. „Die Plantage” — the largest herb garden in Europe, managed by the genocidal SS, consisting of many greenhouses, laboratory buildings and arable land, where experiments with new natural medicines were conducted — for many hours, without breaks, without protective clothing, no food. They slaved in construction, e.g. of camp's crematorium. In the barracks ruled hunger, freezing cold in the winter and suffocating heat during the summer, especially acute in 1941‐1942. Prisoners suffered from bouts of illnesses, including tuberculosis. Many were victims of murderous „medical experiments” — in 11.1942 c. 20 were given phlegmon injections; in 07.1942 to 05.1944 c. 120 were used by for malaria experiments. More than 750 Polish clerics where murdered by the Germans, some brought to TA Hartheim euthanasia centre set up in Schloss Hartheim in Austria and murdered in gas chambers. At its peak KL Dachau concentration camps’ system had nearly 100 slave labour sub‐camps located throughout southern Germany and Austria. There were c. 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands perished without a trace. C. 10,000 of the 30,000 inmates were found sick at the time of liberation, on 29.04.1945, by the USA troops… (more on: www.kz-gedenkstaette-dachau.deClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10], en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30])

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 murder possibly in excess of million people, mainly Jews, in gas chambers. Altogether In excess of 400 priests and religious went through the KL Auschwitz, approx. 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])

KL Zwickau / Schloß Osterstein: A heavy German prison in Zwickau in Saxony, founded in 1770‐1775 at the Schloß Osterstein castle. In the XIX c., among its detainees were Karl May, August Bebel, Rosa Luxemburg. During World War II, prob. had the status of Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Zwickau / Schloß Osterstein and political prisoners were held there under an extralegal system, euphemistically known as the German Schutzhaft (Eng. protective custody). Prisoners, living in overcrowded cells, slave laboured in the city receiving starvation rations. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2010.08.11])

Cieszyn: Remand jail run by German political police Gestapo — in the southern part (today: Czech) of town — and investigative prison — in northern (Polish) side, on the other bank of Olza river — run by Germans. In 1940 the prisoners were initially held in Cieszyn jail but next, due to an overcrowding, taken to former Josef and Jacob Kohn furniture manufacturing plant, by Frydecka Str. and Jabłonkowa Str. junction on the southern bank of Olza, where a transit camp was set up. The prisoners — more than 1,000 Poles went through the camp — were interrogated and whipped with horsewhips, prior to being sent to German concentration camps. (more on: www.sw.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.10])

«Intelligenzaktion Schlesien»: A planned action of arrests and extermination of Polish Upper Silesia intellectual elite in general recorded in a proscription list called „Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen” — participants of Upper Silesia uprisings, former Polish plebiscite activists, journalists, politicians, intellectuals, civil servants, priests — organised by Germans mainly in 04‐05.1940, aiming at total Germanisation of the region. The relevant decree, no IV‐D2‐480/40, was issued by the RSHA, i.e. Germ. Reichssicherheitshauptamt (Eng. Reich Security Office), and signed by Heinrich Himmler or Reinhard Heydrich. Some of those arrested were murdered in mass executions, some were deported to the German‐run Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate), and some were sent to concentration camps. The personal details of 3,047 people deported within two months of 1940 were established. Among the victims were 33 Catholic priests, 22 of whom perished in concentration camps (the clergy were sent — in 5 transports — first to KL Dachau, and then to KL Gusen, where they slaved in quarries). Altogether, the Germans murdered c. 2,000 members of the Polish Upper Silesia intellectual elite. (more on: pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.05.30])

«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 Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. 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])

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])

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:
silesia.edu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.10.13], www.klemens.beskidy.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19], www.sbc.org.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.04.23], 041940.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.04.23], newsaints.faithweb.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.01.06]
bibliographical:
„Urns kept at the Am Perlacher Forst cemetery — analysis”, Mr Gregory Wróbel, curator of the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź, private correspondence, 25.05.2020
original images:
041940.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.04.23], encyklo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19], www.alamy.comClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.08.22], www.ck.debowiec.com.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2017.11.07], www.nieobecni.com.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.05.25], diecezja.bielsko.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2025.01.29], www.bj.uj.edu.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]