Prisoner #16670

Maximilian Maria Kolbe was a Polish Conventual Franciscan friar, who volunteered to die in place of a stranger in the German death camp of Auschwitz, located in German-occupied Poland during World War II.

His father was an ethnic German and his mother was Polish. He refused to sign the Deutsche Volksliste, which would have given him rights similar to those of German citizens in exchange for recognizing his German ancestry. In 1941 he was imprisoned and transferred to Auschwitz as prisoner #16670.

At the end of July 1941, three prisoners disappeared from the camp, prompting SS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Fritzsch, the deputy camp commander, to pick 10 men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to deter further escape attempts. When one of the selected men cried out: "My wife! My children!", Kolbe volunteered to take his place.

According to an eye witness, an assistant janitor at that time, in his prison cell, Kolbe led the prisoners in prayer to Our Lady. 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. After two weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe remained alive. The guards wanted the bunker emptied, so they gave Kolbe a lethal injection of carbolic acid. Kolbe is said to have raised his left arm and calmly waited for the deadly injection. His remains were cremated on 15 August, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.

Now we are commemorating the 80th anniversary of his martyrdom.

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Mamiya 645AF + Kodak Tri-X 400 + Kodak HC-110 (Dil.B)

I found this altar in Drohiczyn, inside an ancient Franciscan church. The church was badly damaged during World War II. It was rebuild, but they kept the remains of one old altar for people to remember the atrocities of war. Now the altar is dedicated to St. Maximilian Kolbe, O.F.M. Conv..