1941: The Second World War is... - All The Good Seed Daily Devotionals for 2026

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
John 15:13

1941: The Second World War is raging. In the concentration camp in Auschwitz, where probably at least one million Jews, Poles, Sinti and Roma people, as well as Russians, met a cruel death, the priest Maximilian Kolbe is also imprisoned.

When one day a prisoner cannot be found, the sadistic guards suspect an escape. In retaliation, they arbitrarily select some men to murder. Among them is a husband and father, Franciszek Gajowniczek. As he breaks into loud weeping, not wanting to leave his family behind – all alone, something unimaginable happens: Maximilian Kolbe steps forward and asks the guards to put him in the infamous starvation bunker instead of the condemned man. The guards agree. Thus, on July 31, 1941, Kolbe is locked up with the other men to face a cruel death by starvation. A few days later he is executed by lethal injection. Gajowniczek survived the day and even the time in the Auschwitz concentration camp. He was able to return home. He was allowed to live on because someone else died for him.

This incident brings to mind the death of Jesus, who also died vicariously for others – and not just as a martyr. But there are also differences:

Kolbe died for one – Christ died for many.
Kolbe suffered death through the cruel actions of men – Christ suffered sin’s judgment through the righteous actions of God.

Today’s reading: Deuteronomy 5:22-33 · Matthew 22:15-22