Polish Church Hierarchy and the Holocaust – A Critical Essay
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. 5 (2009), pages: 19-69
Publication date: 2009-11-09
Abstract
The text deals with the attitudes of the Polish Catholic hierarchy towards the Holocaust. It describes the activities undertaken for the benefit of converts during in 1940–1941, how higher clergy perceived anti-Jewish incidents in Warsaw (spring 1940) and murders of the Jews in the Łomża region (summer 1941), and finally the immediate reactions of the bishops to the Holocaust on Polish territory. Particularly important is the explanation of the reasons why the extermination of the Jews was not mentioned in correspondence with the Vatican (Pope Pius XII and the Secretariat of State) during 1942–1943. Due to Adam Sapieha’s position in the Church structure during the occupation, the figure of the Archbishop of Cracow is the focus. The text also analyzes statements concerning the Jews and the Holocaust by the hierarchs outside Poland (Primate August Hlond and Bishop Karol Radoński). The text also discusses the attitude of the Church hierarchy’s representatives towards organized and individual actions to help the Jews. The author’s aim is to summarize existing knowledge based on Church sources (Polish and Vatican) available to researchers and documents of Polish underground, and to identify controversies present in the hitherto interpretations, as well as the directions and limitations of further investigation into the matter.
Keywords
Holocaust, the Polish Catholic Church during World War II, help to the Jews, Adam Sapieha
License
Copyright (c) 2009 Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Other articles by the same auhtor(s)
- Dariusz Libionka, Remarks on rescuing Jews in the “vicinity of Treblinka” [review: Edward Kopówka, Father Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, I’ll Give Them a Name for Ages. Poles from around Treblinka Rescuing Jews] , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 9 (2013)
- Dariusz Libionka, Jan Grabowski, Reports of the Praga Area of the Polish Police Regarding Apprehension of Jews in Warsaw during May–July 1943 , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 10 (2014)
- Dariusz Libionka, Polish literature on organized and individual help to the Jews (1945–2008) , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 4 (2008)
- Jan Grabowski, Dariusz Libionka, Reports on the Jews Apprehended in Warsaw During May–July 1943 Submitted by the ‘Praga’ District of the Polish Police , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. Holocaust Studies and Materials (2017)
- Dariusz Libionka, “Truth About Camps” or the Uneventful 1942 , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. Holocaust Studies and Materials (2013)
- Dariusz Libionka, Response to Joshua Zimmerman’s Letter , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 13 (2017)
- Dariusz Libionka, Fight and Propaganda. The Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto from the Perspective of the Polish Government in London , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 10 (2014)
- Dariusz Libionka, From The Warsaw Ghetto Through France and Spain to London. The Incredible Story of Edward Rajnfeld-Tohari , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 18 (2022)
- Dariusz Libionka, Con Men Made into the Accursed. Comments on the Documentary "Torah and the Sword" , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 12 (2016)
- Adam Kopciowski, Dariusz Libionka, Notes of a member of the Jewish Combat Organization Command, Hersh Berliński , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 19 (2023)