Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Catholic priest who helped many people free themselves from persecution, hosted 3000 people in their shelter and shared everything with them. Food, water, clothing, you name it, they let him have it. After a while the Nazis became suspicious of the place and took Kolbe to prison, but then released him. So he did it again, but was caught and sent to a prison. One day an SS officer found some of the heaviest boards he could find, put them on Maxilian's back and ordered him to run. When he collapsed, the SS officer and his men beat him, then gave him fifty lashes. When the priest lost consciousness the Nazis threw him into the mud and left him for dead. When the priest lost consciousness the Nazis threw him into the mud and left him for dead. But his companions managed to smuggle him to the camp infirmary and he recovered. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Doctor Rudolph Diem would later recall: “I can say with certainty that during my four years in Auschwitz I never saw such a sublime example of the love of God and neighbor.” Auschwitz prisoners were starving slowly and systematically, and their pitiful rations were barely enough to support a child: a cup of fake coffee in the morning, a weak soup and half a loaf of bread after work was brought, everyone struggled to take his place and be sure of a portion. Father Maximilian Kolbe, despite the devastation of hunger, kept himself aside and often had nothing left. Other times he shared his meager ration of soup or bread with others. In the harshness of the slaughterhouse, Father Kolbe maintained the meekness of Christ. At night he rarely lay down to rest. He went from one bunk to another saying: 'I am a Catholic priest. Can I do something for you?' One prisoner later recalled how he and many others often crawled on the floor at night to approach Father Kolbe's bed, to confess and ask for consolation. Father Kolbe pleaded with his fellow prisoners to forgive their persecutors and to overcome evil with evil. well when he was beaten by the guards, he never cried out. Instead, he prayed for his tormentors, who treated the patients in Block 12 and later recalled how Father Kolbe waited until everyone else had been treated before asking for help. He constantly sacrificed himself for others. To discourage escapes, Auschwitz had a rule that if one man escaped, ten men would be killed in retaliation. July 1941 a man escaped from the Kolbe bunker that the escaped prisoner was later found drowned in a latrine in the camp, so the terrible reprisals were exercised without reason. But the men remaining in the bunker were led out. The fugitive has not been found! - shouted Commander Karl Fritsch. «You will all pay for this. Ten of you will be locked in the hunger bunker without food or water until you die.' The prisoners trembled in terror. After a few days in this bunker without food or water, a man's intestines dried up and his brain caught fire. The ten were selected, including Franciszek Gajowniczek, imprisoned for aiding the Polish Resistance. He couldn't hold back a cry of anguish. "My poor wife!" hiccup. «My poor children! What will they do?' When he had uttered this cry of dismay, Maximilian came forward in silence, took off his cap, appeared before the commander and said: "I am a Catholic priest." Let me take his place. I'm old. He has a wife and children." Stunned, the commander.