May 18: Born Karol Joseph Wojtyla in Wadowice, Poland. He is baptized by a military chaplain on June 20.
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April: His mother, Emilia, dies while delivering a still-born daughter.
May: Celebrates first Holy Communion, left.
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December: His older brother, Edmund, a medical intern, dies of scarlet fever contracted from a patient.
Above right, Karol that year — age 12 — at the State Secondary School for Boys.
AP Photo
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May: Receives the Catholic sacrament of confirmation.
Summer: Moves to Krakow, Poland, with his father, also named Karol.
June: Enrolls as a philosophy student at Jagiellonian University and begins performing in local theater.
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With forces of Nazi Germany occupying Poland, he avoids deportation and imprisonment for participating in an underground university and theater by working as a stone cutter in a quarry in Krakow.
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Becomes active in an underground Christian organization helping Jews secure refuge.
February: His father, a retired administrative officer and recruiter for the Polish army, dies.
