The Volunteer of Auschwitz

In July 1941, a prisoner escaped from Auschwitz. The Nazi commandant, Karl Fritzsch, selected ten men from Block 14 to die by starvation as punishment. When Franciszek Gajowniczek heard his number called, he cried out for his wife and children. From the back of the line, a frail Polish priest stepped forward. Father Maximilian Kolbe removed his cap and said quietly, "I would like to take his place." Fritzsch paused, then agreed. Kolbe was marched into the starvation bunker, where he spent two weeks leading the condemned men in hymns and prayer until he was finally executed by lethal injection on August 14.

Gajowniczek survived Auschwitz. He lived to be ninety-three years old, and every year on the anniversary of Kolbe's death, he returned to that camp to honor the man who stood in his place.

Paul's argument in Romans 5 turns on exactly this logic — the power of one representative act to reshape the fate of many. Through one man, Adam, condemnation cascaded across all humanity like a genetic inheritance no one could refuse. But through one Man, Christ Jesus, grace flooded in with far greater force. Adam's trespass brought death to those who never chose it. Christ's obedience brings life to all who receive it. One act of selfless substitution — not in a death camp, but on a Roman cross — changed everything for everyone who would say yes to the gift.