The square is named in memory of Father Jan Skarbek, a unique man from pre-war Oświęcim and a symbol of Christian-Jewish coexistence.
Father Skarbek was a parish priest of the nearby Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Upon arriving in Oświęcim, he was friendly towards the local Jewish community and became friends with Rabbi Eliyahu Bombach (1883-1943), the Chief Rabbi of Oświęcim. Thanks largely to Father Skarbek, both Christians and Jews remember interwar Oświęcim as a place of peaceful coexistence between these two communities.
During World War II, Father Skarbek and his fellow priests were involved in helping prisoners of Auschwitz because of which, he was incarcerated by Gestapo. After the war, he stayed in touch with former Jewish residents of Oświęcim who had survived the Holocaust and moved abroad.