Winkler, Matthias

Karol Jozef Wojty a, known as John Paul II since his election to the papacy in October 1978, was born in the Polish town of Wadowice, a small city 50 kilometers from Krakow, on the 18th of May 1920. After graduation from Marcin Wadowita high school in Wadowice, he enrolled in Krakow's Jagiellonian University in 1938 and in a drama school. The Nazi occupation forces closed the university in 1939 and young Karol had to work in a quarry and then in the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany. In 1942, aware of his call to the priesthood, he began courses