INFORMATION PORTAL OF THE MARSHAL'S OFFICE OF THE KUJAWSKO-POMORSKIE Region IN TORUŃ

At the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site near Munich, representatives of scouting organizations from around the world and Polish bishops of the Catholic Church gathered last Saturday (20 September) to pay tribute—on the 80th anniversary of his death—to Fr. Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, patron of Polish scouting and Blessed of the Church. The ceremony at the former German concentration camp was attended by Marshal Piotr Całbecki and regional councilor Tadeusz Pogoda.

“The Dachau camp] is a place filled with cruelty and human tragedy. Father Wicek proclaimed the Word of God until the very end and gave hope to others. He left us a testimony of true faith, hope, and steadfastness. We are proud that he was born in our region!” wrote Marshal Piotr Całbecki on his social media account.

Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski, a clergyman and scout, was born in 1913 in Chełmża, Toruń County. As a high school student, he was active in scouting and the Marian Sodality. After graduating in 1931, he entered the seminary, was ordained in 1937, and a year later became a vicar at the Parish of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Toruń. In September 1939, during the large-scale extermination campaign carried out by the German occupying authorities—primarily targeting the intelligentsia and patriotic circles—he was arrested and imprisoned. He died of typhus in the Dachau concentration camp, while offering help and spiritual support to fellow sick prisoners. In 1999, Pope John Paul II declared him Blessed.

Saturday’s ceremonies in Dachau were also attended by, among others, Bishop Wiesław Lechowicz, Field Bishop of the Polish Army and representative of the Polish Episcopal Conference, Bishop Sławomir Oder, Ordinary of the Diocese of Gliwice and postulator in Fr. Frelichowski’s canonization process, as well as representatives of seven scouting organizations: the Polish Scouting and Guiding Association (ZHP), the Scouting Association of the Republic (ZHR), the Federation of European Scouting, the Polish Scouting Association Abroad (with members from Australia, Argentina, Belgium, France, Canada, Germany, the USA, and the UK), the Polish Scouting Association in Lithuania, Polish Scouting in Ukraine, and Polish Scouting in Latvia.

During the ceremony, Marshal Piotr Całbecki was awarded the Honorary Commander’s Cross of Blessed Fr. Stefan Wincenty Frelichowski by Bishop Lechowicz.

Press Office of the Marshal’s Office

22 September 2025