The Righteous bishop Albin Małysiak has passed away

Maria Zawadzka, 16 November 2016
On Saturday, July 16th, 2011 passed away bishop Albin Małysiak, honored by the Yad Vashem Institute with the title „Righteous Among the Nations” for rescuing Jews during the Second World War. He was 94.

His funeral will be held on Friday, July 22nd at the Salwator Cemetery in Kraków. Earlier, at 10:00 am in the Wawel Cathedral will be offered a Mass for him. The ceremony will be conducted by the Kraków archbishop cardinal Stanisław Dziwisz. At 12:00 pm the funeral procession will set off from the gate of the Salwator Cemetery.

Bishop Małysiak was the oldest priest in the Kraków archdiocese and the oldest bishop in Poland. During his whole life he has given over 10 thousand sermons. He took holy orders on May 1st, 1941 and in January 1970 he was appointed as auxiliary bishop of the Kraków archdiocese. On April 5th, 1970 he was anointed bishop by cardinal Karol Wojtyła.

During the Nazi occupation bishop Albin Małysiak was chaplain of the Krakow Helcl Center – an institution for the elderly and disabled.

Together with Sister Bronisława Wilemska, director of the Center who was awarded with the title of the Righteous Among the Nations in 1995, he helped five Jews. Katarzyna Styczeń, Helena Kachel, Henryk Juański, Zbigniew Kozanowski and a fifth man, whose identity remains unknown, became residents of the center.

They received baptismal certificates and other documents authenticating their so-called “Aryan” origin. They were also provided with food, medicines and clothing. Other residents knew about the hiding, but no one reported it to the Germans.

When the center was evacuated to Szczawnica, the Jews together with other residents, settled in the “Adria” villa, located only 300 meters from a station of the German police. The men survived until the end of the war and the Jewish women died in the autumn of 1944.

In December 2010 Władysław Domiczek, one of the rescued Jews, visited Małysiak. More about their meeting. 

Bishop Albin Małysiak and sister Bronisława Wilemska were honored with the title “Righteous Among the Nations” on November 21st, 1993. In 2010 Bronisław Komorowski awarded him the Grand Cross Polonia Restituta. More about bishop Małysiak on the portal „Polish Righteous”.