function

diocesan priest

creed

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

diocese / province

Culm (Chełmno) diocesemore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2012.11.23]
Military Ordinariate of Polandmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.12.20]

honorary titles

Order of „Polonia Restituta”more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.04.16]
Gold „Cross of Merit”more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2019.04.16]
honorary canonmore on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14] (Pelpin cathedralmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14])

date and place
of death

11.11.1939

Wielka Piaśnicaknown as Piaśnica
today: Puck gm., Puck pov., Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.10.09]

details of death

cause of death

mass murder

perpetrators

Germans

date and place
of birth

11.09.1888

Chełmnotoday: Chełmno urban gm., Chełmno pov., Kuyavia–Pomerania voiv., Poland
more on
en.wikipedia.org
[access: 2021.07.25]

presbyter (holy orders)
ordination

24.03.1912 (Pelpin cathedralmore on
pl.wikipedia.org
[access: 2014.11.14])

positions held

others related
in death

ANGRYKClick to display biography Louis, BIEŃKOWSKIClick to display biography John Anthony, BLAJERClick to display biography Blase, BŁAŻEWSKIClick to display biography Ignatius, BORYSIAKClick to display biography John, BRODOWSKIClick to display biography John, DUNAJSKIClick to display biography Peter Paul, FIEREKClick to display biography Anastasius, FITTKAUClick to display biography Edmund, GASIŃSKIClick to display biography Louis, GLISZCZYŃSKIClick to display biography John, GŁOWAClick to display biography Ceslav, HEINIGClick to display biography Julius, HOEFTClick to display biography Walter Joseph, JAKUBOWSKIClick to display biography John Stanislav, JAMRÓGClick to display biography Witold (Fr Henry), JÓŹWIAKClick to display biography Joanna, KALISZClick to display biography Casimir Francis, KASZUBOWSKIClick to display biography Louis, KITZERMANNClick to display biography Francis, KNITTERClick to display biography Louis Bernard, KONEWECKIClick to display biography Joseph, KOTOWSKAClick to display biography Mary Hedwig (Sr Alice), KRĘCKIClick to display biography Anastasius, LABUDAClick to display biography Bronislav, LEHMANNClick to display biography Joseph, MOJKOWSKIClick to display biography Julian, NIKLEWSKIClick to display biography Felix, OLKIEWICZClick to display biography Bruno, PRONOBISClick to display biography Adalbert, PRZYBYSZClick to display biography Francis, RACKIClick to display biography Ceslav, ROMPCAClick to display biography Leo, SARNOWSKIClick to display biography Robert Joseph, SUDYClick to display biography Charles, SZYNALEWSKIClick to display biography Francis Xavier Alex, SZYPNIEWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav, UGOFOWSKIClick to display biography Francis, WARCZAKClick to display biography Augustine, WĄTRÓBSKIClick to display biography Adalbert, WIELEWSKIClick to display biography Vladislav Silvester, WILEMSKIClick to display biography Ceslav Casimir, WILEMSKIClick to display biography Paul Felix, WITKOWSKIClick to display biography Boleslav, WOHLFEILClick to display biography Edmund Casimir, ZAKRZEWSKIClick to display biography John, ZĄBEKClick to display biography Edmund Leopold, ŻUREKClick to display biography Mieczyslav

murder sites
camp 
(+ prisoner no)

Piaśnica: In the forests of Piaśnica, c. 1 km from the center of Wielka Piaśnica village near Wejherowo in Pomerania, as part of the Germ. «Intelligenzaktion», from 10.1939 to 04.1940, the Germans murdered, in mass executions, 12,000‑14,000 Poles from Gdańsk Pomerania, mostly Polish intelligentsia. Genocides were committed by SS units (including the Wachsturmbann „Eimann” unit) with the help of members of the paramilitary organization Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz, consisting of treacherous Polish citizens of German origin. Arrested people who found themselves on the so‑called German „Sonderfahndungsbuch Polen” — a named proscription list of „enemies of the Reich”. The victims were usually transported by trains to Wejherowo, in closed wagons attached to a regular passenger services. There, the wagons were detached and the victims, after a brutal selection, with families and children separated, were loaded onto trucks and buses. There pits were awaiting them, dug out initially by local German farmers, and later by Polish‑prisoners from the Germ. Neufahrwasser camp in Gdańsk, known as the Germ. „Himmelfahrtskommando” (Eng. „Ascension into Heaven commando”) — these after some time were murdered and new ones were brought in. The victims had to undress to their underwear, and then in groups of 5‑6 people were murdered with a shot to the back of the head, standing or kneeling over a dug hole. The wounded were finished off — some with rifle butts. The graves were then covered, and in 1940 seedlings of trees and bushes were planted on them. In 1944, in the face of the impending defeat of the war, the Germans forced Polish prisoners from the KL Stutthof concentration camp to dig up the graves and burn the bodies, and then murdered the prisoners. Piaśnica is referred to as „Pomeranian Katyn” or „Kashubian Golgota”. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.10.09])

KL Stutthof: 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])

DL Victoriaschule (Gdańsk): On 01‑15.09.1939 in the school building Germans set up Germ. Durchgangslager (Eng. Transit Camp) — formally subordinated to the command of the Germ. Schutzpolizei (Eng. Protective Police) i.e. Schupo in Gdańsk, but actually subordinated to the German Germ. Geheime Staatspolizei (Eng. Secret State Police) i.e. Gestapo — for Poles arrested in Gdańsk after invasion of Poland. The arrested were tortured and badly maltreated. The number of detainees is estimated at cl 3,000. On 07‑15.09.1939 the prisoners were transferred to ZL Neufahrwasser transit camp and other places of extermination, including KL Stutthof. (more on: pl.wikipedia.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])

Collective responsibility („Hostages”): A criminal practice implemented by the Germans in the occupied territories of Poland, applied from the very first day of World War II. At its core was an appointment and public announcement of a list of names of selected people whose lives depended on absolute compliance with German orders. Any violation of these ordinances, by any person, regardless of the circumstances, resulted in the murder of the designated „hostages”. In the first days of the war and occupation, it was used i.a. by the German Wehrmacht army to prevent acts of continuation of the defense by the Poles. Later, especially in the German‑run General Governorate, it was part of the official policy of the occupation authorities — collective responsibility for any acts of resistance to the occupier's practices. For the life of one German, even if death was due to customary reasons, the Germans carried out executions from a dozen to even a hundred Poles previously designated as „hostages”.

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])

Polish‑Russian war of 1919‑1921: War for independence of Poland and its borders. Poland regained independence in 1918 but had to fight for its borders with former imperial powers, in particular Russia. Russia planned to incite Bolshevik‑like revolutions in the Western Europe and thus invaded Poland. Russian invaders were defeated in 08.1920 in a battle called Warsaw battle („Vistula river miracle”, one of the 10 most important battles in history, according to some historians). Thanks to this victory Poland recaptured part of the lands lost during partitions of Poland in XVIII century, and Europe was saved from the genocidal Communism. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.12.20])

Greater Poland Uprising: Military insurrection of Poles of former German Germ. Posen Provinz (Eng. Poznań province) launched against German Reich in 1918‑1919 — after the abdication on 09.11.1918 of the German Emperor William II Hohenzollern; after the armistice between the Allies and Germany signed on 11.1.1918 in the HQ wagon in Compiègne, the headquarters of Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch — which de facto meant the end of World War I — against the German Weimar Republic, established on the ruins of the German Empire, aiming to incorporate lands captured by Prussia during partitions of Poland in XVIII century into Poland, reborn in 1918. Started on 27.12.1918 in Poznań and ended on 16.02.1919 with the armistice in Trier (which included provisions ordering the Germans to stop their actions against Poland), which meant a de facto Polish victory. Many Polish priests took part in the Uprising, both as chaplains of the insurgents units and members and leaders of the Polish agencies and councils set up in the areas covered by the Uprising. In 1939 after German invasion of Poland and start of the World War II those priests were particularly persecuted by the Germans and majority of them were murdered. (more on: en.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2016.08.14])

sources

personal:
pl.wikipedia.orgClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2021.12.19], work.brp.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2012.12.28], biblioteka.wejherowo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]
bibliographical:
„Biographical dictionary of priests of the Chełmno diocese ordained in the years 1821‑1920”, Henry Mross, Pelplin, 1995
original images:
bibliotekacyfrowa.euClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2020.05.30], biblioteka.wejherowo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19], docplayer.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.02.15], 2wojna.gdynia.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2018.11.18], www.audiovis.nac.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], www.audiovis.nac.gov.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2015.09.30], rocznikgdynski.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2023.12.09], www.szkolaslup.zafriko.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2014.10.04], biblioteka.wejherowo.plClick to attempt to display webpage
[access: 2013.05.19]