On August 14, we commemorate the anniversary of the martyrdom of Father Maksymilian Kolbe

He was murdered on the eve of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on 14 August 1941 by an injection of phenol.Today marks the 76th anniversary of this most beautiful testimony of human strength in the times of the greatest cataclysm in the history of mankind.

"Our holy prisoner first of all saved our humanity. He was a spiritual shepherd in a hunger cell; he gave support, led prayers, absolved and led the dying with the sign of the cross to the other world. In us, those who survivors the selection, he strengthened our faith and hope. In the midst of this loss, terror and evil, he restored hope."

This was how the Franciscan, Saint Father Maksymilian Maria Kolbe was remembered a few years ago by Michał Micherdziński (1919-2006), one of the last witnesses of the roll-call in the German Auschwitz camp where Father Maksymilian gave his life for Franciszek Gajowniczek, a prisoner who along with nine other prisoners was selected for death by starvation.

It was Tuesday, 29 July 1941. Around 13.00, the camp siren announced the escape of one of the prisoners. The roll-call established that the missing person was from block 14a. The SS first announced a murderous hours-long roll-call, and then began to select those sentenced to starvation. After Franciszek Gajowniczek was selected, Father Maksymilian stood out from the line and told the Auschwitz tormentors "I want to die for him. He has a wife and children". Gajowniczek returned to the line and Father Maksymilian went to the cell together with the other convicts. He survived the longest.