With deep faith and courageous hope, Saint Maximilian Kolbe endured the extreme horrors of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp in Poland. He proved that self-giving love and compassion can thrive even in extreme darkness and cruelty. His heroic life inspired other prisoners, giving them hope that kindness and self-sacrifice were possible—even in Auschwitz. This “factory of death” functioned from 1940 until 1945; studies demonstrate that between 1.1 and 1.5 million people perished there.