history
Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar imprisoned for sheltering Jews and publishing anti-Nazi literature. He quietly approached the commandant and said, “I am a Catholic priest. I want to die in place of that man. I am old; he has a wife and children.”
In the summer of 1941, inside the barbed-wire hell of Auschwitz, a single act of selfless courage pierced the darkness. When a prisoner escaped, the Nazi guards retaliated by selecting ten men to die by starvation. Among them was Franciszek Gajowniczek, a Polish sergeant who cried out in despair, “My wife! My children!” From the ranks stepped a frail Catholic priest: Maximilian Kolbe, a Franciscan friar imprisoned for sheltering Jews and publishing anti-Nazi literature. He quietly approached the commandant and said, “I am a Catholic priest. I want to die in place of that man. I am old; he has…