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The
Righteous Among the Nations:
Twelve Jesuit Priests++
-- By the Rev. Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J.
Note: These twelve Jesuit priests have been formally recognized
by
Yad Vashem, The Holocaust
Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority, in Jerusalem, for risking their
lives to save Jews during the Holocaust of World War II. Adam
Sztark (1907-1942) is the latest to be recognized (March 8, 2001).
He was the rector of the Jesuit church in Slonim, located in Belarus,
and pastor of the Zyrowice Parish who was executed, on 2 December 1942,
at Gorki Pantalowickie by the Nazis for helping Jewish children escape
the Holocaust by obtaining refuge for them at the convent of the Sisters
of the Immaculate Conception. Two nuns, Maria
Ewa Noiszewska (1885-1942) and Maria
Marta Wolowska (1879-1942), from this convent who had helped Father
Sztark in protecting the Jewish children were among the 108
victims of the Nazis beatified by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw's
central square, on 13 June 1999,. His cause for beatification, with a number
of other Jesuit victims of the Nazis, was inaugurated by the Jesuits
in 2000.
++ Rev. James W. Bernauer, S. J., reported from Jerusalem,
on April 28, 2007, that he discovered that three more Belgian Jesuits were
recognized, on June 24, 1975, because of their assistance in the
recue efforts of the network operated by Benedykt Grynpas (1902-1979).
The latter was an expert in Chinese philosophy and was recognized as a
Righteous among the Gentiles at the same time as the Jesuits and all
are listed on Yad Vashem's list (http://www.maisondesjustes.com/liste.html)
of Belgians so recognized .
Other Jesuits who Helped Jews
There are other Jesuits who risked their lives to save Jews and
have yet to be recognized
by Yad
Vashem. Some of the more prominent are listed here:
 Antoni
Grzybowski (1904-1943), a Jesuit priest who was originally thought
to have been executed by the Nazis, on 20 October 1943, at Albertyn, for
helping Jews seek refuge at the Jesuit novitiate. However,
later evidence indicates that he was executed by Russians in German uniforms.
Jesuits like Louis
de Jabrun (1883-1943), Victor
Dillard (1897-1945), and Henri
Van Oostayen (1906-1945), died in concentration camps for helping
Jews.
And there were other
Jesuits like Ludger
Born (1897-1980) in Austria; Maurice
Robinet (1907-1977) in Belgium;
Cardinal
Henri de Lubac(1896-1991), Gaston
Fessard (1897-1978), and
Michel Riquet (1898-1993) in France; Alfred
Delp (1907-1945), and Georg
von Sachsen (1893-1943), former Prince of Saxony in
Germany;
Gerard
de Jong (1892-1970) in Holland; Pietro
Boetto (1871-1946), Paolo
Dezza (1901-1999), and Pietro
Tacchi Venturi (1861-1956) in Italy; Jonas B. Borevicius
(1906-1989), Karl Fulst (1903-1991), and Jonas B. Paukstys
(1899-1965) in Lithuania; Jerzy Mirewicz (1909-1996),
and Jozef Warszawski (1903-1997) in Poland; Rudolf Mikus
(1884-1972) in Slovakia; and
Karlo Leopold (1885-1956) in
Yugoslavia
who helped Jews. For more, see Vincent A. Lapomarda,
"Jesuits
and Jews During the Holocaust,"Yearbook of the Society of Jesus 2000,156-158.
For more information on those who
risked their lives, see site on the Righteous
Gentiles
and the Bibliography
on the subject in addition to a
list of more than 700 Poles who were killed in helping Jews
and the edition under Israel Gutman and Lucien Lazare, Dictioinnaire
des Justes de France (Jerusalem: Yad Vashem and Paris: Fayard,
2003).
Indicates link to book
listing in library catalog.
Write to:
Rev. Vincent A. Lapomarda, S. J. (vlapomar@holycross.edu)
with comments or questions.
Last updated May 20, 2007. Copyright
© 1997-2007, College of the Holy Cross.
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