Karol Jozef Wojtyola, also known as Pope John Paul II, was born May 18, 1920 in Wadowice, a small city near Krakow, Poland. He was the second of two sons born to Karol Wojtyla Sr., a retired army officer and tailor, and Emilia Kaczorowska Wojtyla, a schoolteacher. During his childhood the Pope experienced many hardships including the loss of his mother, Emilia, and only brother, Edmund. His father died in 1941 when Karol was 20, which left him the sole survivor of his immediate family.