Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in January 1933 marked the beginning of the Third Reich’s uncompromising policy of extermination. One of the most tragic signs of the implementation of this criminal German policy was the construction of extermination and concentration camps. The first of these was opened on March 22, 1933, in the town of Dachau, about 20 kilometers from Munich.

After the Third Reich’s invasion of Poland, the German occupiers brutally carried out their criminal plans. They immediately began the extermination of people belonging to the so-called leading class, primarily the intelligentsia. The clergy was also targeted by the Germans. In addition to being well-educated, priests represented a dangerous vehicle of not only religious values, but also national and patriotic ones for the Nazi occupiers.

At the beginning of the Second World War, there were 10,017 diocesan priests in Poland. A total of 6,565 men of the Church were subjected to various forms of repression, of whom 2,812 died — including 4 bishops, 1,863 diocesan priests, 289 religious, 149 seminarians, 205 brothers, and 289 nuns. Twenty percent of Poland’s diocesan priests were murdered during the Second World War — that is, one in every five diocesan priests lost his life in Nazi-occupied Poland.

The Dachau concentration camp became a special place of their martyrdom. As a concentration camp, it was designed for the gradual extermination of prisoners through exhausting labor, starvation, and torture — unlike the extermination camps (such as Auschwitz-Birkenau), where mass murder took place immediately upon arrival.

From December 1940, when the deportations of clergy intensified, the priests brought to Dachau were placed in the so-called “priests’ block.” This isolation allowed the executioners greater control over them. It is estimated that they came from 23 countries and that during the war there were approximately 2,720 of them, 95% of whom were Catholic priests, mainly Poles. More than 1,030 priests died there, including 868 Poles. For this reason, the Dachau camp became a symbol of the martyrdom of the clergy under German occupation.

On April 29, 1945, the American army liberated the Dachau concentration camp. By decision of the Polish Episcopal Conference, the anniversary of this event is commemorated as the Day of the Martyrdom of the Polish Clergy during the Second World War. The initiative for this commemoration was promoted by Bishop Ignacy Jeż, one of the prisoners who miraculously survived that camp. Pope Benedict XVI wished to create him a cardinal, but the elderly bishop died in Rome before the consistory.

About twenty years ago, I interviewed one of the very few surviving priests who had lived through the hell of Dachau: Archbishop Emeritus Kazimierz Majdański of Szczecin-Kamień. This is what he confided to me:

“We thought the times of Nero and Diocletian had returned — times of hatred toward Christianity and everything Christianity represented. The concentration camp was the embodiment of the civilization of death: it was no coincidence that skulls were found on the Germans’ uniforms! Our German executioners blasphemed God, denigrated the Church, and called us ‘the dogs of Rome.’ They wanted to force us to desecrate the cross and the rosary. In the end, for them we were just numbers to be eliminated. All we had left was our alliance with God, prayer recited in secret, and confession made in hiding. We missed the Holy Eucharist so much. In this ‘death machine,’ priests were called to the sacrifice of their lives, to remain faithful until death. Half of the Polish priests imprisoned in Dachau died. I saw many priests die heroically. They all remained faithful to Christ, who said to His disciples: ‘You will be my witnesses.’ They died as Catholic priests and as Polish patriots. Some could have saved themselves, but none made a deal: in 1942, the camp authorities offered the Polish priests special treatment on the condition that they declare themselves to be of German nationality. No one stepped forward.”

On April 22, 1945, the Polish priests imprisoned in Dachau, who had a great devotion to Saint Joseph, swore that if they survived, they would make pilgrimages to the Shrine of Saint Joseph in Kalisz. The camp was liberated a week later (April 29, 1945), and the surviving priests kept their promise until the end of their lives.

In 1995, on the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau, Saint John Paul II wrote to the surviving priests of Dachau:

“In a time of pride and humiliation, in a place where evil raged, you remained steadfast and faithful. In the abyss of cruelty and hatred, where it was decided to destroy man biologically and to trample upon his dignity, you were courageously and heroically the only witnesses of love and forgiveness, as heralds of a new civilization based on truth, goodness, respect for life, and justice.”

The date of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp — January 27 — is well known and has been proclaimed International Holocaust Remembrance Day. However, it is also worth remembering the date of the liberation of another camp: Dachau, on April 29, 1945, which in Poland is celebrated as the “Day of the Martyrdom of the Polish Clergy during the Second World War.”

The article was originally published in Italian on ACI Stampa: https://www.acistampa.com/story/34983/il-29-aprile-1945-liberazione-del-campo-di-concentramento-tedesco-di-dachau