The founding of the O\u015bwi\u0119cim Family Community<\/em> and the creation of the Shrine of Victorious Love are at the heart of the pastoral commitment of the Conventual Franciscans in Harm\u0119\u017ce, near O\u015bwi\u0119cim [Auschwitz], Poland. On July 29, 2025, the friars presented these initiatives to journalists at a specially convened press conference.<\/strong><\/p>\n Friar Kazimierz MALINOWSKI, Director of the St. Maximilian Center in Harm\u0119\u017ce, said: \u201cWe want the O\u015bwi\u0119cim Family Community<\/em> to bring together the descendants, and more broadly the families, of former Auschwitz prisoners. Our intention is for this group to nurture the memory of the Polish victims in Auschwitz in a Christian way, mainly through prayer, but also through solidarity with the victims\u2019 families. This idea stems from a decision made by the Most Reverend Tadeusz RAKOCZY, Bishop Emeritus of our Diocese of Bielsko-\u017bywiec, Poland. He wanted the statue of Our Lady Behind Barbed Wire <\/em>to become the patroness of the families of Auschwitz prisoners. The statue of Our Lady Behind Barbed Wire<\/em> was sculpted by former prisoner Boles\u0142aw KUPIEC. It has become a symbol of hope and protection for the families of the deportees. It represents Mary\u2019s maternal presence even in the darkest places of history.\u201d Friar Jan Maria SZEWEK<\/p>\n For more information, please visit: http:\/\/harmeze.franciszkanie.pl<\/p>\nngg_shortcode_0_placeholder\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The founding of the O\u015bwi\u0119cim Family Community and the creation of the Shrine of Victorious Love are at the heart of the pastoral commitment of the Conventual Franciscans in Harm\u0119\u017ce, near O\u015bwi\u0119cim [Auschwitz], Poland. On July 29, 2025, the friars presented these initiatives to journalists at a specially convened press conference. Friar Kazimierz MALINOWSKI, Director […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86309,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[132,115,148],"tags":[2492,1773],"class_list":["post-86313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-federations","category-femo-en","category-news","tag-harmeze-en","tag-poland-cracow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ofmconv.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHe continued: \u201cWe invite all those who wish to contribute to the O\u015bwi\u0119cim Family Community<\/em>, and who have had Auschwitz prisoners in their family, to contact us at harmeze@franciszkanie.pl.\u201d
\nThe Guardian of the friary announced that this initiative will be inaugurated on Saturday, September 13, 2025. \u201cThere will be a prayer pilgrimage,\u201d said Friar Kazimierz, \u201cfrom Harm\u0119\u017ce to the Auschwitz Museum, up to Block 11. A Mass will be celebrated beforehand, and the Stations of the Cross will be prayed in memory of the prisoners of the extermination camp. This event is linked to the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, which is celebrated every year on September 15. The cult of Our Lady Behind Barbed Wire<\/em> is linked to this date.\u201d
\nFriar Kazimierz MALINOWSKI also explained the significance of the Shrine of Victorious Love to the attending journalists from print, radio, television, and digital media: \u201cThe idea of the Shrine is that it carries a profound message, directly linked to the St. Maximilian Center in Harm\u0119\u017ce. We want it to express that when Friar Maximilian M. KOLBE sacrificed his life in Auschwitz, it was a victory of Divine Love.\u201d
\nTo support this reflection, Friar Kazimierz MALINOWSKI quoted Cardinal Karol WOJTY\u0141A\u2014later Pope John Paul II\u2014who in 1972, uttered some words that still resonate powerfully today: \u201cThere, in O\u015bwi\u0119cim, Christ definitively triumphed through the Immaculata: He triumphed in humanity. Moreover, thanks to this, humanity achieved such a great victory that today the whole world must speak of it.\u201d
\nTen years later, as Pope, he stated: \u201c\u2026the death of Maximilian Kolbe became a sign of victory. This was a victory achieved over an entire system of contempt and hatred toward humanity and toward what is divine in humanity. It was a victory similar to that won by our Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary.\u201d
\nTo explore the theme in greater depth and understand it better, each journalist received a copy of a book by Friar Zdzis\u0142aw KIJAS, entitled, \u201cThe Shrine of Victorious Love.\u201d
\n<\/em>The Conventual Franciscans also showed the guests three treasures kept in the Shrine and told the stories behind them. One was the painting of the Immaculata on the high altar, before which, in Lviv, St. Maximilian vowed to Mary to fight for her. Another was the statue of Our Lady Behind Barbed Wire<\/em>, made by former prisoner Boles\u0142aw KUPIEC (prisoner number 792); and finally, the exhibition entitled \u201cNegatives of Memory: Labyrinths<\/em>\u201d by Marian KO\u0141ODZIEJ, a former prisoner (prisoner number 432) who arrived on the first transport to Auschwitz.<\/p>\n