As soldiers stormed into houses, rounding up young men, people were more afraid than ever. Karol Wojtyla hid at home, praying for hours on end. He chose "to put his life into God's hands" and remained hidden for twelve hours.
After creeping through the streets, Karol and his friend reached the Archbishop's palace. He would not leave for six months. The young men, who had reached their safe house, would finish their studies during that time frame. Were they discovered, all would be sent to Auschwitz.
The young man who loved the outdoors would remain inside the entire time. It was not worth the risk.
By Christmas of 1944, it seemed that the war might actually end. On the 18th of January, 1945, Krakow was liberated. Karol and his friends were finally free.
But once the Nazi occupation was over, Poland was still not free. Six million Poles were dead - about one-fifth of the entire population.
When he was 26, Karol was ordained a priest. It was November, 1946, and the young man was mature beyond his years.
Three decades later, he became the youngest Pope in almost a century and the first non-Italian in more than 500 years.
His papacy was one of the longest in church history, and John Paul II became the most-recognized person in the world. His travels took him to more countries than any other Pope.
In 2000, as he reflected on the end of his life, John Paul II thought about his family. He wrote these words at the end of his Last Will and Testament:
As the end of my earthly life approaches, I return with my memory to its beginning, to my parents, my brother and the sister (whom I never knew because she died before my birth), to the Parish of Wadowice where I was baptised, to that city I love, to my peers, friends from elementary school, high school and the university, up to the time of the occupation when I was a worker, then in the Parish in Niegowic, to St Florian's in Kraków, to the pastoral ministry of academics, to the milieu of... to all milieux... to Kraków and to Rome... to the people who were entrusted to me in a special way by the Lord.
Forty-six days from his 85th birthday, Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II died on the 2nd of April, 2005.
See, also:
Witness to Evil - Young John Paul II, Part 1
Witness to Evil - Young John Paul II, Part 2
Witness to Evil - Young John Paul II, Part 3
Witness to Evil - Young John Paul II, Part 4
Witness to Evil - Young John Paul II, Part 5
Credits
Clip from "Young John Paul II - Witness to Evil," online courtesy BBC.
The BBC provides background information regarding this docudrama:
Drama-documentary telling the story of five years which
transformed the life of Karol Wojtyla and set him on the path to the
Vatican.
The man who would become John Paul II was 19 when the
Germans invaded Poland in September 1939. He had no intention of
joining the church, but the devastating experience of Nazi occupation
led him first to join the underground resistance and then to risk his
life studying in secret to become a priest.
Interviews with key
survivors from the period who knew him well, and the Pope's own
writings, are combined in a powerful exploration of the young John Paul
II's coming of age, including his brushes with death and the horrors he
witnessed that helped to shape his thinking.
"Young John Paul II - Witness to Evil" (2008)
Director
Philip Smith
Producer
Leanne Klein
Writer
Philip Smith
Starring John Sackville
as Karol Wojtyla
Narrator
Richard Lintern
Wall-to-Wall for the BBC. Originally broadcast, BBC One.
