The residents of the southern Sub-Carpathian village of Siedlisko, together with those of the small Mazovian town of Czerwińsk, by the river Vistula, commemorated Father Józef Kowalski, the priest brutally murdered eighty years ago in Auschwitz concentration camp. They had undertaken to fund the memorial plaque themselves without official support or financial help from the Institute of National Remembrance, a major national research institution.

Józef Kowalski was born in Siedlisko and underwent his noviciate in the Salesian community in Czerwińsk. He was beatified in 1999 among 108 fellow martyrs from the Second World War. He was just thirty one years old when he died. His memory, and that of his death at the hands of the Germans is still kept alive in his native locality where his close relatives and wider family members still live.

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  Jaromir Kwiatkowski, journalist and author from the city of Rzeszów, in the Sub-Carpathian region and the motive force behind the plaque, said “He is a remarkable character an example of a life that was lived intensively and to the full. He had a clear life aim and serves as a wonderful example of a patriotic and priestly life in the face of death. Kwiatkowski authored the biography of Father Józef Kowalski a few years ago, but his knowledge of the priest started in 1999 when he wrote his first article during the occasion of his beatification.

“If we don’t take care of the memory of the victims of the Second World War, ”he said” the succeeding generation may well forget what it is all about. And each one of the 108 martyrs is worthy of remembrance.”

Salesian Education

Father Józef was the first Salesian to be beatified. During his research, he author of the book “Miał być i jest świętym” [He was to be and is a Saint] came to the Salesian community that had been based in Czerwińśk since before the war. Father Józef studied Latin and Greek, the liturgy, music and singing.

Professor Jan Żaryn, parliamentary senator, said in his address before the unveiling “The Salesians performed distinguished service to Polish education during the 1920s and 30s.” He continued “In the educational establishments throughout Poland, boys from poor families, unable to afford an schooling were taught. In addition far from their homes. There were real rough diamonds that were discovered such as Father Józef Kowalski from a Rzeszów village. Also there was Father August Hlond (1881-1948) from a Silesian family, later a cardinal and Primate of Poland. There was Archbishop Antoni Baraniak, his secretary who refused to inform on Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński during maltreatment in a Stalinist jail. But members of poorer families were not the only ones educated by the Salesians. Prince Adam Czartoryski befriended Father John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian order. He was the grandson of Adam Czartoryski of “Hotel Lambert” fame a Polish émigré centre in Paris in the 19th century and an heir to a great patriotic tradition. It became a crucible of Polishness that was, together with his wealth, donated to the order. A beneficiary of this legacy was Father Józef Kowalski,” Professor Żaryn concluded in his address.

“Józef Kowalski grew up in such a Salesian tradition. Were it not for the war, he would have been included in the ranks of those who built Poland with their knowledge, talent, work and other qualities that the Germans sought to extirpate quickly. This is the reason why they systematically liquidated the Polish clergy.” Professor Żaryn continued. He reminded his audience that the Germans classified the Polish clergy as a “collective enemy”.

In the Dachau concentration camp alone, 761 Polish clergy of all faiths died. All in all, 2,800 clergy perished throughout the course of the war.

Łukasz Mastalerz, a Salesian from Czerwińsk told TVP Weekly “We need such plaques for this reason. To educate on every level but also among those who visit our basilica and can read their names on the wall of remembrance.”

Tourists and pilgrims still visit the place. It is attractive not just because it is the oldest Romanesque abbey complex dating from 1155 and for the location of the crossing point over the Vistula made by King Władysław Jagiełło before the battle of Grunwald against the Teutonic Knights in 1410. The basilica itself is noteworthy. Here, from 1612 it was possible to see the beautiful painting of Mary Mother of God from Czerwińsk, acknowledged as miraculous in 1648. It was based on the painting of Mother of God Salus Populi [Salvation of the People] in the Roman basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. The Czerwińsk example was honoured in 1970 by the Primate of Poland, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. It had to be recrowned since it had fallen victim to a theft. But thanks to this Cardinal Karol Wojtyła came.”

Father Mastalerz continued “In this way, the place became one in which people would meet who would later become well known in Polish Catholic circles.”

We should add too that Karol Wojtyła , then a Kraków cardinal remembered the first years of the German occupation in the Salesian parish in Dębiny, in the Sub-Carpathian region. A young priest with a characterful face and a clear spirituality that were evident and not just before his eventual beatification. Jaromir Kwiatkowski wrote in his book that “ I remember the Salesians, whose only remnants consisted of the old parish priest and the provincial inspector. The rest were sent to Auschwitz.”

Pious, hard-working and cheerful

Jaromir Kwiatkowski amassed a wealth of fascinating details that reveal the cult of this martyr, whose named after a school in his home locality. But a large group from Siedlisko also came to the unveiling in Czerwińsk, including relative of the beatified priest.

“Here in Siedlisko we pray every day at Father Józef’s birthplace. Our church lies on the spot of his family home”, said Krystyna Bednarz whose grandmother was the priest’s mother’s sister. “It’s often said that it was Father Józef who saved our crops from the storm or from a fire or other similar events of which there are no shortage. The Virgin Mary stands in front of the church, funded by Father Józef’s mother herself, after Józef had fallen ill as a child but had later recovered. Every Thursday there is a novena said and the figure is revealed. I think it’s a very good thing that here in Czerwińsk he will be remembered.

Father Józef Kowalski became the secretary of the regional Kraków inspectorate of the Salesians after taking holy orders in 1938. He had many duties but also many opportunities for personal development. Jaromir Kwiatkowski wrote “in his free time he worked at his pastoral duties in Dębniki where he ran a male-voice choir and taught the Gregorian chant. He organised sporting events too for neglected children and he was known as an emergency foster guardian, where lads in police custody were taken. He was pious, hard-working, cheerful and helpful.”

“He could serve as an example for our times,” Kwiatkowski continued. He was surprised at the positive reaction to his book, already in its fifth edition. But he also does not hide that the priest’s conduct in the camp, his defence of the faith at the cost of his life is hugely moving as many young people do not have the slightest awareness of real conditions in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp.

Competitions in cruelty

On May 23 1941, a group of Salesians was arrested. Included in this number was Father Józef Kowalski. They were arrested on the grounds of belonging to an underground organisation and distributing underground publications. They were sent to Auschwitz. The Salesians landed a lay later in the punishment company. A few German guards enjoyed organising sadistic competitions during which four clergymen died. The commandant intervened.

Father Kowalski was returned to the so-called “free block”. The work was murderous. He organised secret prayers, helped his fellow inmates and held secret masses. This irritated the Germans. Father Kowalski was slated for transport to Dachau camp. But was singled out by his tormentors, as SS man Gerhard Palitzch known for his brutality and a kapo, overseer, Józef Mitas. He was singled out for “exercise and humiliation”. These two men sentenced him to a slow martyr’s death. Before, they made a point about inflicting pain and humiliation.

The young priest conducted prayer meetings that enabled many to survive the daily treatment. He was known for the secret communion. The faithful said that it was the “bread of life”. He refused to give a mocking sermon and refused to trample his rosary. He prayed as he was forced into a vat of human waste. “The world had not heard of such prayer,” a fellow inmate said, according to Jaromir Kwiatkowski. His tormentors drowned him in that vat after beating him with clubs.

Professor Żaryn said “This was the story of his oppressors as well as himself. The history of this great heart and goodness that he shared is the history of the monstrous and unimaginable evil that he endured and which then was all-present. Father Józef’s example is that we have a chance of avoiding evil and take the road to salvation and not to perdition.”

The power of these histories is what lies within the plaques that were unveiled in Czerwińsk on July 3. Pilgrims came to discover the age old history, the Gothic vaulting and Romanesque portals. But it is not certain who and when someone will pause and reflect on the meaning of these plaques.

It was ironic that the scrupulous and ordered German civil servants sent the untrampled rosary to the last known Kraków address of the Salesian chapter, together with the personal effects of the murdered priest. These are kept in the Kraków Salesian Province offices. Jaromir Kwiatkowski hopes that these will be on display for all to see. “Every time I meet with one of my readers, I am more convinced of the potential of the holy and exemplary power of this relic,” he said.

–Barbara Sułek-Kowalska (The similarity of surnames is accidental)

TVP WEEKLY. Editorial team and jornalists

–Translated by Jan Darasz