28 maggio 1941 | In serata arrivò ad #Auschwitz un trasporto di 304 polacchi inviati dai tedeschi da Varsavia. Tra loro c'erano 12 sacerdoti, tra cui il francescano Massimiliano Kolbe (n. 16670), morto il 29 luglio 1941 ha dato la vita per un prigioniero scelto di morire di fame.
Scopri di più sul destino della vita spirituale e religiosa cristiana ad Auschwitz nella nostra lezione online: http://lekcja.auschwitz.org/pl_19_duchowienstwo/
Maximilian Maria Kolbe (born on 8 January 1894), a Franciscan of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (OFM Conv), was arrested on 17 February 1941 in Niepokalanów, where he was the father superior, guardian. After a few months’ investigation in the Warsaw prison of Pawiak, he was transported to Auschwitz on 25 May 1941. Late in July, one of the inmates decided to escape from the camp. In retaliation, 10 inmates from the same block were sentenced to death by starvation. During the selection, one of the chosen, Franciszek Gajowniczek, asked to save his life as he had wife and children. Hearing these words, Father Kolbe stepped forward, and addressed the SS offering to stand in for the despairing fellow inmate. The commander of the selection, Karl Fritzsch, agreed and Father Kolbe joined the remaining inmates. They were then taken to the cellars of Block 11. Emptying of the cell was ordered two weeks later. Most inmates were already dead, yet some still showed signs of life, and Father Kolbe was one of them. Therefore, the SS staff decided to finish off the living inmates with injections of phenol. Father Kolbe was recognised a martyr by the Roman Catholic Church and announced a blessed by Paul VI in 1971. In 1982, Pope John Paul II canonized him.
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