The Polish Catholic Church under German Occupation by Jonathan Huener

Author:Jonathan Huener [Huener, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, History, European General, Military, World War II, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science
ISBN: 9780253054067
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2021-02-16T05:00:00+00:00

Postwar testimonies, questionnaires, and published memoirs all have much to tell us about how Polish clergymen responded to their incarceration and persecution in Dachau, and reveal that despite the many abuses they endured, there existed among most a sense of community. This sense of community—unusual among inmates in Dachau, and among inmates of the camps in general—was manifested in a variety of ways. The Czech priest, historian, and former Dachau inmate Reimund Schnabel has referred to the “una vox” among the clergy in general—that is, the communication and community that arose from common proficiency in Latin and spanned the barriers of national origin, culture, and native language.46

It stands to reason, however, that a sense of community was more evident among the clergy of a specific national group. To this the Poles were no exception, and the sense of solidarity they experienced was arguably strengthened by the camp’s regime and conditions. Segregated from other prisoners (and often, other clergy) with respect to their housing, work, and privileges, and at the same time subjected to collective reprisals and group punishments for infractions,47 many among the Polish clergy lived, suffered, and died as a collective.

That “collective” was expressed in a variety of charitable ways. Polish priests provided medical assistance to other prisoners, clergy and laity alike, and were known for sharing with other inmates the food that they received in packages.48 Many also engaged in small acts of defiance or resistance in the camp, and these included efforts to maintain intellectual life, clandestine seminary instruction,49 and especially covert worship and celebration of the Mass.50

Solidarity in defiance of the camp authorities was especially evident in an incident only weeks before the arrival of hundreds of priests in connection with the October 1941 Aktion. On September 18, the Polish clergy were asked if they wished to apply for admission to the Volksliste. For many Poles, signing on to the Volksliste was considered treasonous, but for many in the annexed territories such as the Warthegau, it was perhaps a means of avoiding persecution or deportation, or for others, was perhaps a path to social and economic advancement. When offered the opportunity to sign on and thereby gain their release from the camp, only two or three of the roughly 1,200 priests agreed to do so. The motivations for the offer are not clear, but it is possible that the camp authorities were notified that a mass transport of Warthegau priests was in the offing. In any case, the nearly total rejection of the offer is also remarkable and testifies to a high level of patriotism, solidarity, mistrust, or a combination of the three among the clergy. The consequences for rejecting the offer were severe: the Poles lost any special privileges they had as clergymen, had to surrender their prayer books and rosaries, and were given more difficult labor assignments.51

Expressions of altruism, community, and solidarity among the Polish clergy—as important as these are to the Dachau story—have led to a tendency in the literature, and in some

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