Polish Catholic Priest Maximilian Kolbe is executed by lethal injection at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp

On this day, 84 years ago on August 14th 1941, Polish Catholic Priest Maximilian Kolbe is executed by lethal injection at Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

On February 17th 1941, he was arrested by the Geheime Staatspolizei (Gestapo) and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison. On May 25th, he was transferred to Auschwitz I as prisoner #16670.

In July 1941, a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting ϟϟ-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death in Block 13 (notorious for torture) to deter further escape attempt (the man who had disappeared was later found drowned in the camp latrine). One of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out, lamenting his family, and Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

During the time in the cell, he led the men in songs and prayer. After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally, he was executed with an injection of carbolic acid on August 14, 1941.

He was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Maximilian Kolbe on October 10th 1982, by Pope John Paul II, and declared a martyr of charity. He is the patron saint of drug addicts, political prisoners, families, journalists, prisoners and the pro-life movement. Pope John Paul II declared him the “The Patron Saint of Our Difficult Century.”

Father Kolbe was beatified as a confessor by Pope Paul VI in 1971 and was canonized by Pope John Paul II on October 10th 1982 in the presence of Franciszek Gajowniczek. Upon canonization, the Pope declared St. Maximilian Kolbe is not a confessor, but a martyr.

Although the canonisation of St. Maximilan Kolbe is uncontroversial, his recognition as a martyr is, given that a Christian martyr is one who is killed in odium Fidei, and Kolbe wasn’t assassinated strictly out of hatred for his faith.

Get the best deals here!

Comments

The Nazi party girls of Auschwitz: SS women romanced and caroused with death camp guard lovers as they oversaw the murder of thousands of Jews - before paying the ultimate price on the gallows

The biographies of over 200 SS women serving at Auschwitz death camp and their 'after work parties' have been published online in an effort to show the world that it wasn't just men involved. Entitled 'Women working for the SS', the project from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum documents the women's lives from birth and how they ended up serving Adolf Hitler. One of the women was Maria Mandl, a senior SS guard in Auschwitz from October 1942 to October 1944 who was nicknamed 'The Beast' by prisoners Born in 1912 the daughter of a shoemaker, she first started work in a Nazi concentration camp in Lichtenburg Germany in 1938 before being transferred to the camp for women in Ravensbruk, also in Germany. In 1942 she was sent to Auschwitz where she became infamous for her sadism and sending 'an estimated half a million women and children to their deaths in the gas chambers.' In 1942 she was sent to Auschwitz where she became infamous for her sadism...

A group of prisoners documented the medical experimentations that German doctors were performing on them.

This photo was taken secretly inside the Ravensbrück concentration camp. A group of prisoners documented the medical experimentations that German doctors were performing on them. Joanna Szydłowska traded her bread to another prisoner for a camera. She was one of 74 Polish women subjected to cruel experiments, including unnecessary surgeries. Doctors cut open some women's legs and intentionally infected them to try to simulate battlefield wounds. Some of the women were given no medication when they became desperately ill. Ravensbrück was liberated on this day in 1945 after most prisoners had been evacuated from the camp. Some of the experimentation victims testified at trials after the war. The photos they took were part of the evidence. Continue reading #OTD #OnThisDayinHistory #Holocaust

Fugitive drug lord 'Taliban' who stole cartel's 450lb cocaine shipment is tossed ALIVE into ocean with an anchor tied to his waist

Fugitive drug lord 'Taliban' who stole cartel's 450lb cocaine shipment is tossed ALIVE into ocean with an anchor tied to his waist This is the moment a fugitive Venezuelan drug trafficker known as Taliban is dumped alive in the ocean with his hands zip-tied and an anchor around his waist in revenge for stealing 450 pounds of cocaine - and cash - from a cartel. The footage, shared to social media, shows Fuentes staring at the person recording the video. He is then dumped overboard and left to drown.'.. read and watch the video None of his kidnappers are identified but one is heard in the background of the video saying 'make sure none of our faces can be seen' and another later said 'he has no way to save himself'. Make money online: Paying sites and apps for making cash In an elaborate - and poorly thought out - ruse, Fuentes, a middleman for the Venezuelan Clan del Cartel, earlier had dumped a shipment of narcotics worth $10 million at s...

In the fall of 1944, ten-year-old Thomas Buergenthal found himself all alone in Auschwitz, destined for the gas chamber

In the fall of 1944, ten-year-old Thomas Buergenthal found himself all alone in Auschwitz, destined for the gas chamber. Thomas had already survived the Kielce ghetto and a forced labor camp by the time German authorities deported him and his parents to Auschwitz in August 1944. Typically, children were taken on arrival and murdered in the gas chambers, but, because there was no selection when Thomas and his family arrived there, he managed to survive. His mother was taken to the women's section of the camp, but Thomas and his father remained together. However, Thomas remained in grave danger. The SS guards regularly selected prisoners to be murdered in the gas chambers and as a child Thomas stood out. While he had survived a number of selections by hiding, this time, Thomas had been caught. "They saw me as a child, and they motioned me to go one way, and my father go the other way," Thomas remembered. "And that's the last I saw of ... my father." Thomas and...

In April 1981, the body of a young white woman was found in a ditch on Greenlee Road in Newton Township, Ohio

In April 1981, the body of a young white woman was found in a ditch on Greenlee Road in Newton Township, Ohio. She was wearing a buckskin poncho, so investigators called her the "Buckskin Girl." That same day, her body was examined. It was found that she had suffered serious injuries to her head and neck before being strangled to death about 48 hours before her body was found. Despite many years of hard work by investigators, the identity of the Buckskin Girl remained unknown for over 30 years. On April 9, 2018, the Miami Valley Regional Crime Laboratory announced that they had identified the woman as 21-year-old Marcia Lenore King from Little Rock, Arkansas. Marcia had last been seen by her family in 1980. Although she wasn’t officially reported missing, her family had kept searching for her. The identification was made possible by detailed DNA testing. Sadly, the person who caused her death has still not been found. Continue reading

Outrage as video showing bullies beating schoolgirl, 14, and forcing her to strip naked in public goes viral

Outrage as video showing bullies beating schoolgirl, 14, and forcing her to strip naked in public goes viral Sick clip shows helpless teen taking her clothes off in broad daylight THIS is the shocking moment a helpless teen is forced to strip in public as her laughing tormentors beat her. An uncensored version of the sick video filmed in Bulgaria has gone viral on social media. It sees a girl, 14, dressed in denim shorts and a black top being humiliated in a busy residential complex in the capital Sofia. The girl, named in local media only by her initials A.G, is made to take her clothes off in broad daylight. One of her attackers can be heard saying: "Take off your clothes! Do you hear me?" She pleads with them to not make strip in public before one lunges at her and pushes her to the ground. The person who uploaded it to social media is said to be assisting police, naming two attackers as Laura and Paula and revealing that a male was filming. He is been ...

Julie Keefer’s constant cries put her family in danger. In the end, this may have saved her life.

Julie Keefer’s constant cries put her family in danger. In the end, this may have saved her life. After escaping the Lwów ghetto, Julie, her sister, Tola, and their family hid from the Nazis in a forest hideout for several months. Over time, the girls’ crying put the Jewish family at risk. Their grandfather made the painful decision to place two-year-old Julie and baby Tola with a friend. Soon after they were removed, the Germans discovered the hiding place in the woods and murdered everyone inside. Julie’s grandfather, who was away visiting the girls, was the only survivor. Julie never saw her parents again. During the chaos of the war, Julie and Tola were separated, and Tola was sent to a Catholic orphanage. After the Holocaust, Julie and her grandfather desperately searched for Tola but they were unable to locate the baby. Julie never lost hope of finding her sister. Despite all that she lost, Julie chose to share her story with visitors at our Museum. “For many, many years I did no...

MAN CUTS OFF FOOTBALLER’S GENITALS, SLITS THROAT OVER WHATSAPP PRANK

MAN CUTS OFF FOOTBALLER’S GENITALS, SLITS THROAT OVER WHATSAPP PRANK A footballer found dead with his genitals cut off was tortured and killed “in barbaric fashion” over a drunken whatsapp prank, it is claimed. Daniel Corea's body body was found in the Brazilian city of Sao Jose dos Pinhais on Saturday, October 27. He had been castrated and his throat slit with such force that he was almost beheaded. The 24-year-old, who played for , had been at the 18th birthday party of Allana Brittes at a nightclub in Curitiba before he was killed. Three days later, Allana’s dad, Junior, 39, confessed to killing Correa, telling police he had found the footballer trying to rape his wife Cristiana. On Monday, pictures emerged showing Correa in bed with a sleeping woman, thought to be Brittes’ wife. They had been sent by the footballer to his friends on WhatsApp in his final hours. Police said the pictures were most likely taken as part of an “immature stunt”. Sources added that Correa suffe...

Brunhilda had the worst death due to the way she was killed

Brunhilda had the worst death due to the way she was killed Brunhilda of Austrasia Bruhilda was a Gothic Princess in the Early middle ages who married the King of Austrasia while her sister Galswintha married Chilperic I of Nesutria Brunhilda (c. 534 – 613)[1] was a Visigoth princess. Her father was King Athanagild of Spain. She married King Sigebert I of Austrasia. She ruled the eastern kingdoms of Austrasia and Burgundy in the names of her sons and grandsons. At first she was known as a fair and just ruler. She later became known for her cruelty and vengeful behavior. Before her arrival to the Frankish kingdoms, Brunhilda was an Arian Christian, but later converted to Roman Catholicism. Brunhilda traveled to Austrasia to marry King Sigebert I. King Sigebert I's half brother, King Chilperic I married Brunhilda's sister, Galswintha. However, Galswintha was not happy, and wanted to go home and take back her dowry. King Chilperic refused, and murdered her. King Chilperic remmarri...

“In Auschwitz, I never cried, and people around me never cried.”

“In Auschwitz, I never cried, and people around me never cried.” Irene Weiss was just a teenager when she learned to turn off her feelings in order to survive. When a Nazi officer selected Irene to perform forced labor at Auschwitz-Birkenau, it gave her a chance to survive that was denied to her mother and younger siblings, who were murdered upon arrival. She was assigned to a unit responsible for sorting through the stolen personal belongings of Jews. The storage barracks where she worked were next to one of Auschwitz's gas chambers. Irene often saw the faces of those unknowingly headed toward their deaths. Sometimes they would stop and talk to her. Other times, she heard their screams. “When we worked night shifts … this place was close enough to the train platform that you could hear in the night the whistle of the train and then you would hear the humming noise of large crowds. You could hear people in the distance. Within a few minutes or so the large column of young women, mo...

Major Crimes and True Crime

Search This Blog

Uncovered True Crime and holocaust stories