Maximilian Kolbe

(above is a picture of St. Maximilian Kobe's torture cell- the candle was placed there by

Pope John Paul II)

He suffered many years of darkness... now he shines for eternity!

Maximilian Kolbe

17 February 1941 Maximilian Kobe was arrested by the German Gestapo and imprisoned in the Pawiak prison, and on May 28 he was transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner #16670.

In July 1941 a man from Kolbe's barracks vanished, prompting SS-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), in order to deter further escape attempts (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. He encouraged others that they would soon be with Mary in Heaven. Each time the guards checked on him he was standing or kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at those who entered. When the remaining men had died and Kolbe was the last remaining he was killed with an injection of carbolic acid straight into the heart. Some who were present at the injection say that he raised his left arm and calmly waited for the injection. His remains were cremated on the Assumption of Mary(August, 15).

He was canonized by the Church as Saint Maximilian Kolbe on 10 October 1982 by Pope John Paul II, and declared a martyr of charity.