Pope Remembers Auschwitz Martyr Kolbe

[rug]

Pope Benedict XVI has marked the 70th anniversary of the death of a Polish Franciscan friar hailed as a martyr for volunteering to die in the place of another man at Auschwitz.

Pope Benedict XVI has marked the 70th anniversary of the death of a Polish Franciscan friar who gained martyrdom by volunteering to die in the place of another man at Auschwitz. Benedict said Maximilian Kolbe's heroic act set an example "amid the human drama of hatred, suffering and death." The Pope was greeting Polish pilgrims after his Angelus prayer delivered Sunday from his summer residence near Rome. Benedict said Maximilian Kolbe's heroic act set an example "amid the human drama of hatred, suffering and death." The pope was greeting Polish pilgrims after his Angelus prayer delivered Sunday from his summer residence near Rome.

The German-born Benedict, who was forced to join the Hitler Youth, visited the Auschwitz concentration camp during a trip to Poland in 2006.

Kolbe was sent to Auschwitz in 1941 after Nazi officials discovered he had been hiding Jews. He was canonized by Polish-born Pope John Paul II in 1982.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=14301222

More on Maximilian Kolbe:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Kolbe.html

[cleanhippie]

1. Too bad he cannot remember all the child-raping.

And NOTHING, no story, no quip, no sarcastic remark, NOTHING, will EVER make the fact that the Catholic Church and the Pope covers up and condones child-rape.

Nothing. At. All.

[rug]

3. You really should do this elsewhere.

I suppose, in some twisted way, there is a connection between child rape and Auschwitz. But it is embarassing to see you attempt to make it.

[cleanhippie]

6. Hahaha! I wondered how long it would take you to steal my smiley.

that I stole fair from a post in ATA.

[rug]

8. Ah, I thought it was custom-made for you.

Carry on.

[darkstar3]

2. A story that no doubt played out hundreds, if not thousands of times during that war.

One man, or woman, lays down their life for someone else, or lots of someones...Why does this guy get special rememberance? Because he was a Catholic? Because he was a Friar? Because the Pope needs to ease the people's minds about once being in the Hitler Youth?

[rug]

4. By all means, post some of them.

Or does it simply irk you that he was a friar?

Or do you think he did it as a PR stunt?

[darkstar3]

5. I think the recognition was nothing but a cheap PR stunt.

I think your posting here is the same.

[cleanhippie]

7. A cheap PR stunt gives too much credit. We know what it REALLY is.

[rug]

10. Don't by shy. What do "We" really think it is?

It is truly bizarre reading both of your reactions to this article.

[rug]

9. I will consign what you think to the same place as your other thoughts.

Facts are facts. Opinions are cheap.

[darkstar3]

11. And the facts here are that the Pope chose to recognize one hero over thousands of others,

for reasons we can only speculate on. My speculation is that recognition of this hero is good PR for the church, as it shows that not every Catholic is an anti-semite (which goes against type), and it lets the Pope try and distance himself from his past.

My grandfather was in WWII. He saw a lot of heroes in that disastrous war, and if he were here now he would tell you that not one of those heroes deserves more recognition than any other.

[rug]

12. I'm still waiting for uou to post one.

And don't try to swap WW2 ancestors with me. I'm visited too many of them in VA hospitals.

[darkstar3]

13. Why?

Do you doubt that WWII saw thousands of heroes? Of course not. And what will you do after I post that link, look for some way in which your subject is more heroic than others?

Fuck that. My point is made, and I'm not buying your PR.

[rug]

14. Point made.

[struggle4progress]

15. ... In July 1941 a man from Kolbe’s barracks vanished, prompting .. the deputy camp commander

to pick 10 men from the same barracks to be starved to death .. 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 ... After three weeks of dehydration and starvation, only Kolbe and three others were still alive. Finally he was murdered with an injection of carbolic acid ... http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Kolbe.html

Franciszek Gajowniczek (November 15, 1901 – March 13, 1995) ... Gajowniczek was released from Auschwitz after spending five years, five months and nine days in the camp. Though his wife, Helena, survived the war, his sons were killed in a Soviet bombardment in 1945, before his release ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciszek_Gajowniczek

[Demoiselle]

16. I think we can all praise brave acts that protect others..but

Pope Pius XII, who was elected Pope in 1939, didn't do very much to stand up for holocaust victims when the holocaust was actually happening. In fact, he did very little, and so I react to stories like this with a certain amount of anger. Here's one summary:

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/pius.html

[rug]

17. That article links to others.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/piusdef.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/piusdef2.html

In any event, it is just to pause a moment on this particular man.

[frogmarch]

18. Thinking of the

terrible agony he himself must have endured, I find his altruism and selfless compassion for the other prisoners remarkable. I don’t doubt there were many other heroes as great as he during the Holocaust, but I won’t belittle what this man did just because the others aren’t named here.

As an atheist, I can’t help but wonder how believers justify their god’s allowing of the Holocaust.

[rug]

19. I don't.

At the same time, were there no god at all, it still happened.

That's my more immediate concern.