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The Anniversary of Marian Batko’s Death by Starvation
On April 27, Polish Teachers’ Day of Remembrance and Peace, about a thousand Polish teachers and students paid homage to the victims of the Auschwitz German camp. The date coincides with the anniversary of the martyr’s death in Auschwitz of the teacher Marian Batko, who gave his life for a 16-year-old fellow prisoner.
Sławomir Broniarz, chairman of the Polish Teachers’ Union, said that the ceremony was not only an occasion to honor the memory of the people murdered in Auschwitz, but also a reminder about the thousands of teachers who perished during the Second World War. It was also an opportunity to recall Marian Batko.
“We also want to show young people that peace is the most important thing,” said Broniarz. “We want to show that it is necessary to respect others and to respect the highest values, such as peace, and also to teach tolerance and understanding of others. This is what schools and teachers try to convey, and this is the purpose of the ceremony.”
Teachers placed flowers and lighted candles at the foot of the Death Wall in the courtyard of Block no. 11 at the Auschwitz I site, in the death cells where St. Maksymilian Kolbe and Marian Batko starved, at the plaque commemorating the death of Polish teachers, and in front of the international monument to the victims of the camp at the Auschwitz II-Birkenau site.
The Polish Teachers’ Union organized the ceremonies.
Marian Batko came from Cracow. He was born in 1901, and worked before the war at a The Polish Teachers’ Union organized the ceremonies.
Marian Batko came from Cracow. He was born in 1901, and worked before the war at a gimnazjum in Chorzów. The Germans arrested him on January 30, 1941, when he was on his way to a clandestine lesson, and took him to Montelupich prison in Cracow before deporting him to Auschwitz on April 5. Batko was given camp number 11795.
During evening roll call on April 23, 1941, in reprisal for an escape by another prisoner, the camp authorities selected 10 prisoners and sentenced them to death by starvation. One of them was 16-year-old Mieczysław Pronobis from Tarnów (number 9313). Batko volunteered to change places with the teenager, and died on April 27, 1941 in the cellars of Block no. 11—the first of the ten condemned men to succumb. (PAP)
