Celebration of Blessed Father Maximilian Kolbe on the First Anniversary of his Beatification. O wi cim. 15 October 1972 [translated from the Polish on the printed cover label on the book].

(AUSCHWITZ: PHOTOGRAPHY: POPE PAUL II)

Edité par N.p., Auschwitz, 1972

First edition. Oblong folio (13 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches). Publication is comprised almost entirely of 20 original photographs (9 1/2 x 7 inches). What little text present is in Polish. Each photograph is mounted to a very thick black card and each card is mounted to a stub. The photographs have printed numbers in gilt in the upper right hand corners. Laid in are caption sheets for all 20 photographs (Polish, Italian & English [by the cataloger]). Publisher's beige cloth with printed paper cover label. Stamp on front pastedown and fly leaf - "Most Reverend Alfred L. Abramowitz" [Paestum titular bishop and suffragan bishop in the Chicago diocese]. There is also the stamp of the College of Cardinals. Faint evidence that the lower front cover saw moisture at one time but it is barely perceptible and certainly does not affect the image. The only text is on the printed cover title label [and we derive the title from there]. No copies located by OCLC and it has never appeared at auction. This is not a one-off; it is a published book (albeit an excessively rare one). A very good copy.This is a pictorial history of the first anniversary of the beatification of Father Maximilian Kolbe. He was canonized as a martyr of charity by Pope John Paul II in 1982. Father Kolbe ran a large monastery near Warsaw called Niepokalaów. While Kolbe is best remembered as the Patron Saint of the Death Camps he was quite well known as a theologian/commentator before the war, especially for his anti-Nazi publications. His monastery had a printing press and it was from there that many of his publications were issued. He made no secrets as to his thoughts about the Reich and their morality. When Germany invaded Poland Kolbe gave safe haven to some 2,000 Jews. He was arrested for this but released not long afterward. Kolbe was part of a large group of intellectuals that the SS had long been desirous of exterminating. He was arrested again in February of 1941 and sent to Auschwitz concentration camp in May 1941 and assigned prisoner number 16670. Auschwitz, or O wi cim, was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. Soon after his arrival at the camp a prisoner escaped. The deputy camp commander chose ten men to be starved to death in an underground bunker to demonstrate that even a successful escape would have fatal consequences for those remaining. When one of the selected men, Franciszek Gajowniczek (also a Polish Catholic), cried out, "My wife! My children!" Kolbe volunteered to take his place. According to one source, Kolbe has recently been going through a crises of faith and his reading of Viktor Frankl was what lifted him out of it and likely motivated his enormous gesture. After the two weeks of privations only four men were left alive and Kolbe was among them. Needing the space the Nazi's killed them all via lethal injections and cremated their bodies at Birkenau.While he was beatified on October 17, 1971 by Pope Paul VI, this commemorative album celebrates the one year anniversary of his beatification. An unusual occasion. what is portrayed photographically here was a solemn religious commemoration organized by the Catholic Church?specifically by Polish clergy and visiting cardinals, including Cardinal John Joseph Krol; a prominent leader in the U.S. Catholic Church and with deep ties to the Polish-American Community), from around the world?to mark the one year anniversary of the beatification of Maximilian Kolbe by Pope Paul VI in 1971. It was, by and large, a Polish affair but Cardinals and clergy from around the world were present. Polish Catholics and Nazis. A Mass was held for the Kolbe in Cell 18 of Block 11 of the Camp. the very place where he was killed. There was political importance to this gathering as well for the Church sought to reaffirm the heroic actions of a Catholic martyr in WWII; to remind to w. N° de réf. du vendeur 76633

Détails bibliographiques

Titre : Celebration of Blessed Father Maximilian ...
Éditeur : N.p., Auschwitz
Date d'édition : 1972