• 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
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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
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Martyrology of the clergy — Poland

XX century (1914 – 1989)

personal data

review in:

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link do KARTY OSOBOWEJ - POLSKA WERSJAKliknij by wyświetlić to bio po polsku

surname

SZMERGALSKI

forename(s)

Simon (pl. Szymon)

  • SZMERGALSKI Simon - Commemorative stone, obóz koncentracyjny, KL Groß—Rosen, source: img.iap.pl, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOSZMERGALSKI Simon
    Commemorative stone, obóz koncentracyjny, KL Groß—Rosen
    source: img.iap.pl
    own collection
  • SZMERGALSKI Simon - Commemorative plaque, Sacred Heart of Jesus basilica, Warsaw, source: pl.wikipedia.org, own collection; CLICK TO ZOOM AND DISPLAY INFOSZMERGALSKI Simon
    Commemorative plaque, Sacred Heart of Jesus basilica, Warsaw
    source: pl.wikipedia.org
    own collection

function

laybrother (coadjutor)

creed

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

congregation

Society of St Francis de Sales SDBmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2013.05.19]

(i.e. Salesians of Don Bosco)

diocese / province

St Stanislav Kostka Warsaw Inspectorate SDB

date and place
of death

06.06.1944

KL Groß‐Rosenconcentration camp
today: Rogoźnica, Strzegom gm., Świdnica pov., Lower Silesia voiv., Poland

more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.02.02]

details of death

After German and Russian invasion of Poland in 09.1939 and start of the World War II, after start of German occupation, arrested by Germans on 17.02.1941.

Jailed in Płock and KL Soldau concentration camp in Działdowo.

Released after a few days and prob. deported to German‐run General Governorate.

There arrested again by the Germans on 07.02.1944 in Warsaw, in Fr Siemiec Orphans' House together with 17 priests and 14 co‐religious, as one of the retributions in the wake of a successful Polish clandestine army (part of Polish Clandestine State) assassination of German SS‐Brigadeführer und Generalmajor der Polizei, SS and Police head in Warsaw district of General Governorate, Franz Kutschera, responsible for many acts of genocide.

Jailed in Pawiak prison in Warsaw and next prob. 28.03.1944 transported to KL Groß‐Rosen concentration camp, where perished — tortured, beaten, had hand broken, contracted infectious disease — regarded by co–prisoners as saint.

cause of death

extermination: murder / exhaustion

perpetrators

Germans

date and place
of birth

03.04.1877

Rakowicetoday: Lubawa gm., Iława pov., Warmia‐Masuria voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.01.28]

religious vows

04.08.1910 (temporary)
04.08.1919 (permanent)

positions held

till 1944

friar — WarsawPowiśle neighborhood in Śródmieście district
today: Warsaw city pov., Masovia voiv., Poland

more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.07.16]
⋄ Society's House (Fr Siemiec Salesians' Institute), Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — bricklayer master

friar — Lublintoday: Lublin city pov., Lublin voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.08.20]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — Czerwińsk nad Wisłątoday: Czerwińsk nad Wisłą gm., Płońsk pov., Masovia voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.09.02]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — Oświęcimtoday: Oświęcim gm., Oświęcim pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.06.07]
⋄ Society's House (Casa Madre), Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — KrakówDębniki district
today: Kraków city pov., Lesser Poland voiv., Poland

more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.12.18]
⋄ Blessed Virgin Mary Immaculate Conception Society's Houses, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — Veržejtoday: Veržej gm., Mura reg., Slovenia
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.09.11]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — Dashavatoday: Stryi urban hrom., Stryi rai., Lviv, Ukraine
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.09.11]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — Ljubljanatoday: Ljubljana‐city reg., Slovenia
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.09.11]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

friar — Radnatoday: Sevnica gm., Lower Sava reg., Slovenia
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.09.11]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB — manual worker (mainly bricklayer)

1909 – 1910

novitiate — Radnatoday: Sevnica gm., Lower Sava reg., Slovenia
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2022.09.11]
⋄ Society's House, Salesians of Don Bosco SDB

others related
in death

BŁĄDZIŃSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, BOGACZClick to display biography Adalbert, CAGClick to display biography Joseph, CAPClick to display biography Alexander, CHMIELNICKIClick to display biography Sigismund, DRYGASClick to display biography Francis, DRYGASClick to display biography John, GRYŹLAKClick to display biography Anthony, JĘDRAClick to display biography Martin, KOŚMIDERClick to display biography Adalbert, KRAJEWSKIClick to display biography Joseph, LEŃKOClick to display biography Joseph, ŁUKOWIAKClick to display biography Anthony, PLUCIŃSKIClick to display biography Valentine, PYKOSZClick to display biography John, SAROSIEKClick to display biography Witold, STOPIŃSKIClick to display biography Joseph, WĄDRZYKClick to display biography Anthony, WIĘCKIEWICZClick to display biography Leo, ŻUREKClick to display biography Anthony

murder sites
camp 
(+ prisoner no)

KL Groß‐Rosen: Groß‐Rosen (today: Rogoźnica) was a German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL, founded in the summer of 1940 (first transport of prisoners arrived on 02.08.1940). Initially a branch of KL Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In 1944 became a centre of a network of more than 100 camps. Prisoners were forced to slave at nearby granite quarries, on starvation rations. More than 125,000 prisoners were enslaved — 40,000 victims perished. In 1945 — in „death marches” — Germans dragged through the camp thousands of prisoners from the camp’s in east being one by one overrun by the Russians. The camp itself was captured by the Russians on 14.02.1945. (more on: www.gross-rosen.euClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.07.18]
, en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.02.02]
)

Pawiak: Investigative prison in Warsaw, built by the Russian occupiers of Poland in 1830‐1835. During the Poland partition's period, a Russian investigative prison, both criminal and political. During World War II and the German occupation, the largest German prison in the General Government. Initially, it was subordinate to the Justice Department of the General Governorate, and from 03.1940 Germ. Sicherheitspolizei und des Sicherheitsdienst (Eng. Security Police and Security Service) of the Warsaw District — in particular the German Secret Political Police Gestapo. c. 3,000 prisoners were kept in Pawiak permanently, of which about 2,200 in the men's unit and c. 800 in the women's unit (the so‐called Serbia) — with a „capacity” of c. 1,000 prisoners. In total, in the years 1939‐1944, c. 100,000 Poles passed through the prison, of which c. 37,000 were murdered in executions — from 10.1943 Pawiak prisoners were murdered in open executions on the streets of Warsaw (sometimes several times a day) — during interrogations, in cells or in a prison „hospital”, and c. 60,000 were taken in 95 transports to concentration camps (mainly KL Auischwitz), other places of isolation or to forced labor. The prison Germans demolished during the Warsaw Uprising in 08‐10.1944. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2022.08.17]
)

07.02.1944 arrests: In apparent in retaliation for the successful attempt on the head of the Warsaw Gestapo and the SS gen. Kutschera (01.02.1944) German political police (Gestapo) arrested many priests and religious in Warsaw, Cracow, Lublin and Radom, including 17 priests, 14 religious and many pupils and staff members of the Fr Siemiec orphans' house run by Salesian Fathers in Warsaw and 14 Vincentian (Lazarists) priests, 5 Vincentian religious and 3 lay people ministering in the Holy Cross church in Warsaw. They were taken to infamous Pawiak prison in Warsaw and next some of them were transported to Groß‐Rosen concentration camp.

General Governorate: A separate administrative territorial region set up by the Germans in 1939 after defeat of Poland, which included German‐occupied part of Polish territory that was not directly incorporate into German state. Created as the result of the Ribbentrop‐Molotov Pact, in a political sense, was to recreate the German idea of 1915 (after the defeat of the Russians in the Battle of Gorlice in 05.1915 during World War I) of establishing a Polish enclave within Germany (also called the General Governorate at that time). It was run by the Germans till 1945 and final Russian offensive, and was a part of so‐called Big Germany — Grossdeutschland. Till 31.07.1940 formally known as Germ. Generalgouvernement für die besetzten polnischen Gebiete (Eng. General Governorate for occupied Polish territories) — later as simply Germ. Generalgouvernement (Eng. General Governorate). From 07.1941 expanded to include district Galicia. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04]
)

KL Soldau: German Germ. Konzentrationslager (Eng. concentration camp) KL Soldau (in modern Działdowo city) — since the pre‐war Polish Działdowo county was incorporated into Germ. Regierungsbezirk Allenstein (Eng. Olsztyn regency) the camp was located in occupied territories where general German law was in force, i.e. in Germany proper — was founded in 09.1939, when in former barracks of 32nd Infantry Regiment of Polish Army Germans set up a temporary camp for POW captured during September 1939 campaign. In autumn 1939 was also used as police jail. In 1939‐1940 changed into Germ. Durchgangslager für polnische Zivilgefangene (Eng. Transit Camp for Polish Civilians), prior to transport to other concentration camps. In reality it was used then as a place of extermination of Polish intelligentsia within Germ. «Intelligenzaktion» genocidal program and extermination of sick and disabled within «Aktion T4» program. Next in 05.1940 the camp was changed again into Germ. Arbeitserziehungslager (Eng. Work Education Camp), and finally into penal comp for criminal and political prisoners, most of whom were sentenced to death. In 1939‐1941 Germans imprisoned, maltreated and tortured in KL Soldau hundreds of Polish priests and religious. Approx. 80 priests, religious and nuns perished. They were murdered in the camp itself, by a shot into a head, or in places of mass executions in nearby forests — Białuty forest, Malinowo forets, Komorniki. Dates and precise locations of these murders remain unknown. Altogether in KL Soldau approx. 15,000 prisoners were murdered, including thousands victims — patients of psychiatric institutions (within «Aktion T4» plan). (more on: mazowsze.hist.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.08.17]
, en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.09.02]
)

Płock: In its present location, the prison in Płock was built in 1803 by the Prussians (after the Third Partition of Poland, Płock was initially part of the Prussia). From 1815, it functioned as a Russian prison (among others, the November insurgents were detained there). During World War II, during the German occupation — Płock found itself in the so‐called Germ. Regierungsbezirk Zichenau (Eng. Ciechanów regency), part of the Germ. Provinz Ostpreußen (Eng. East Prussia province) — it was managed by the Germans. The jail ran by the German political police Gestapo was located in a different place — initially in the basement of the present town hall in Płock. From 1941 it was transferred — as an investigative prison — to a building at 1st of May Str., built in 1905. Many of the Polish prisoners were next transported to German concentration camps, mainly KL Soldau, where they perished. After the German defeat, this building was taken over by the Russians, and then by the Polish Commie‐Nazis in the service of the Russian KGB, and treacherous murders of former soldiers of the Polish Clandestine State were prob. carried out there. In 1991, the main prison was visited by Pope St John Paul II, who said to the inmates: „You are condemned, but not doomed”.

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:
bws.sdb.org.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2019.05.30]

bibliographical:
Lubawa County Biographical Lexicon 1244‐2005”, George Szews, 2005
A martyrology of Polish clergy under German occupation, 1939‐1945”, Fr Szołdrski Vladislaus CSSR, Rome 1965
Salesian Society in Poland under occupation 1939‐1945”, Fr John Pietrzykowski SDB, Institute of National Remembrance IPN, Warsaw, 2015
original images:
img.iap.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19]
, pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.12.04]

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