Nederlands

FaithonMaps › All places › Auschwitz

Auschwitz
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · Maximilian Kolbe

Auschwitz

Maximilian Kolbe gives his life · Poland

In the summer of 1941 a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz, and as punishment ten men were chosen to starve to death. When one of them cried out for his wife and children, the Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe stepped forward and offered to die in his place. In the starvation cell he led the others in prayer and song, until after two weeks he was killed with an injection. Today you can see his cell in Block 11 of the Auschwitz memorial.

Did you know?

The man he saved, Franciszek Gajowniczek, survived the war and was present when Kolbe was made a saint in 1982.

View on the mapOpen in Google Maps

An inspiring story

'I will take his place'

Would you die for a stranger?

Auschwitz, 29 July 1941. As punishment for an escape, ten men were picked to starve to death. One of them, Franciszek Gajowniczek, cried out for his wife and children. Then prisoner 16670 stepped out of the line: the Polish priest Maximilian Kolbe. He asked to take this man's place. Why? Kolbe had no wife or children; this man did. In the starvation bunker Kolbe led the others in prayer and song, and on 14 August he was killed with an injection.

Gajowniczek lived to be 93 and was there in 1982 when Kolbe was declared a saint. Love does not ask whether someone is worth it. It asks who needs it most.

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends.John 15:13

Sources

Also on the map