Ludwik Mzyk

Blessed Ludwik Mzyk, S.V.D. (April 22, 1905 – February 20, 1940) a priest of the Society of the Divine Word and one of the 108 Blessed Polish Martyrs beatified on June 13, 1999 by Pope John Paul II in Warsaw, Poland.

He was born to a mining and deeply religious family in Chorzów. In 1926, he entered the seminary and then on October 30, 1932, he was ordained as a priest. In 1935, he graduated with a degree of theology and was sent back to Chorzow, to be the head of the SVD mission house. When the war was about to begin, he find shelter and encouraged the youth about spirituality and selfless dedication to Christ. However, the Gestapo had invaded Poland and on January 25, 1940, he was arrested. On February 1, he was interned at Cell 60 in Fort VII (makeshift concentration camp) in Poznań. On the night of February 20, 1940, Fr. Mzyk was beaten and then dragged outside the fort, where he was shot in the head by Junior Officer Dibus. (Dibus would be later killed by a distant relative of Mzyk who joined with the Americans in attacking Berlin.) His body was never recovered and thought to be dumped in an unmarked mass grave.