Victory and hope

McKenna Snow
Class of 2024

(8/2021) August 14 celebrates Victory over Japan Day. In 1945, on August 14, Japan unofficially surrendered to the U.S. The following day, the surrender was announced to the rest of the world. This marked the final ending of World War II, and celebrations ensued. According to Holiday Insights, "On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was held in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri. At the time, President Truman declared September 2 to be VJ Day."

Victory! After six years of catastrophic violence, the Axis powers that had worked to conquer the world were finally defeated through the unwavering heroism of the Allies. While great leaders, like Winston Churchill, were certainly essential in leading the Allies to victory, there were millions of unnamed soldiers, citizens, and "ordinary people" whose heroism helped goodness prevail in the face of monstrous evil.

The life of one such "ordinary person" belongs to a Catholic priest named Maximillian Kolbe, whose charity and sacrifice in World War II exemplifies the everyday heroism that millions made in sacrifice for freedom.

Born in 1894, Kolbe lived with his parents in Poland. Raised in the Catholic Faith, he had a strong inclination towards a religious vocation from a young age. As a writer, Kolbe recounted a vision he had of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who appeared to him at about ten years old. In the apparition, Mary offered him the choice of two crowns: a white crown, representing chastity and purity, or a red crown, representing martyrdom. Maximillian asked for both.

Kolbe’s encounter with Mary no doubt fostered his love of Jesus’ Blessed Mother further and intensified his desire to live in pure love for others through a religious state. In 1917 while in seminary, Kolbe founded the Militia Immaculata, a group whose mission was to bring souls to Jesus, following the motto, "To Jesus, through Mary." Kolbe was a proficient writer, and he helped the mission of the Immaculata Friars by publishing books, pamphlets, and a daily newspaper called ‘Little Diary.’ Some years earlier with the Militia Immaculata, Kolbe also worked to publish a monthly magazine called ‘Knight of the Immaculate,’ which is still in print today.

Kolbe took his vows as a Franciscan friar in 1914 and went on to study in Rome to earn a doctorate in philosophy and later a doctorate in theology in 1919, when he was ordained a priest. Kolbe spent several years in Japan as a missionary and founded a monastery on a mountain on the outskirts of Nagasaki. When he became quite ill, he had to return to Poland in 1936.

Kolbe was in his friary in Poland when World War II began. In 1939, the Nazis invaded Poland. According to Saint Maximillian Kolbe Church’s online biography, "On being released, many Polish refugees and Jews sought sanctuary in Kolbe’s monastery. Kolbe and the community at Niepokalanów helped to hide feed and clothe 3,000 Polish refugees, approximately 1,500 of whom were Jews. In 1941, his newspaper "The Knight of the Immaculate" offered strong criticism of the Nazis. Because of the aid he provided to the Jewish people, the Gestapo arrested Kolbe on February 17, 1941, and he was sent to Auschwitz concentration camp.

The horrors of Auschwitz cannot be overstated, nor should they ever be forgotten; over one million people were murdered at this concentration camp alone. There is too much to be said about its tragedies to cover with justice in this singular article, but Kolbe’s story offers a shred of insight to the evil that attempted to prevail, and the good people who stood up to it.

While in Auschwitz, eyewitnesses said that Kolbe endured his suffering with a deep faith in God, and an unwavering determination to continue to love the other prisoners around him.

In July of the same year, at least one prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. In retaliation and punishment, the Nazis selected ten prisoners to be killed through starvation. One man selected was Franciszek Gajowniczek. He cried out in sorrow when he was chosen, and Maximillian Kolbe heard him speak of his wife and two children. Though he was a total stranger to this man, Kolbe immediately asked to take his place so that Franciszek could be spared. The Nazi commander then approved the switch, Franciszek was spared, and Maximillian Kolbe was sent to die. The ten men spent at least fourteen days in an underground bunker with no food or water. Kolbe cared for each of them as they all faced death together, retaining his gentle and peaceful demeanor. Kolbe was one of the last men alive in the bunker; when the guards wanted the cell emptied, they executed the remaining prisoners with a lethal injection.

Saint Maximillian Kolbe died on August 14, 1941. Four years later on the very same day, Japan surrendered to the U.S., and World War II finally ended.

The Catholic Church wrote that "the deed and courage of Maximillian Kolbe spread around the Auschwitz prisoners, offering a rare glimpse of light and human dignity in the face of extreme cruelty. After the war, his reputation grew, and he became symbolic of courageous dignity." The man whom Kolbe took the place of, Franciszek, went on to survive Auschwitz, was reunited with his wife, and lived to be 94 years old. He dedicated much of his life to sharing the story of Kolbe’s witness, sacrifice, and love.

Pope John Paul II canonized Maximillian Kolbe in 1982, and he stated that "Maximillian did not die but gave his life… for his brother." What a powerful statement summarizing not only the life of Maximillian Kolbe, but the lives of millions who sacrificed themselves out of love for their families, their countries, and their fellow brothers in World War II. August 14 is a feast day for the Catholic Church, who celebrates the life and sainthood of a man whose example has inspired millions. For the world, August 14 marks the beginning of victory and the end of the Second World War. These two holidays are uniquely intertwined: without the small, victorious moments of heroic individuals fighting against evil, there could never have been the largest victory of our modern age. These stories of hope and love are reminders that good triumphs over evil at the end of it all. That is something worth celebrating.