past OF THE FIGHT WITH THE CATOLICK CHURCH
Author Matthew Łabuz
German Nazis based their regulation on the cult of strength and totalitarian dominance – both within the state and during many military conquests. They fiercely fought against social, national, or professional groups that they described as inferior and unsuited to warped ideals. 1 of the characteristic elements of the criminal ideology was to challenge spiritual freedom and ruthlessly strike the Catholic Church. The clergy were among the first victims of a coordinated extermination action, and especially suffered in Poland occupied by the Germans.
SURVEILLANCE
Nazi ideology was already assumed to be against spiritual groups. In return, the German Nazis postulated the unification of the nation around the thought of nationalism, possibly supporting quasi-religious occult practices. The universality of the spiritual movements of the period of the interwar period made it importantly more hard to completely deprive society of the ability to profess faith. Hence, the Nazis sought to discriminate, and later persecuted representatives of the Catholic Church, and this is what the Church has made 1 of the programmatic ideological enemies. It was a natural step in subjugating society. Taking distant the foundation of identity in the form of faith, undermining authority and introducing mass panic was to be a pass to build a fresh civilization based on blind subordination of dictatorship. The practice showed that the Church and its faithful were able to last the trial of time, although it was not without the victims and the real tragedies that lay a shadow on the past of the organization during planet War II.
After the Nazis came to power, the Nazis decided to communicate with the Vatican in order to regulate the situation of Catholics in the Reich. In July 1933 a concordat (with the German Reichskoncordat) was signed, which from the position of years can be read as an effort to defend Christians by the Vatican, but besides a demonstration of conformism towards the Nazis. The Holy See did not then realize the criminal possible of the 3rd Reich, although the Nazi ideology was almost a complete other of church doctrine. The German authorities, on the another hand, wanted to safe the support of any of the population by large-scale manipulation. The reconciliation of anti-Catholic propaganda with the imagination of agreement with the Pope was from the beginning a lie sewn with thick threads. In the 1930 ’ s, the Nazis began to persecute priests. Tens of clergymen were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps, primarily Dachau. Despite spiritual persecution, Catholics retained at least a substitute for independency and freedom of religion in the 3rd Reich. The focus was on the liquidation of church schools and the arrests among priests. It was only the outbreak of planet War II that the Germans proceeded to a mass trial with the Catholic Church, as a target, primarily choosing the clergy in Poland. During 1 of Adolf Hitler's wartime conferences, he stated, "The war will end. The last large problem of our times to be solved will be the issue of the Church." As it turned out, he recommended that this issue be resolved inactive during the conflict.
First Hit
According to the guidelines of the chief, Germany fought peculiarly powerfully against Polish intelligence, in the Church, looking at the natural background for ideas that unite society. Consequently, nearly 3,000 Polish clergymen were murdered during the war, of which more than half died in German concentration camps. It is hard to estimation the full number of dead in the absence of adequate records. Many representatives of the Church died of martyrdom, many engaged in the process of helping the persecuted, including the judaic population. In Poland the occupier focused on both the physical extermination of the clergy and the systemic fight against religion, which was besides an component of Polish society in the war. The Church played a vital function in the past of Poland and the Polish people, being a origin of patriotic attitudes and opposition to the 19th century invaders.
EXTERMINATION OF THE SPIRITORS
Just after the start of the action against Poland, the Germans began mass arrests of Polish clergymen. The repressions peculiarly affected priests in the areas of the 3rd Reich, where almost all clergymen were caught on the basis of the pre-written proscription letters. A large part of it was killed in temporary executions, the others were sent back to German concentration camps. Fatal conditions, rigour of hard physical work and deliberate extermination policy of the camp authorities led to the torment of hundreds of imprisoned Polish priests. Many Polish clergymen showed heroic attitudes. Father Maximilian Maria Kolbe decided to give his life for a fellow prisoner in the German concentration camp Auschwitz. It was an extraordinary act of heroism, especially since the Franciscan died a cruel, martyred death. After 2 weeks in a hunger cell, he was struck with an injection of phenol. He became a symbol of sacrifice, and Franciszek Gajnicznik, who was saved by him, was given a second life.
Persecutions besides included the Catholic Church as a community of believers. The Germans devastated Polish temples, plundered churches and orders, plundered property, including priceless works of sacral art. Restrictions have affected spiritual worship. Poles were prohibited from attending services, churches were consistently closed or opened at strictly appointed times. Crosses and another spiritual symbols have been removed from public space. It was part of a wider fight between Nazi Germany and the Church. Convents and spiritual seminars were closed. Classes for future priests were conducted in the underground, in which Archbishop Adam Sapieha had a immense share. The secret sets were attended by Pope John Paul II, then Karol Wojtyła. The Church besides participated in the process of saving the judaic population from the Holocaust, conducting charitable and administrative activities by issuing false baptism certificates Jews, which allowed them to avoid persecution.
According to estimates, 20% of pre-war clergy from Poland died during the war. 2804 Catholic priests, spiritual and spiritual sisters were murdered by the occupier. In the German concentration camp alone, 1773 priests from Poland were imprisoned, of which 799 died, frequently martyred. Martyrology of the Polish Church of War Time commemorates the Day of the Martyrdom of the clergy celebrated since 2002 on 29 April. The date is not accidental – on that day in 1945, Polish priests gathered in Dachau took a pilgrimage vows to St. Joseph's sanctuary in Kalisz in gratitude for saving them from death at the hands of Germans. shortly the camp was liberated by Americans, and Polish clergymen kept their promise for years, praying annually in Kalisz. After the war, more than 100 representatives of the Church in Poland were declared martyrs and beatified.
On the margins of the discussion on persecution, a fewer words should be added on the assessment of the moral attitude and actions of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church during planet War II. In the light of fresh studies, many cases are documented erstwhile church dignitaries, including the Vatican administration and Pope Pius XII themselves, engaged in saving the judaic population from the Holocaust. At the same time, the wines of members of the Church are referred to in the context of collaboration with the Nazi government and participation in genocide in Croatia, where the totalitarian government of the Ante Pavelicia ceasing Catholic heritage ruled. The deficiency of a strong consequence of Pius XII and national church hierarchs to German crimes, especially the Holocaust, is widely criticised. However, the assessment should take into account the fact that the Vatican has small chance to make the situation and the desire to defend Christians from the consequences of the attack against the Nazis. There is no uncertainty that the Catholic Church was 1 of the objectives of the criminal politics of the 3rd Reich and should be seen as a victim of ruthless ideology.
MATEUSZ LABUZ PORTAL "World War II"
