Franciszek Gajowniczek

Franciszek Gajowniczek (15 November 1901 – 13 March 1995)[2][3] was a Polish army sergeant whose life was saved at Auschwitz by priest Maximilian Kolbe, who volunteered to die in his place.[2] Gajowniczek had been sent to Auschwitz concentration camp from a Gestapo prison in Tarnów. He was captured while crossing the border into Slovakia after the defeat of the Modlin Fortress during the 1939 invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany. Gajowniczek and Kolbe met as inmates of Auschwitz in May 1941.[2]

Franciszek Gajowniczek
Franciszek Gajowniczek, 1941,
Auschwitz prisoner 5659
Born(1901-11-15)15 November 1901
Strachomin, Poland
Died13 March 1995(1995-03-13) (aged 93)
Brzeg, Poland
NationalityPolish
Known forSaved by Maximilian Kolbe[1]

Biography

Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Roman Catholic,[2] was born in Strachomin near Mińsk Mazowiecki.[2] After the reconstitution of sovereign Poland, he moved to Warsaw in 1921, married, and had two sons. He was a professional soldier who took part in the defense of Wieluń as well as Warsaw in September 1939. Gajowniczek was captured by the Gestapo in Zakopane and sentenced to forced labour in Tarnów. He arrived at Auschwitz on 8 October 1940. When a camp prisoner appeared to have escaped,[3] SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch ordered that ten other prisoners die by starvation in reprisal. Gajowniczek (prisoner number 5659) was one of those selected at roll-call. When the Franciscan priest, Kolbe, heard Gajowniczek cry out in agony over the fate of his family, he offered himself instead (for which he was later canonized).[2] Kolbe's exact words have been forgotten, but one eye-witness account records his words as: "I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children."[4] The switch was permitted and the punishment meted out. After all his cellmates died, Kolbe (prisoner number 16670) was put to death with an injection of carbolic acid.[3]

Gajowniczek was sent from Auschwitz to Sachsenhausen concentration camp on 25 October 1944.[2] He was liberated there by the Allies, after spending five years, five months, and nine days in concentration camps in total. He reunited with his wife, Helena, half-a-year later in Rawa Mazowiecka. Though she survived the war, his sons were killed in a Soviet bombardment of Nazi-occupied Poland in 1945 before his release.[3]

After World War II

On 17 October 1971, Gajowniczek was a guest of Pope Paul VI in the Vatican when Maximilian Kolbe was beatified for his martyrdom. In 1972, Time magazine reported that over 150,000 people made a pilgrimage to Auschwitz to honor the anniversary of Maximilian's beatification. One of the first to speak was Gajowniczek, who declared "I want to express my thanks for the gift of life."[3] His wife, Helena, died in 1977.[3] Gajowniczek was in the Vatican once again, this time as a guest of Pope John Paul II, when Kolbe was canonized on 10 October 1982.[2][3]

In 1994, Gajowniczek visited St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church of Houston, Texas, where he told his translator Chaplain Thaddeus Horbowy that "so long as he ... has breath in his lungs, he would consider it his duty to tell people about the heroic act of love by Maximilian Kolbe." Gajowniczek died in the city of Brzeg on 13 March 1995 at the age of 93.[2] He was buried at a convent cemetery in Niepokalanów,[2] 53 years after having his life saved by Kolbe. He was survived by his second wife, Janina.[3]

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References
  1. "Wspomnienie Franciszka Gajowniczka". Wikidot.com. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  2. W. P. (13 March 2009). "Franciszek Gajowniczek (1901-1995)". Aktualności (in Polish). Serwis informacyjny Franciszkanie.pl. Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2013. Wychowany jestem w atmosferze religii katolickiej, wiarę swoją w najcięższych momentach zachowałem, religia była dla mnie wówczas jedyną dźwignią i nadzieją. — Fr. Gajowniczek.
  3. David Binder. "Franciszek Gajowniczek Dead; Priest Died for Him at Auschwitz." The New York Times, 15 March 1995. Retrieved 2 July 2013.
  4. "Maximilian Kolbe", Jewish Virtual Library
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