Stanisław Trzeciak (25 October 1873 – 8 August 1944) was a Polish Catholic priest, social activist, doctor of theology and professor.

Early life

On May 2, 1923, Trzeciak was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Polonia Restituta. In the 1930s, he received the

Order of the German Eagle The Order of Merit of the German Eagle () was an award of the German Nazi regime, predominantly to foreign diplomats. The Order was instituted on 1 May 1937 by Adolf Hitler. It ceased to be awarded following the collapse of Nazi Germany at the e ...

from German Chancellor

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

for his exceptionally humane attitude towards German

prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Trzeciak is considered the leading theoretician of

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

action in Poland.

World War II

In October 1939, Trzeciak was a founding member of the pro-German, anti-Soviet, and antisemitic National Radical Organization. After the

Easter pogrom The Easter Pogrom was a series of assaults on the Jewish populations of Warsaw and Kraków, Poland, between 22 and 30 March 1940, while Poland was occupied by the Germans in World War II. The incident was provoked by an allegation of a murder ...

, however, he decided to form a more moderate faction. During the

German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

in World War II, he maintained friendly relations with the Germans, which he used to help his friends. Thanks to his friendly relations with the Germans, he managed to save colonel

Ignacy Oziewicz Ignacy Oziewicz, pseudonyms: "Czesław", "Czesławski", "Netta", "Jenczewski" (7 May 1887 – 10 January 1966) was a colonel of the Polish Army and a commandant of the National Armed Forces from 1942 to 1943. Biography Early life and mili ...

from the camp in

Kulautuva Kulautuva is a town in Kaunas district municipality, in Kaunas County, in central Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the east ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. His antisemitic articles were published by occupying forces and quotations from his books were placed on

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

posters. According to the reports by the Home Army, Trzeciak was a collaborator with the

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

. On 22 March 1941, he denounced Tadeusz Puder, a priest of Jewish origin. As a result of denunciation, Puder was arrested on charges of not carrying an armband, which, according to German decrees, should be worn by all Jews. On September 1, 1941, he was sentenced to one year and eight months in prison. During the

Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...

, Trzeciak tried to shelter a number of refugees in his church. Shortly after, he and several others were shot by German soldiers on 8 August.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trzeciak, Stanislaw 1873 births 1944 deaths Antisemitism in Poland 20th-century Polish Roman Catholic priests Executed Gestapo informants Executed Polish collaborators with Nazi Germany Executed writers Polish civilians killed in World War II Polish Nazis Polish people executed by Nazi Germany Polish spies for Nazi Germany Polish writers Christian fascists Roman Catholic priests executed by Nazi Germany Nazis executed by Nazi Germany by firearm Officers of the Order of Polonia Restituta Officers of the Order of the Crown (Romania) People from Rzeszów County Victims of Nazi war crimes during the Warsaw Uprising