Franciszek Gajowniczek, 94; Auschwitz Survivor

Franciszek Gajowniczek, who spent years paying witness to a Franciscan monk who died in his stead at the Auschwitz concentration camp, has died at 94.

Gajowniczek died Monday at his home in the southwestern city of Brzeg, said his widow, Janina. His health had been declining since January, she said.

In July, 1941, the Nazis selected Gajowniczek and nine other men to die of starvation as punishment for another prisoner’s escape. After listening to Gajowniczek speak of his wife and two sons, the Rev. Maximilian Kolbe volunteered to die in his place.

Kolbe survived more than 14 days in a starvation bunker with no food or water. The Nazis ended Kolbe’s life in August, 1941, with a lethal injection.

The Roman Catholic Church declared Kolbe blessed in 1971 and canonized him in 1982. The man whose life Kolbe saved traveled through Europe and the United States giving talks about the saint and laying cornerstones for churches in his name.