How Can We Live Like Maksymilian Kolbe?

Maksymilian Maria Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan Father, committed one of the purest acts of love man can do. He sacrificed his own life, for the life of a stranger. At the end of July in 1941, the attempted escape of a prisoner prompted SS Officers to choose ten random prisoners to be locked in the starvations cells in the basement of Block 11. This was as common practice to deter any prisoners from trying to escape or to try and commit suicide. At random, Franciszek Gajowniczek was selected a cried out: “My children, my wife!” Other prisoners felt little pity for him because they too had wives and children, but Maksymilian Kolbe asked to trade places with the hysterical prisoner.

It should not have worked. Kolbe broke regulation multiple times in order to swap places. His first break of regulation was stepping out of line. His second was speaking directly to the SS Officer. Both men should have been shot on the spot, but for some reason, the SS Officer allowed for the break in regulation and gave permission for the swap.

Kolbe and the other nine prisoners were then taken to the starvation cells in the basement of Block 11. The cells were small, dark, and claustrophobic. For two weeks, Kolbe was deprived of food and water. After the two weeks, he was one of the only remaining prisoners and was killed with a phenol injection. His cause of death was ruled a heart attack on his death certificate.

A drawing of Macksymilian Kolbe, by Marian Kolodziej, a survivor from Auschwitz. He was in in the very first transport and survived all five years. 

What Maksymilian Kolbe did was an act of pure love; an act of pure agape that I believe most people may not see in their lifetime. Franciszek Gajowniczek was a total stranger to Kolbe. Kolbe had no obligation to switch places with him. While I do like to see the good in people, I do not believe that the common person would be able to sacrifice themselves for a person they had never met before. I don’t know if I could commit an act of love that great. I know if I were in that situation and one of my family members were to be picked, I would swap with them in a heartbeat. I would like to think that I could maybe switch places with some of my closest friends, but I do not think I would be able to switch places with a total and complete stranger. It could be called selfish for not wanting to give up my life for another’s or it could simply just be human. We are built with this need for self-preservation engrained in us, and that is something that is very hard to ignore.

At that moment, I believe Maksymilian Kolbe was God on Earth. He let go of every selfish reason to not switch, and he made the ultimate sacrifice. He gave his life, for another man’s. At that moment, he was an embodiment of pure love, a complete contrast with the acts of pure hate that had led to him being put in that situation. Even while being surrounded by acts of total and complete hate, Kolbe stood out as the purest act of love.