A PRIESTLY TESTIMONY OF MARTYRDOM: POLISH CLERGY IN WORLD WAR 2  Cover Image

Kapłańskie świadectwo męczeństwa. Polscy duchowni podczas II wojny światowej
A PRIESTLY TESTIMONY OF MARTYRDOM: POLISH CLERGY IN WORLD WAR 2

Author(s): Sławomir Zych
Subject(s): History
Published by: Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II - Wydział Teologii
Keywords: terms and roots or martyrdom; history of martyrdom in the Catholic Church; martyrdom of missionaries; repression of the Catholic Church during the Communism regime

Summary/Abstract: 1939 saw the Polish lands occupied by two totalitarian systems acting hostile to the Church – i.e. communism and National Socialism. Moreover, both the Germans and the Soviets perceived Polish clergymen as the nation’s actual leadership team, a force which propagated patriotic values. Ukrainian nationalists persecuted Polish clergy on this same account. Forms of persecutions applied in German-occupied territories included killings, short-term imprisonment, deportation to extermination camps and, in general, into the General-Gouvernement area. The Soviets would use similar methods; however, the outbreak of the German-Soviet war stopped them from developing their discriminatory practices on a larger scale. W. Szołdrski’s calculations have shown that during WW2, a total of thirteen bishops were affected by repressive measures (of which six got killed), 3,671 priests (2,030 killed) and 399 clerics or seminarists (173 killed). Later-date findings of W. Jacewicz have determined the total number of members of the clergy then subject to repression (including friars and nuns) at 6,367 (thereof, 1,932 of diocese clergy, including holders of lower orders, plus 580 friars and 289 nuns, killed). In spite of dozens of years having passed, the exact number of victimised clergypersons is not known; hence, further research in the area ought to be postulated.

  • Issue Year: 2011
  • Issue No: 10
  • Page Range: 171-189
  • Page Count: 20
  • Language: Polish