However, one of the selected men all of a sudden cried out "My wife! My children! I will never see them again!" Kolbe then stepped forward and volunteered to take the man's place. In his prison cell, Kolbe celebrated Mass everyday and sang hymns with the other prisoners. He led the other men in song and prayer and encouraged them by telling the they would soon be with Mary. Every time the guards checked the prisoners, Kolbe would be kneeling in the middle of the cell and looking calmly at the guards who entered.
After three weeks, only Kolbe remained alive, and the guard wanted the bunker empty so they gave him a lethal injected or carbolic acid. Some who were present say he calmly lifted his arm and waited for the injection. His remains were cremated on the 15th of August, the feast day of the Assumption of Mary.