Since April 17, the animated story of San Maximiliano Kolbe can be seen by the Colombian public in the Cinemark and Royal Films rooms.
It’s about the movie Maximiliano Kolbeproduced by two films hearts and directed by Pablo José Barroso.
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Through the old Gunter and the rebel adolescent DJ, the film tells the life of the Polish saint who was killed by the Nazis, in the Auschwitz concentration camp, during World War II.
In a press release sent to ACI Press, the producers say that the film “immerses the spectators in the challenges that Maximiliano Kolbe faced during the Nazi invasion” of Poland, and will leave them “valuable lessons about love and sacrifice.”
Who was San Maximiliano Kolbe?
Maximiliano Kolbe was a Polish priest who was born on January 8, 1894 and promoted devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was also one of the founders of the “City of the Immaculate”, a religious complex built near Warsaw that had a seminar, a monastery, an editorial and a radio station.
After Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, Kolbe and other Franciscan friars hid in this complex to some 2,000 Jews so that they did not fall into the hands of the Nazis.
However, on February 17, 1941 the Germans closed the monastery and arrested Fr. Kolbe with four other people. That day the friar was sent to Pawiak prison and on May 28 he was transferred to the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Despite the abuse, Kolbe continued to have comfort to the prisoners of the countryside, on whom he hung the threat of the Nazi boss that for each prisoner he escaped, ten would be sentenced to starve.
In July 1941 the escape of one of the prisoners was discovered. As retaliation, the Nazis chose ten people, among whom was the Polish sergeant Franciszek Gajowniczek. Resigned, the Polish soldier said: “My God, I have a wife and children.”
The Kolbe friar was close and, hearing the sergeant, he took a step forward and offered to die in his place.
The priest was locked in an underground with the other nine prisoners without food or water. After several days, only he was alive, so the soldiers decided to apply a lethal injection. He died on August 14, 1941 at 47 years of age.
Father Maximiliano Kolbe was beatified by San Pablo VI in 1971 and canonized by San Juan Pablo II in 1982.
Eduardo Berdejo
Professional in Social Communication of the National University of San Marcos in Peru, I have more than 20 years of experience in Catholic digital journalism. As part of ACI Press, I have been sent to cover the trips of Pope Francis to Cuba, Mexico, Colombia and Peru, in addition to the Synod of Sinodality in the Vatican in 2023.