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Chapter 1
The Saviour of the World
I have no faith in my faith. My faith is in the faithful God.
Leonard Ravenhill (1907-1994)
A day that changed his world
Maximilian Kolbe, with four of his companions, was deported to
Auschwitz, Poland. Auschwitz was a labour and death camp. Few
who passed through the prison gate left the camp alive. Cruelly
the prisoners were told that the only way out was through the
chimneys of the crematorium. Father Maximilian Kolbe, a Christian
minister, received the striped convict garment and was tattooed
with the number 16670. He began work immediately, carrying
blocks of stone for the construction of a crematorium wall.
Prison law stated that if anyone attempted to escape, ten men from
the same bunker would be chosen for death by starvation in the
dreaded windowless underground cell. Towards the end of July,
a prisoner apparently escaped and the men from Kolbe’s bunker
were led out into the blazing midday sun knowing what to expect.
One man from each line was selected at random, including Sergeant
Francis Gajowniczek. The sergeant cried out, ‘My wife and children!
I shall never see them again!’ A man stepped out from the rows and
offered to take his place. It was prisoner 16670, Maximilian Kolbe.
A German officer asked Kolbe who he was. Kolbe responded, ‘I am
a Catholic priest. I wish to die for that man. I am old. He has a wife
and children.’ So it was that Maximilian Kolbe and the nine others
were taken to the death chamber of cell 18. Francis Gajowniczek
was set free. It was a day that changed his world.
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