Hilarius Breitinger
Encyclopedia
Hilarius Breitinger, OFM Conv (7 June, 1907 – 23 August, 1994) was a German Franciscan
prelate made apostolic administrator
of the Reichsgau Wartheland
during World War II
by Pope Pius XII
, one of the most controversial examples of the reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II
. Breitinger's appointment and those like it were the justification of the Polish Provisional Government for declaring the Concordat of 1925
"null and void" in 1945.
near Aschaffenburg
. His parents were Martin, a carpenter, and Barbara Breitinger. He decided to study theology and enter the Order of Friars Minor
("Franciscans") after high school. He was ordained in 1932.
According to Phayer, Breitinger is the "key to unraveling" the contradictory accounts of Catholicism in Poland between Poles of German ethnicity (Nazi term Volksdeutsche
) and those of Polish ethnicity. At the invitation of Primate Hlond, Breitinger (a German expatriate
of Franconia
n descent) entered Poland in 1934 and began administering to Poles of German ethnicity in Poznań
's church of St. Anthony of Padua, under the authority of the Bundestreffen der Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe (LWW) as a pastor at a local Franciscan church. Breitinger wrote in a letter to Pius XII that he "did not like" pastoral work. While a pastor, Breitinger learned the Polish language
.
After the German invasion of Poland
, Breitinger was arrested on September 1, 1939 and asked to report to local police as "formality". Instead, Breitinger, the German expatriate, and Volksdeutsche were led around the countryside in a "three-week life-threatening ordeal". Forced to undergo a gamut of verbal and physical abuse, Breitinger was at one point hit in the head with a brick which he later theorized would have been fatal if not for his glasses
. Some of his fellow captives succumbed to the ordeal or were murdered. Eventually, Breitinger was abandoned as the vigilantes found themselves between the retreating Polish and advancing German armies.
When the German army
came upon Breitinger and the Volksdeutsche they sang "Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles'", the German national anthem. Similar accounts of abuse of Volksdeutsche, especially ethnic German priests, are common during this period, and Breitinger's story comports in large part to that of August Rauhut. However, for the next four years, Poland's 1.5 million Volksdeutsche "could literally cash in on the cruelties that the German occupational authorities heaped upon their Polish neighbors", until Polish and Soviet forces ended the German occupation. During this period, Breitinger came to regard Polish Catholicism as "superficial" as—in his letters—he tried to explain how "all this was possible in a Catholic country". However, Breitinger's formerly "disenchanted" opinion of Pius XII reversed in 1943 when he wrote that the pope's "heroic silence" would "create the foundation for a new peaceful order in the world".
to the Catholic faithful of German language within Reichsgau Wartheland
. Breitinger was Paech's right-hand assistant, who took part in the negotiations with the Reichsgau
. Heart disease
forced Paech to retire from the post in 1942, and Breitinger was appointed as his successor on May 2, 1942. For the Catholic parishioners of Polish language in Wartheland Cesare Orsenigo appointed Poznań's Auxiliary Bishop
Walenty Dymek as apostolic administrator on 9 April 1942, however, in August the same year he declared his resignation due to the German obstruction and violence.
, a portion of Poland annexed into Nazi Germany
. Though this action fell short of the German demand that a new German church administration be created for the occupied territories (subject to the terms of the Reichskonkordat
, which would have given Nazi Germany a voice in appointments), "betrayal was exactly what the Poles felt". Breitinger was nominally responsible for the spiritual well-being of German Catholics living in Poland. Breitinger was the recommendation of Cesare Orsenigo
, the nuncio to Germany. After Cardinal
August Hlond, the Primate of Poland, was forced to flee, Breitinger assisted Bishop Dymek, whom Hlond had appointed vicar general
of Poznań, in the administration of the Diocese of Gnesen-Posen (the diocese of the primate).
Breitinger was, however, more sympathetic to the condition of Polish Catholics than Cesare Orsenigo, the nuncio to Berlin (with his authority extended to Poland).Phayer, 2008, p. 29. For example, when relaying a letter critical of the Pope's silence on the condition of Poland to Orsenigo, he also gave a second copy to Bishop Michael von Faulhaber (correctly) trusting only the second to deliver the letter to Rome. Breitinger's second correspondence to Rome in 1942, he reported that unlike in Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
, another Nazi Gau comprising also annexed Polish area, in Arthur Greiser
's Nazi prototype region of Wartheland Volksdeutsche Catholics were pressured to "drop their affiliation with the church" to secure advancement and the other fruits of the occupation, while Polish Catholics were treated far more harshly.
Many members of the Polish Catholic hierarchy and the Polish government-in-exile regarded the appointment of Breitinger and other German bishops to Polish territory
as a violation of the Concordat of 1925
. However, Bishop Dymek, and Gniezno's Cathedral Capitular
Eduard van Blericq, whom Hlond had appointed vicar general for Gniezno, had pleaded to comply Greiser's policy of ethnic segregation in order to prevent him suppressing any church life. For example, in September 1942, the exiled Bishop Karol Mieczyslaw Radonski wrote two letters to Rome protesting these appointments which—in his view—"signaled the Vatican's willingness to let Hitler have the northwest sector of Poland that he had incorporated into his Greater Reich". Radonski criticized Pius XII directly: "et Papa tacet, tamquamsi nihil eum interesset de ovibus" ("and the pope keeps quiet as though these matters are of no interest to him"). The appointment of Breitinger and other German prelates was the pretext of the Polish Provisional Government for declaring the Concordat "null and void" in 1945.
, transferring to the Upper Bavaria
n monastery of Maria Eck in 1953, and to a Vienna seminary and hospital chaplaincy in 1959. In 1964, he was elected the provincial leader of the Austrian Franciscans monasteries.
In 1972 he returned to the Guardian of the Graz
monastery and the pastor of Graz-Mariahilf. In 1978, he returned to Maria Eck in Upper Bavaria. In Maria Eck, he began to write his memoirs, published in 1984. In 1992, Pope John Paul II
gave a special blessing to Breitinger on his birthday, expressing his "appreciation of his tireless pastoral ministry and apostolic ministry deserving as Apostolic Administrator of German Catholics in the Warta". Breitinger died on August 23, 1994.
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
prelate made apostolic administrator
Apostolic Administrator
An apostolic administrator in the Roman Catholic Church is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as the ordinary for an apostolic administration...
of the Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
by Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
, one of the most controversial examples of the reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II
Reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II
The reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II was an issue faced by Pope Pius XII of whether to extend the apostolic authority of Catholic bishops from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to German-occupied Europe during World War II....
. Breitinger's appointment and those like it were the justification of the Polish Provisional Government for declaring the Concordat of 1925
Concordat of 1925
The 1925 concordat between the Holy See and the Second Polish Republic had 27 articles, which guaranteed the freedom of the Church and the faithful...
"null and void" in 1945.
Early life
Breitinger was born as Lorenz Breitinger on 7 June, 1907 in GlattbachGlattbach
Glattbach is a community in the Aschaffenburg district in the Regierungsbezirk of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany.-Location:The community lies in a valley north of Aschaffenburg on the western edge of the Spessart ....
near Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg
Aschaffenburg is a city in northwest Bavaria, Germany. The town of Aschaffenburg is not considered part of the district of Aschaffenburg, but is the administrative seat.Aschaffenburg is known as the Tor zum Spessart or "gate to the Spessart"...
. His parents were Martin, a carpenter, and Barbara Breitinger. He decided to study theology and enter the Order of Friars Minor
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
("Franciscans") after high school. He was ordained in 1932.
According to Phayer, Breitinger is the "key to unraveling" the contradictory accounts of Catholicism in Poland between Poles of German ethnicity (Nazi term Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche
Volksdeutsche - "German in terms of people/folk" -, defined ethnically, is a historical term from the 20th century. The words volk and volkische conveyed in Nazi thinking the meanings of "folk" and "race" while adding the sense of superior civilization and blood...
) and those of Polish ethnicity. At the invitation of Primate Hlond, Breitinger (a German expatriate
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...
of Franconia
Franconia
Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...
n descent) entered Poland in 1934 and began administering to Poles of German ethnicity in Poznań
Poznan
Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
's church of St. Anthony of Padua, under the authority of the Bundestreffen der Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe (LWW) as a pastor at a local Franciscan church. Breitinger wrote in a letter to Pius XII that he "did not like" pastoral work. While a pastor, Breitinger learned the Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
.
After the German invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, Breitinger was arrested on September 1, 1939 and asked to report to local police as "formality". Instead, Breitinger, the German expatriate, and Volksdeutsche were led around the countryside in a "three-week life-threatening ordeal". Forced to undergo a gamut of verbal and physical abuse, Breitinger was at one point hit in the head with a brick which he later theorized would have been fatal if not for his glasses
Glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
. Some of his fellow captives succumbed to the ordeal or were murdered. Eventually, Breitinger was abandoned as the vigilantes found themselves between the retreating Polish and advancing German armies.
When the German army
Wehrmacht
The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...
came upon Breitinger and the Volksdeutsche they sang "Deutschland, Deutschland über Alles'", the German national anthem. Similar accounts of abuse of Volksdeutsche, especially ethnic German priests, are common during this period, and Breitinger's story comports in large part to that of August Rauhut. However, for the next four years, Poland's 1.5 million Volksdeutsche "could literally cash in on the cruelties that the German occupational authorities heaped upon their Polish neighbors", until Polish and Soviet forces ended the German occupation. During this period, Breitinger came to regard Polish Catholicism as "superficial" as—in his letters—he tried to explain how "all this was possible in a Catholic country". However, Breitinger's formerly "disenchanted" opinion of Pius XII reversed in 1943 when he wrote that the pope's "heroic silence" would "create the foundation for a new peaceful order in the world".
Assistant to Paech
In 1941, Pius XII appointed Poznań's Capitular vicar Joseph Paech (1880–1942), a Pole of German ethnicity, as apostolic administratorApostolic Administrator
An apostolic administrator in the Roman Catholic Church is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as the ordinary for an apostolic administration...
to the Catholic faithful of German language within Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
. Breitinger was Paech's right-hand assistant, who took part in the negotiations with the Reichsgau
Reichsgau
A Reichsgau was an administrative subdivision created in a number of the areas annexed to Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1945...
. Heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
forced Paech to retire from the post in 1942, and Breitinger was appointed as his successor on May 2, 1942. For the Catholic parishioners of Polish language in Wartheland Cesare Orsenigo appointed Poznań's Auxiliary Bishop
Auxiliary bishop
An auxiliary bishop, in the Roman Catholic Church, is an additional bishop assigned to a diocese because the diocesan bishop is unable to perform his functions, the diocese is so extensive that it requires more than one bishop to administer, or the diocese is attached to a royal or imperial office...
Walenty Dymek as apostolic administrator on 9 April 1942, however, in August the same year he declared his resignation due to the German obstruction and violence.
Administrator to the Wartheland
In May 1942, Pius XII made Breitinger apostolic administrator to Catholics of German language in the Reichsgau WarthelandReichsgau Wartheland
Reichsgau Wartheland was a Nazi German Reichsgau formed from Polish territory annexed in 1939. It comprised the Greater Poland and adjacent areas, and only in part matched the area of the similarly named pre-Versailles Prussian province of Posen...
, a portion of Poland annexed into Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
. Though this action fell short of the German demand that a new German church administration be created for the occupied territories (subject to the terms of the Reichskonkordat
Reichskonkordat
The Reichskonkordat is a treaty that was agreed between the Holy See and Nazi government, that guarantees the rights of the Catholic Church in Germany. It was signed on July 20, 1933 by Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli and Vice Chancellor Franz von Papen on behalf of Pope Pius XI and President...
, which would have given Nazi Germany a voice in appointments), "betrayal was exactly what the Poles felt". Breitinger was nominally responsible for the spiritual well-being of German Catholics living in Poland. Breitinger was the recommendation of Cesare Orsenigo
Cesare Orsenigo
Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo was Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 1930 to 1945, during the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II...
, the nuncio to Germany. After Cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
August Hlond, the Primate of Poland, was forced to flee, Breitinger assisted Bishop Dymek, whom Hlond had appointed vicar general
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
of Poznań, in the administration of the Diocese of Gnesen-Posen (the diocese of the primate).
Breitinger was, however, more sympathetic to the condition of Polish Catholics than Cesare Orsenigo, the nuncio to Berlin (with his authority extended to Poland).Phayer, 2008, p. 29. For example, when relaying a letter critical of the Pope's silence on the condition of Poland to Orsenigo, he also gave a second copy to Bishop Michael von Faulhaber (correctly) trusting only the second to deliver the letter to Rome. Breitinger's second correspondence to Rome in 1942, he reported that unlike in Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia
The Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia was a Nazi German province created on 8 October 1939 from the territory of the annexed Free City of Danzig, the annexed Polish province Greater Pomeranian Voivodship , and the Nazi German Regierungsbezirk West Prussia of Gau East Prussia. Before 2 November 1939,...
, another Nazi Gau comprising also annexed Polish area, in Arthur Greiser
Arthur Greiser
Arthur Greiser was a Nazi German politician and SS Obergruppenfuhrer. He was one of the persons primarily responsible for organizing the Holocaust in Poland and numerous other war crimes and crimes against humanity, for which he was tried, convicted and executed by hanging after World War...
's Nazi prototype region of Wartheland Volksdeutsche Catholics were pressured to "drop their affiliation with the church" to secure advancement and the other fruits of the occupation, while Polish Catholics were treated far more harshly.
Many members of the Polish Catholic hierarchy and the Polish government-in-exile regarded the appointment of Breitinger and other German bishops to Polish territory
Reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II
The reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II was an issue faced by Pope Pius XII of whether to extend the apostolic authority of Catholic bishops from Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy to German-occupied Europe during World War II....
as a violation of the Concordat of 1925
Concordat of 1925
The 1925 concordat between the Holy See and the Second Polish Republic had 27 articles, which guaranteed the freedom of the Church and the faithful...
. However, Bishop Dymek, and Gniezno's Cathedral Capitular
Chapter (religion)
Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches....
Eduard van Blericq, whom Hlond had appointed vicar general for Gniezno, had pleaded to comply Greiser's policy of ethnic segregation in order to prevent him suppressing any church life. For example, in September 1942, the exiled Bishop Karol Mieczyslaw Radonski wrote two letters to Rome protesting these appointments which—in his view—"signaled the Vatican's willingness to let Hitler have the northwest sector of Poland that he had incorporated into his Greater Reich". Radonski criticized Pius XII directly: "et Papa tacet, tamquamsi nihil eum interesset de ovibus" ("and the pope keeps quiet as though these matters are of no interest to him"). The appointment of Breitinger and other German prelates was the pretext of the Polish Provisional Government for declaring the Concordat "null and void" in 1945.
Return to Germany
As the Red Army advanced, Breitinger fled Poland in 1944, returning to his Franciscan order in Germany. In 1947 he became the Guardian of the Franciscan monastery of WürzburgWürzburg
Würzburg is a city in the region of Franconia which lies in the northern tip of Bavaria, Germany. Located at the Main River, it is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk Lower Franconia. The regional dialect is Franconian....
, transferring to the Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria
Upper Bavaria is one of the seven administrative regions of Bavaria, Germany.- Geography :Upper Bavaria is located in the southern portion of Bavaria, and is centered around the city of Munich. It is subdivided into four regions : Ingolstadt, Munich, Bayerisches Oberland , and Südostoberbayern...
n monastery of Maria Eck in 1953, and to a Vienna seminary and hospital chaplaincy in 1959. In 1964, he was elected the provincial leader of the Austrian Franciscans monasteries.
In 1972 he returned to the Guardian of the Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
monastery and the pastor of Graz-Mariahilf. In 1978, he returned to Maria Eck in Upper Bavaria. In Maria Eck, he began to write his memoirs, published in 1984. In 1992, Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
gave a special blessing to Breitinger on his birthday, expressing his "appreciation of his tireless pastoral ministry and apostolic ministry deserving as Apostolic Administrator of German Catholics in the Warta". Breitinger died on August 23, 1994.
Works by Breitinger
- 1984. Als Deutschenseelsorger in Posen und im Warthegau 1934–1945: Erinnerungen. Mainz: Grünewald.