In 1972, Mr. Franciszek Gajowniczek proclaimed his thanks to the recently beatified Maximilian Kolbe for saving his life in Auschwitz. “I want to express my thanks, for the gift of life,” he said to 150,000 attendees. Kolbe’s courageous action spoke volumes about how he cherished human life, made in the image and likeness of God. But furthermore, this courageous and selfless act shows how he directly interceded on the behalf of Mr. Gajowniczeck to prevent him from being forced to die by starvation and dehydration, a now common method to euthanize those with brain injuries today. Given the circumstances in which St. Maximilian Kolbe died, his sacrifice to protect another has led others to recognize him as the Patron for the pro-life movement.
On February 17, 1941, St. Maximilian was arrested. He was first placed in Pawiak prison in Warsaw. In May he was transferred to the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, also in Poland. It would only be a couple of months later that St. Maximilian gave his life to protect Mr. Gajowniczek. On that fateful day, most likely on the last day of July (it is not specifically known), three prisoners were thought to have escaped. As was common Nazi practice in Auschwitz, when a person escapes, ten randomly selected prisoners would be executed. Mr. Gajowniczek was one of those randomly selected prisoners and when his name was called out it was reported that he cried out, “My wife! My children!” It was at this moment when St. Maximilian showed his heroic virtue of charity and fortitude, stepping forward and announcing to the Nazi guard his willingness to take this stranger’s place. The guard obliged the request. Over a 14 day period the ten prisoners died. By the fourteenth day St. Maximilian was still alive. It has been reported that he held up his arm to the Nazi officials who injected him with a lethal dose of carbolic acid—calm, serene, and awaiting his eternal reward.
While Kolbe’s sacrificial act in Auschwitz demonstrates his utmost respect for the human person, it is noteworthy to demonstrate other aspects of his life that have also upheld this moral principle. During the very early years of World War II, he and his fellow Franciscans helped house over 3,000 refugees, most of which were Jewish. But before his arrest, Kolbe also worked as the editor to “The Knight Immaculate” and “The Little Daily” in Nazi occupied Poland. In this capacity, he helped publish several anti-Nazi pieces. His work as an author and editor merit some commentary here since it is in these writings one can find the mind of St. Maximilian Kolbe in a Nazi occupied territory where the Culture of Death tried to reign supreme. This is no small feat since the Nazis viewed it as treasonous to voice any opinion other than their own.
This aspect of St. Maximilian Kolbe’s life is an important point for those who write in the service of the pro-life cause. Writing is not some “lesser” activity within the movement, in many ways it is very foundational since it gives the intellectual push to pro-life activity. Much of St. Maximilian’s writing centers on some very central concepts of the Faith and of human dignity. For example, in the last publication of “The Knight Immaculate” he states, “What we can do and should do is to seek truth and to serve it when we have found it. The real conflict is an inner conflict. Beyond armies of occupation and the hecatombs of extermination camps, there are two irreconcilable enemies in the depth of every soul: good and evil, sin and love. And what use are the victories on the battlefield if we ourselves are defeated in our innermost personal selves?” This is not merely the ramblings of some typical modern day opinion piece. Rather, this is profound apologetics at work. At the beginning of this passage one can clearly see that St. Maximilian is writing about the Nazis since they were the occupying force in Poland. But he goes on to describe the Nazi extermination camps as “hecatombs”. This is intriguing descriptor since the term designates an ancient Greek sacrificial ritual to the gods whereby a hundred oxen would be sacrificed to the pagan gods. Here one begins to see, once again, the depravity of the Nazi regime and its disregard for the human person. Kolbe was clearly writing to an audience that understood what these camps were for and he is obviously labeling the Nazis as people who act contrary to the will of God. Then St. Maximilian continues by stating that each human being must face good and evil within themselves. An interpretation of this seems to be that even when faced with extreme evil, such as Nazism and its blatant disregard for the human person and human dignity, one must always strive for the good, or rather one should strive for God. That is an important objective that moves this writing beyond typical journalism and op-ed pieces. Here, Kolbe gets into the very essence of apologetics of explaining his Christian faith in contrast to that of the essentially pagan Nazis. His piece was meant to inspire Christians to choose the good, to choose God, and to reject the essentially immoral ideology of Nazism.
St. Maximilian Kolbe was an inspirational writer and editor who should be a model for those in the pro-life movement who do the same type of work. He faced the worst of times, knowing that his publications could potentially have him imprisoned and executed. Nonetheless, he persevered and wrote under extreme duress in order to do the will of God, but to also inspire other Christians to keep the faith and reject the worldview of the Nazi occupiers. St. Maximilian knew well that writing is foundational to informing a mass audience of the intellectual food that is needed to properly nourish the mind. While he serves as a model for the pro-life movement as a whole, pro-life authors should take special note in his role as an essayist and editor. He serves as cogent witness for those who are called to the vocation of writing for the pro-life movement since they also serve to nourish the minds of their audience.
Joe Kral has been involved in the pro-life movement since he has been in college. His MA in Theology was completed at the University of St. Thomas where he specialized in bioethics. From 1996-2003 he was the Legislative Director for Texas Right to Life. During that time he was also a lobbyist for the Department of Medical Ethics at National Right to Life. From 2004-2007 he consulted the Texas Catholic Conference on pro-life legislative initiatives. In 2006 he was awarded the “Bishop’s Pro-Life Award for Civic Action” from the Respect Life Ministry in the Diocese of Dallas. He currently is an adjunct professor of Theology at the University of St. Thomas, teaches FTCM courses for the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, and also serves as a voluntary legislative advisor to Texas Alliance for Life. He has been married to his wife, Melissa, since 2004 and attends St. Theresa’s Catholic Church.
