About this Project

Book of Remembrance: Biographies of Catholic Clergy and Laity Repressed in the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1918 to 1953 website presents brief biographies, translated from Russian by Geraldine Kelley, of Catholic clergy and laity repressed by the Soviet regime during the reigns of Lenin and Stalin.

The biographies were collected by the Apostolic Administration for Catholics of North European Russia and published in 2000 in Moscow, in Bronislav Chaplitskii, Irina I. Osipova, Kniga pamiati: martirolog Katolicheskoi tserkvi v SSSR. [Book of Remembrance: A Martyrology of the Catholic Church in the USSR] (Moskva: Serebrianye niti, 2000).

While personal and geographical names were transliterated for this digital project by catalogers at the University of Notre Dame Libraries using Library of Congress transliteration system, many personal names were originally Anglicized by the translator. The biographies thus contain both forms, Anglicized and transliterated, which allows users to search by various spellings of the name.

For more information about the background and context of this translation project, please see About the Translation.

Questions and comments concerning this site should be directed to Natasha Lyandres

About the Translation

Background and Context

The biographies posted on this website are translated from Kniga pamiati: Martirolog Katolicheskoi Tserkvi v SSSR [Book of Remembrance: A Martyrology of the Catholic Church in the USSR] (Moscow, 2000), which memorializes the life and death of 1,900 Latin and Eastern Rite Catholics – clergy, religious and lay – who were persecuted under the Soviet regime. The entries were collected and edited by Father Bronisƚaw Czaplicki and Irina Osipova on behalf of the Martyrology Commission for the Jubilee Year 2000 established by the Apostolic Administration for Catholics of North European Russia. It is truly amazing that such a voluminous collection was assembled and prepared for publication by the year 2000, only nine years after the opening of the archives of the state security organs of the former Soviet Union, the source of most of the material. The compilers consulted with colleagues in regional archives spread across the entire country. The archival sources are listed in the Bibliography

The work of the Martyrology Commission laid the foundation for the next step to be taken. On January 30, 2002, the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Russian Federation inaugurated the “Catholic New Martyrs of Russia,” a program to advance the canonization of Russian Catholic martyrs of the twentieth century. Sixteen were chosen for this formal procedure. The process toward their beatification was assigned the title “Cause of the Beatification or the Declaration of Martyrdom of Archbishop Edward Profittlich, SJ, and Fifteen Companions.” The cause was officially opened on May 31, 2003, and from that date these sixteen martyrs are known as “Servants of God”:

Fr. Czaplicki was the original Postulator for the Cause. He has been succeeded by Fr. Alexey Yandushev-Rumyantsev. On January 17, 2014, the cause of Servant of God Edward Profittlich, SJ, was transferred to Estonia, and the original process was renamed “Cause of the Beatification or the Declaration of Martyrdom of Bishop Antoni Malecki and Fourteen Companions.”

Kniga pamiati includes other Servants of God (as well as some who have already been beatified) whose causes originated in other jurisdictions and are proceeding under other titles. Their current titles have been added to their names.

The seminal work of Fr. Czaplicki and Irina Osipova is posted on the website of the Catholic New Martyrs of Russia www.catholicmartyrs.org, complete with Fr. Czaplicki’s introductory essay on the history of the persecutions, photographs (“mug shots”) of hundreds of the clergy and laity profiled, and a bibliography. The editors anticipated that the information gathered prior to 2000 would be supplemented over time, and the office of the Postulator has served as the recipient and custodian of this on-going documentation. Full-length books, dissertations, articles, and letters from relatives, former camp-mates, and parishioners add to what is known about Catholics persecuted under the Soviet regime. The referenced website is the best source of the most current information.

Of particular note are the in-depth articles regarding the fifteen candidates for beatification prepared by the office of the Postulator of the Cause. Translations of these articles are forthcoming.

It should be noted that not all 1,900 persons included in the Martyrology died a martyr’s death. They were all persecuted by the State to one extent or another, some shot by firing squad, others sent to “corrective labor” camps where their death was likely, others banished to remote corners of the Soviet Union where they languished and suffered for years. Some were sentenced and resentenced more than three times over the course of thirty years. “Fate thereafter unknown” are the final words for 874 entries. Others, however, returned to their home parishes or emigrated abroad and continued their heroic ministry well into old age, in Africa, Brazil, Australia, England and the United States. A few were still living as of the date of publication (2000), but at the present moment (2014) I believe there is only one survivor, Nijole Sadunaite.

Notes Regarding the Translation

The original entries were in an “encyclopedic” style, and I made no attempt to alter the style in the translation.

In some cases I was able to refer to the work cited by the editors in support of an entry, and when I noticed a detail that the editors for whatever reason had omitted, I included it if I believed it would be of interest to an English-speaking reader. For example, Fr. Roman Dzwonkowski usually included the diocese for which a priest was ordained and sometimes the number of parishioners and the name of the local church, and I tended to insert these details into the translation.

In some cases I went beyond the work cited to find additional information, especially concerning former camp inmates who were amnestied and emigrated to the United States. This information was then noted at the end of the entry, as a “Translator’s Note.” Especially helpful with respect to the Volga Germans and the Black Sea Germans were the websites of various heritage organizations, especially the Center for Volga German Studies, www.cvgs.org, and www.blackseagr.org for the Black Sea Germans. These websites and any other sources used are included in the “Translator’s Note.”

The names of cities and towns changed in at least two ways: in some instances an entirely new name was assigned. Thus a person could have been born in St. Petersburg, educated in Petrograd, worked in Leningrad, and died in St. Petersburg – all at the same street address. In other instances, the name remained the same, but the language changed. Thus another person could have been born in Lemberg, educated in Lwów, and worked in Lviv – all names that drive from the original Latin Leopolis!

In the first case, where the name itself was changed, I tended to use the name in effect at the time. In the second case, I attempted at first to use the language of the government at the time (e.g., Łuck in 1938, Lutsk in 1948), but I soon abandoned that effort in favor of current [2014] spelling – thus Lvov and Lwów are both translated as Lviv, and Ƚuck is Lutsk, even when it was part of Poland. This created some odd sentences, such as “…he returned to Poland, where he served in the Diocese of Lutsk.” Reader, please forbear!

I relied on the Wikipedia entry for the current spelling of geographical names because this seemed to be the source that will prevail in establishing the conventions used.

Family names presented a more sensitive issue. Fr. Czaplicki declined to note nationality for a number of reasons. In any event, transliterating non-Russian names from Cyrillic using conventional transliteration schemes resulted in gibberish. I tried to use German spellings for German names, Polish spellings for Polish names, etc. Unfortunately, except in a very few instances, I was not able to distinguish Ukrainian names. Regardless of the fact that many of these people lived in present-day Ukraine, many of them lived in regions that were previously in eastern Poland or they were arrested for “espionage on behalf of Poland” or “Polish nationalism,” or they were amnestied “as Polish citizens” in 1942 or 1943 and released from the camps. Polish spellings seemed warranted. As to Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian names – these will need to be reviewed and revised.

As for the Christian given names, I attempted to match the name with the language of the family name (e.g., Andrzej, Andrey, Andreas – Polish, Ukrainian, German) – but in some cases, I used an Anglicized form, especially where the person has become widely known under an Anglicized name – for example, Mother Catherine Abrikosova.

I intentionally Anglicized all names of churches (e.g., St. Anthony of Padua, St. Casimir), as this seems to be a common convention.

Geraldine Kelley, May 2014

Additional Information

Fr. Bronisƚaw Czaplicki “A history of the Persecutions: Catholic Church in Russia.” Originally published in Russian in Bronislav Chaplitskii, Irina I. Osipova, Kniga pamiati: martirolog Katolicheskoi tserkvi v SSSR. (Moskva: Serebrianye niti, 2000) pp. XIX-LXIII. The article was translated by Geraldine Kelley in November 2013. Download “A history of the Persecutions: Catholic Church in Russia.” [DOCX]

Download Bibliography / List of Sources. Last Updated April 2014 [DOCX]

Online version of Bronislav Chaplitskii, Irina I. Osipova, Kniga pamiati: martirolog Katolicheskoi tserkvi v SSSR. (Moskva: Serebrianye niti, 2000) is available from this site: Catholic Newmartyrs of Russia

The biographies have been also posted on this Russian website: КАТОЛИЧЕСКАЯ РОССИЯ

The biographies have been translated into Italian and are available from this site: Russia Christiana

Bibliography

Knigi Pamiati [Books Of Remembrance]

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History - Biography - Memoirs

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  • Braun, Leopold. In Lubianka’s Shadow: The Memoirs of an American Priest in Stalin’s Moscow, 1934-1945. Ed. Gary M. Hamburg. South Bend, Ind.: Univ. of Notre Dame, 2006.
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  • Danilov, V. Moi put’ k Bogu i k Katolicheskoi Tserkvi. Polotsk, 1997.
  • Doberski, Fr. Zapiski uznika (Warsaw, 1990); also in Lietuvos aidas (1998), no. 30.
  • Dolzhanskaia, Liia, and Irina Osipova, eds. “Dorogaia Ekaterina Pavlovna…”: Pis’ma zhenshchin i detei, pis’ma v ikh zashchitu, 1920-1936. St. Petersburg, 2005.
  • Dunn, Dennis J. The Catholic Church and Russia: Popes, Patriarchs, Tsars and Commissars Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate, 2004.
  • Dzwonkowski, Roman, SAC, and Jan Paƚyga, SAC. Za wschodnią granicą 1917-1993: O Polakach i Kościele w dawnym ZSRR. 2nd Edition. Warszawa, 1995.
  • Dzwonkowski, Roman, SAC. Kościoƚ katolicki w ZSSR, 1917-1939: Zarys historii. Lublin: Tow. Nauk. Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1997.
  • Dzwonkowski, Roman, SAC. Losy duchowieństwa katolickiego w ZSSR, 1917-1939: Martyrologium. Lublin: Tow. Nauk. Katolickiego Uniwersytetu Lubelskiego, 1998
  • Efimova, M. “Pamiati Episkopa Vladivostokskogo.” Zaria Vladivostoka (1998), no. 1.
  • Efimova, M. “Sud’ba episkopa.” Svet Evangeliia (15 Mar. 1998).
  • Ginzburg, Evgeniia. Within the Whirlwind. New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1981.
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  • Gorska, M.T., CSFN. “Męczennice z Nowogrodka,” L’osservatore Romano (Polish Ed., 2000), No. 2, pp. 55-58.
  • Grulich, Rudolf. Die römisch-katholische Kirche in der Sowjetunion. München: Kirche in Not/Ostpriesterhilfe, 1990.
  • Hamburger, G. Verfolgte Christen: Bericht aus unserer Zeit. Graz, 1977.
  • Hoffman, Deborah. The Littlest Enemies: Children in the Shadow of the Gulag. Bloomington, Ind.: Slavica, 2009.
  • Il’kevich, N. “Pochetnee byt’ gluptsom riadom s Gomerom, Vergiliem, nezheli geniem v nashi dni: Shtrikhi v portrety Khrizogona Przhemotskogo.” Gody (Smolensk), 1999, no. 4.
  • Il’kevich, N. “Prervannoe molchanie.” Gody (Smolensk), 1999, no. 4.
  • Jeńcy w Griazowcu i Suzdalu: Alfabetyczne wykazy 3640 jeńców wojennych z 1939 roku – Polaków i przedwojennych obywateli polskich innych narodowości – przetrzymywanych w sowieckich obozach w Griazowcu i Suzdalu. Rybarska, Eva, Kazimierz Banaszek et al. Warszawa: Ośrodek KARTA, 1998.
  • Khanevich, V.A., ed. Iz istorii Zemli Tomskoi 1917-1921: Sibirskii Belostok. Tomsk, 1998.
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  • Kuczyński, Józef. Między parafią a ƚagrem. Paris: Editions Spotkania, 1985..
  • Kumor B. “Konkordat rosyjski z 3.08.1847 i utworzenie diecezji tyraspolskiej.” Manuscript. Lublin, 1998. (Paper prepared for a symposium dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the Tiraspol Diocese.)
  • Kumor, B. “Kościól i katolicy w cesarstwie rosyjskim.” In: Odrodzenie Kościóƚa Katolickiego w ZSSR. Lublin, 1993.
  • Leoni P. Spia del Vaticano! Roma, 1959. Translated by G.D. Murav’eva and E.L. Kassirova, supplemented with archival materials by Irina Osipova under the title “Shpiony Vatikana!”: O tragicheskom puti sviashchennikov-missionerov: vospominaniia P’etro Leoni; obzor materialov sledstvennykh del. Bratonezh, 2012.
  • Leoni, P. and George Maloney. He Asked for It!: Ten Years’ Slave Labor in Communist Russia. St. Louis, Mo.: Queen’s Work, 1956.
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  • Madaƚa, T. Polscy . księża katoliccy w więzieniach i ƚagrach sowieckich od 1918 g. Lublin, 1996.
  • Mailleux, Paul. Exarch Leonid Feodorov: Bridgebuilder Between Rome and Moscow. New York: P.J. Kenedy, 1964.
  • Markov, V. I. et al., eds. Iz istorii Zemli Tomskoi, 1917-1921: Narod i vlast’. Sbornik dokumentovv i materialov. Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Tomskoi oblast, 1997.
  • McCullagh. Bolshevik Persecution of Christianity. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, 1924.
  • Miodek, Augustyn, OMI. If Only for an Hour: Ludwick Wrodarczyk, OMI, 1907-1943. Ludwik Wrodarczyk, OMI, 1907-1943. Rome: Oblate General Postulation, 1992. Published in Polish under the title Ludwik Wrodarczyk, OMI, 1907-1943. Lubliniec, 1995.
  • Moroz, Walerian M. and Andrzej Datko, eds. Męczennicy za wiarę 1939-1945. Warszawa: Michalineum, 1996.
  • Nichols, Aidan, O.P. “Ekaterina Sienskaya Abrikosova (1892-1936): A Dominican Uniate Foundress in the Old Russia,” 72 848 (1991) New Blackfriars, 164-172.
  • Novitskii [Nowicki], Donat. Moi vospominaniia. Manuscript. Archive of Gniezno Archdiocese. Akty popechitetia emigratsii. F. III/28.
  • Odrodzenie Kościoƚa Katolickiego w byƚym ZSRR. Odrodzenie Kościoƚa Katolickiego w byƚym ZSRR.
  • Osipova, I. Vozliubiv Boga i sleduia za Nim…” Goneniia na Katolicheskuiu Tserkov’ v SSSR. Moskva: Serebriannye niti, 1999. Translated by Geraldine Kelley under the title Brides of Christ, Martyrs for Russia: Mother Catherine Abrikosova and the Eastern Rite Dominican Sisters. Unpublished.
  • Osipova, Irina. V Iazvakh svoikh sokroi menia…: Goneniia na Katolicheskuiu Tserkov’ v SSSR. Po materialam sledstvennykh i lagernykh del. Moskva: Serebriannye niti, 1996. Translated by Malcolm Gilbert under the title Hide Me Within Thy Wounds: The Persecution of the Catholic Church in the USSR. Fargo, North Dakota, 2003.
  • Parfentiev, Pavel. “Servant of God, Maria Catherine Sienskaia (Anna Ivanovna Abrikosova).” Trans. Joseph Lake. www.en.catholicmartyrs.org
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  • Rozstrzelani w Katyniu: Alfabetyczny spis 4410 jeńców polskich z Kozielska rozstrzelanych w kwietniu-maju 1940, wedƚug źródeƚ sowieckich, polskich i niemieckich. Skrzyńska-Pƚawińska, Maria, et al. Warszawa: Ośrodek KARTA, 1996.
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  • Rutkowski, Franciszek. Arcybiskup Jan Cieplak, 1857-1926: Szkic Biograficzny. Warszawa, 1934.
  • Sadunaite, Nijole. A Radiance in the Gulag: The Catholic Witness of Nijole Sadunaite. Manassas, Va.: Trinity Communications, 1987.
  • Sadunaite, Nijole. Gottes Untergrundkämpferin: Vor Gericht, Erinnerungen, Briefe. Stein-am-Rhein: Christiana-Verlag, 1985.
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  • Sloskans, Boleslas and François Rouleau. Témoin de Dieu chez les sans-Dieu: Du bagne des îles Solovki à la deportation en Sibérie: Journal de prison. Mareil-Marly: Aide à l’Église en détresse, 1986. Translated and published in German under the title Zeuge Gottes bei den Gotflosen. München, 1988.
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    Journals and Periodicals

  • Bozhim putem (London), 1975, nos. 3-4
  • Khristianin. 1931, Nos. 2-4.
  • Kitezh. 1931, no. 1
  • Lietuvos aidas (Vilnius). 1998, no. 30
  • Logos (Briussel’-Moskva). 1993, no. 48
  • Nash krai: Istoricheskii zhurnal (St. Petersburg). 2000, no. 1
  • Parafyialna gazeta. 1994-1995
  • Przegląd Katolicki. 1924. No. 8
  • Sibiriak (Belostok). 1991, no. 6
  • Vospominaniia sibiriakov. 1991, no. 4.

    Archival Materials

  • Citations of Russian archival materials are by fond, opis’, delo, list and abbreviated f., op., d., l.
  • Assumptionist Archives (Rome)
  • GARF (Gosudarstvennyi arkhiv Rossiiskoi Federatsii) [State Archive of the Russian Federation], fonds 8406, 8409 and 8419
  • Central Archive, FSB (Federal’naia Sluzhba Bezopasnosti), Russian Federation
  • Regional Archives of the FSB
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Arkhangel’skaia oblast’
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Chuvash Republic
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Kemerovo oblast
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Komi Republic
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Kostoma oblast
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Krasnodar krai
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Krasnoyarsk krai
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Kursk oblast’ (I.M. 6906)
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Magadan oblast’
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Mari El Republic
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Mordovian Republic
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Novosibirsk oblast’
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Republic of Karelia
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Republic of Northern Ossetia-Alania
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, St. Petersburg and Leningrad oblast’
  • Archive of the Directorate, FSB, Yekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk oblast
  • Archives of the Directorates for the Ministries of Internal Affairs
  • Arkhangelsk oblast
  • Cheliabinsk oblast
  • Bashkortostan Republic
  • Karelian Republic
  • Komi Republic
  • Novgorod oblast
  • Pskov oblast
  • Ryazan oblast
  • Smolensk oblast
  • Vologoda oblast
  • Yekaterinburg oblast
  • Archive of Directorate, SBU, Drohobych oblast
  • Archive of Directorate, SBU, Lviv oblast
  • Archive of Directorate, SBU, Ternopil oblast
  • Archive of Directorate, SBU, Khmelnytskyi oblast
  • Archive of Directorate, KNB, Republic of Kazakhstan
  • GITs (Glavnyi informatsionnyi tsentr) [Main Information Center]
  • ITs (Informatsionnyi tsentr) [Information Center]
  • TsA MVD (Tsentral’nyi arkhiv, Ministerstvo vnutrennikh del) [Central Archive, Ministry of Internal Affairs]
  • TsDNI (Tsentr dokumentatsii noveishei istorii) [Center for Documentation of Recent History]
  • TsGAOO (Tsentral’nyi gosudarstvennyi arkhiv obshchestvennykh organizatsii) [Central State Archive of Public Organizations]
  • TsPSIP (Tsentr pravovoi statistiki i informatsii pre Prokurature) [Center for Legal Statistics and Information], Karaganda oblast’

Investigatory Case Files

Note: References to case files are by the lead name on the group case or by Investigatory Matter Number.

Investigatory Files in the Central Archive, FSB, Russian Federation

  • Abrantovich, F. I.
  • Abrikosova, Anna Ivanovna et al. (1923)
  • Abrikosova, Anna Ivanovna et al. (1933/34)
  • Ott, Alisa Benediktovna
  • Soloviev, Sergei Mikhailovich
  • Remov, Nikolai Federovich
  • Titov, Leonid Timofeevich
  • Investigatory Matter Nos. 888, 62582, 82307, 95215 (German Catholics), 109597, 547540, 590614

Investigatory Files in the Archive of the Directorate of the FSB for St. Petersburg and Leningrad oblast’

  • Danzas, Julia Nikolaevna
  • Investigatory Matter Nos. 3587-42, 6632, 6633, 14436 and P-83605 (Fr. Paweƚ Chomicz)

Investigatory Files in the Central State Archives of Public Organizations (Ukraine) (TsGAOO)

  • Investigatory Matter Nos. 27, 411, 890, 891, 1733, 2751, 7884, 11380, 26838, 26944, 29674, 29675, 29765, 29995, 30392, 30958, 33203, 46041, 47042, 52751, 53905, 60589, 61236, 61494, 62016, 62587, 64218, 66457, 68067, 68087, 82307, 82309, 632856

Investigatory Files in the Archive of the Directorate of the State Security Service (SBU), Lviv oblast

  • Investigatory Matter No. 3210 (Home Army)

Investigatory Files in the Archive of the Lithuanian Ministry of Internal Affairs

  • Investigatory Matter No. 218176

Investigatory Files in the Archive of the KGB, Republic of Belarus

  • Lukanin, I.S. [Józef Lukjanin]
  • Sloskan, B.

Additional Websites

Project Staff

Translator and Initiator:

I began my study of Russian at Indiana University, where I earned a B.A. in Russian with honors in 1967. I completed a Ph.D. in Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1976.

I taught Russian language and literature courses at the University of Utah for three years (1978-1981), then worked in various administrative positions in Denver, Colorado. The collapse of the Soviet Union sparked a short-lived renewal in Russian language programs that afforded me the opportunity to teach Russian at the University of Colorado at Denver and local community colleges from 1992 to 1995. I returned to administrative positions and retired as a legal assistant in 2011.

In 2007 I agreed to translate a history of the Catholic Church in the Russian Far East for the benefit of a Roman Catholic Mission in Vladivostok, Russia. The Mission published the translation under the title Harsh Vineyard: A History of the Catholic Church in the Russian Far East (Trafford, 2008). I continue to translate short articles for the Mission’s newsletter from time to time.

From the Hesburgh Libraries, University of Notre Dame:

Project Leader: Natasha Lyandres, Head, Rare Books and Special Collections Department, Russian and East European Studies Librarian.

Project Catalogers: Bozena Karol and Pamela Brzezinski

Project Developers: Robert Fox and Andy Wetherill

Project Digital and Metadata Consultants: Tracy Bergstrom, Co-Director, Program for Digital Library Initiatives and Scholarship; Mary McKeown, Principal Cataloger; Alex Papson, Metadata Librarian.

Special Thanks to: Alan Krieger, Theology/Philosophy Librarian; Jean McManus, Catholic Studies Librarians.