Marian Górecki

Monument in Gdansk

Marian Górecki (born May 2, 1903 in Posen ; † March 22, 1940 in Stutthof concentration camp near Danzig ) was a Polish priest and is a blessed member of the Catholic Church .

Life

At the age of 17, Górecki joined the army to volunteer in the Polish-Soviet war . After that he returned to school, studied theology and entered the Archbishop's Seminary in Poznan. He was ordained a priest on July 1, 1928. He first worked as a vicar in Leszno and then as a prefect of the teachers' college in Koźmin and Wolsztyn . He was also chaplain of the boy scouts .

In 1933 Górecki was delegated to the Diocese of Danzig , where he took care of local Polish parishes. There he worked with young people and was active in Polish clubs. He became a religion teacher and prefect at the Polish grammar school in Danzig (today: Gdańsk ) and head of the Chapel of Our Lady of Czestochowa in Neufahrwasser (today: Gdańsk-Nowy Port ). After two years he also became chaplain of the Polish ammunition depot on the Westerplatte .

Early in the morning on the first day of World War I , September 1, 1939, pastors Bronisław Komorowski , Franciszek Rogaczewski , Bernhard von Wiecki , and clergymen Władysław Szymanski and Marian Górecki were arrested by SS men and imprisoned in the Gdańsk Victoria School . The very next day Górecki was transferred to the Stutthof concentration camp , where he worked in a group of 40 priests and teachers to set up the camp, including working as a glazier .

For singing Christmas carols he was punished with snow removal. On Palm Sunday , the camp's punishment company held an illegal holy mass. On Good Friday , March 22, 1940, Górecki was shot together with priest Bronisław Komorowski and 66 other people.

In 1946 his body was exhumed and buried in the honorary cemetery in Zaspa ( Gdańsk-Zaspa , Saspe ).

Beatification and Remembrance

On June 13, 1999, Pope John Paul II beatified 108 Polish martyrs of German National Socialist persecution on Piłsudski Square in Warsaw . Among them were the three Gdańsk clergymen Marian Górecki, Bronisław Komorowski and Franciszek Rogaczewski .

In Gdańsk-Nowy Port ( Neufahrwasser ) there has been a memorial to the Polish pastor since 2002. A plaque on the Marienkapelle in Söder near Hildesheim also mentions his name.

See also

• Martyrs of the Diocese of Danzig
• Prominent prisoners and priests in the Stutthof concentration camp
• Bronislaw Komorowski

literature

• Tadeusz Bach: Marian Górecki (Polish), in: Słownik biograficzny Pomorza Nadwiślańskiego, Suplement I (pod redakcją Zbigniewa Nowaka), Gdańskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Uniwersytet Gdański, Gdańsk 1998.
• Klaus Martin Reichenbach: Florilegium Martyrologii Romani. 2001, o. O. [1]