Religion: Catholic 
Name: Stanislaw Kober
Classification:
supporting character
Publisher(s): 
First Appearance: Action Comics (vol. 1) #3 (Aug. 1938): "The Blakely Mine Disaster"
Creators: Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster
Number of Appearances: 1
Employer: Blakely Mine
Ally: Superman
Occupation: miner
Nation: Poland
Gender: male
Stanislaw Kober was a Polish immigrant miner injured in a mine that collapsed due to unsafe conditions. Much of the Superman story in Action Comics #3 focuses on the efforts of Superman (disguised as a miner) to save Mr. Kober and then correct the shameful conditions that led to his injuries. Superman even convinced the mine owner to provide a generous pension to Kober, who was permanently crippled in the cave-in.
Kober was a simple, hard-working family man whose plight symbolized that of many miners Siegel and Joe Shuster had heard about. Superman's quest for better working conditions in the Blakelly Mine was borne from Siegel and Shuster's strong sense of social justice.
When newspaper reporter Clark Kent visited Stanislaw Kober in the hospital, he asked the miner, "Tell me: In your opinion, could the mine-tragedy have been prevented?"
The still-recuperating miner shared his story in broken English typical of relatively recent Polish immigrants: "Sure! Months ago we know mine is unsafe -- but when we tell boss's foremen they say: 'No-like job, Stanislaw? Quit!'"
Clark Kent asked Mr. Kober, "You mean to say the owner disregarded the mine's dangerous condition?"
Kober explained, "Yah! But we no-quit. Got wife, kids, bills! So back we go to mine and long hours and little pay . . . an maybe to die!"
Based on his 100% Polish name, his thick accent, and his appearance, it is clear that Stanislaw Kober is a Polish immigrant. His English is somewhat broken, indicating that he did not come to the United States until he was an adult. Based purely on the fact he was a Polish immigrant with a non-Jewish name who came to the United States probably in the 1920s, we are assuming Mr. Kober is Catholic. Few populations have been as overwhelmingly Catholic as 1920s Poland. Even in the 1990s Poland's population was over 90% Catholic, with much of the population quite devout. Pope John Paul II himself was born in Poland in 1920, approximately 10 years after Stanislaw Kober was born.
Action Comics (vol. 1) #3 (Aug. 1938): "The Blakely Mine Disaster"
Suggested links for further research about this character and the character's religious affiliation:
- http://comicbookthoughts.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html
- http://www.comicvine.com/stanislaw-kober/29-19175/
- http://www.orwelltoday.com/sovietsuperman.shtml
- http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Superman_Vol_1_1
- https://www.comics.org/issue/314/
- http://comicbookdb.com/issue.php?ID=14453
- https://www.comics.org/issue/470/