Reorganization of occupied dioceses during World War II
Encyclopedia
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....
of whether to extend the apostolic authority of Catholic bishops from 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...
and Fascist Italy
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
to German-occupied Europe 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...
.
Although such reorganization was often refused, the decision of Pius XII to appoint German apostolic administrators to occupied Poland was "one of his most controversial decisions". These actions were the primary 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, an act that had tremendous consequences for post-war Polish-Holy See relations. There was no Apostolic Nuncio to Poland
Apostolic Nuncio to Poland
The Apostolic Nuncio to Poland is one of the oldest nuncios, appointed by the Pope as apostolic representative to the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. Three nuncios to Poland went on to be elected pope...
between 1947 and 1989.
History
A note from Reich ambassador to the Holy See Diego von BergenDiego von Bergen
Dr. Carl-Ludwig Diego von Bergen was the ambassador to the Holy See from the Kingdom of Prussia , the Weimar Republic , and Nazi Germany , most notably during the negotiation of the Reichskonkordat and during World War II.From 1930 to 1943, by virtue of seniority, von Bergen was also the doyen of...
dated August 29, 1941 demands that "all ecclesiastical appointments to important posts in annexed or occupied regions be first communicated to Berlin". von Bergen's note was meant to apply to all "residential bishops, coadjutors with the right of succession, prelati nullius, 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...
s, capitular vicars, and all having equivalent functions in the government of a diocese". Explicitly included in this demand were Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
, Lorraine
Lorraine (province)
The Duchy of Upper Lorraine was an historical duchy roughly corresponding with the present-day northeastern Lorraine region of France, including parts of modern Luxembourg and Germany. The main cities were Metz, Verdun, and the historic capital Nancy....
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, lower Styria
Lower Styria
Lower Styria or Slovenian Styria is a traditional region in northeastern Slovenia, comprising the southern third of the former Duchy of Styria. The population of Lower Styria in its historical boundaries amounts to around 705,000 inhabitants, or 34.5% of the population of Slovenia...
, Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
, and Carniole, as Germany viewed the right of consultation on appointments granted by 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...
as extending to occupied territory.
The Holy See explicitly refused this demand on January 18. Tardini wrote in August 1940 that:
The present historical moment is very serious from this point of view: Hitler, the persecutor of the Church and the master of much of Europe, wishes in one way or another to impose the appointment of German bishops within non-German territories, and he wants to exercise and influence on the appointments, more so than previously agreed to... What can the Holy See do? It can do what it has always done: reaffirm and defend its liberty, firmly maintain its rights against government coercion when such pressure is detrimental to the good of souls. The people will joyfully greet such apostolic firmness on the part of the Holy See and will stand close around it as the sole herald of divine truth and the sole protector of human dignity.
Albania
Mussolini invaded AlbaniaItalian invasion of Albania
The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom. The conflict was a result of the imperialist policies of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini...
on Good Friday
Good Friday
Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...
1939. By the end of the war, most of the surviving Catholic priests in Albania were of Italian origin, having been utilized by the fascist regime for the expansion of Italian culture and influence. Following the Italian invasion, "the Catholic Church enjoyed a position of favour and influence throughout the Second World War". Anton Harapi, a Catholic priest, was made regent, and Maliq Bey Bushati, a Catholic, was made prime minister. According to Kent, "in Albania, more than in any other country, the Catholic Church had been an antinational force in the service of the national enemy".
Belgium
The deaneriesDeanery
A Deanery is an ecclesiastical entity in both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. A deanery is either the jurisdiction or residence of a Dean.- Catholic usage :...
of Eupen
Eupen
Eupen is a municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border , from the Dutch border and from the "High Fens" nature reserve...
, Malmedy
Malmedy
Malmedy is a municipality of Belgium. It lies in the country's Walloon Region, Province of Liège. It belongs to the French Community of Belgium, within which it is French-speaking with facilities for German-speakers. On January 1, 2006 Malmedy had a total population of 11,829...
, and Moresnet
Moresnet
Neutral Moresnet was a tiny Belgian-Prussian condominium that existed from 1816 to 1920 between present-day Belgium and Germany. Prior to Belgian independence in 1830, the territory was a Dutch-Prussian condominium...
, all Diocese of Liège
Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Liège is a diocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic church in Belgium. The diocese was erected in the 4th century, and has a long and complicated history...
, but annexed to Nazi Germany, were subordinated to an Apostolic Administrator, first (1941–1943) Hermann Joseph Sträter, diocesan administrator of Aachen, and then (1943–1945) Johannes van der Velden, Bishop of Aachen.
Czecholovakia (western part)
The heartland of Western Czechoslovakia became the Protectorate of Bohemia and MoraviaProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
of the Reich in 1939. In October 1938 the western border regions of Czechoslovakia had been dissected and annexed mostly by 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...
(Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
) and, to a small extent, by the Second Polish Republic
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
(Zaolžje
Zaolzie
Zaolzie is the Polish name for an area now in the Czech Republic which was disputed between interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia. The name means "lands beyond the Olza River"; it is also called Śląsk zaolziański, meaning "trans-Olza Silesia". Equivalent terms in other languages include Zaolší in...
, an area of Czechoslovak Silesia
Czech Silesia
Czech Silesia is an unofficial name of one of the three Czech lands and a section of the Silesian historical region. It is located in the north-east of the Czech Republic, predominantly in the Moravian-Silesian Region, with a section in the northern Olomouc Region...
). These annexations had only partially been internationally recognised at the time, and reversed after World War II. Most of the people in the Budejovice diocese were of Czech ethnicity (with a small German minority). A. Eltschkner was appointed bishop and the German government was notified even before an announcement appeared in L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano
L'Osservatore Romano is the "semi-official" newspaper of the Holy See. It covers all the Pope's public activities, publishes editorials by important churchmen, and runs official documents after being released...
. On July 24 von Bergen demanded a bishop of German ethnicity or nationality for Budejovice (hinting his favor for J. Remiger), referencing the appointment of French bishops to Metz and Strasbourg
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Strasbourg is an archdiocese of the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church in France.The archdiocese is unique in France as it has no suffragans and is immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome....
in 1919. An investigation was conducted by the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
The Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs was a congregation of the Roman Curia, erected by Pope Pius VII on 19 July 1814 by extending the competence to the Sacred Congregation for the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Kingdom of France , which Pope Pius VI had set up in 1793...
, which concluded that the original appointment should be followed through with.
After the Polish takeover of Zaolžje, never internationally recognised, the Polish government had requested the Holy See to disentangle the parishes there from either the Archdiocese of Breslau (northerly Zaolžje) or the Archdiocese of Olomouc (southerly Zaolžje), respectively, both traditionally comprising cross-border diocesan territories in Czechoslovakia and Germany. The Holy See complied and Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
then subjected the Catholic parishes in Zaolžje to an apostolic administration under Stanisław Adamski, Bishop of Katowice, who held that position until 31 December 1939. On 23 December 1939 Orsenigo appointed – with effect of 1 January 1940 – Breslau's Archbishop Adolf Bertram and Olomouc' Archbishop Leopold Prečan as apostolic administrators for exactly those Catholic parishes of Zaolžje, where Pius XI had deposed them in 1938.
Estonia
Eduard Profittlich, S.J.Society of Jesus
The Society of Jesus is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits, and are also known colloquially as "God's Army" and as "The Company," these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and a...
, the apostolic administration of Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, was one of many Catholic clergy victims of the Soviet deportations from Estonia
Soviet deportations from Estonia
As the Soviet Union had occupied Estonia in 1940 and retaken it from Nazi Germany again in 1944, tens of thousands of Estonia's citizens underwent deportation in the 1940s...
in 1941. The Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, Army Group North reached Estonia in July.Initially the Germans were perceived by most Estonians as liberators from the USSR and its repressions, having arrived only a week after the first mass deportations from the Baltics...
actively prevented the Catholic hierarchy from re-constituting itself, although Jesuit Henri Werling was permitted to assume the duties of Msgr. Profittlich.
France
Charles Ruch, Bishop of Strasbourg was expelled after the German annexation and could only return in 1945.After a francophile manifestation on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption of Mary
Assumption of Mary
According to the belief of Christians of the Roman Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, and parts of the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglicanism, the Assumption of Mary was the bodily taking up of the Virgin Mary into Heaven at the end of her life...
(15 August) in 1940 the Nazi occupants expelled Joseph-Jean Heintz, Bishop of Metz and he could only return in autumn 1944.
Hungary
HungaryHungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
obtained some territory of former Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
on August 29, 1940 and in turn demanded ecclesiastical reorganization. This was denied by the Holy See.
Lithuania
An agreement between Lithuania and the Soviet Union brought the city of WilnoVilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
and the Wilno Region
Vilnius region
Vilnius Region , refers to the territory in the present day Lithuania, that was originally inhabited by ethnic Baltic tribes and was a part of Lithuania proper, but came under East Slavic and Polish cultural influences over time,...
under the jurisdiction of still independent Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
on October 10, 1940. The Lithuanian government requested to have archbishop Romuald Jałbrzykowski removed from the see. The reply of Cardinal Secretary of State Luigi Maglione was that "the government of Kaunas
Kaunas
Kaunas is the second-largest city in Lithuania and has historically been a leading centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaunas was the biggest city and the center of a powiat in Trakai Voivodeship of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1413. During Russian Empire occupation...
should appreciate that the Holy See cannot run behind armies and change bishops as combat troops occupy new territory belonging to countries other than their own". Jałbrzykowski was expelled by the Germans in 1942. When auxiliary bishop Mečislovas Reinys
Mecislovas Reinys
Mečislovas Reinys was the Lithuanian Roman Catholic bishop, a professor at Vytautas Magnus University, a Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and a social activist who publicly condemned racism and national hatred...
took over Jałbrzykowski, further tension was sparked between the Poles and Lithuanians.
Poland
Following the occupation of Poland (1939–1945), the government of dioceses was "one of the first questions the Holy See had to face". Many of the main sees were vacant prior to the war, including Warsaw, where Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski had died in December 1938. In Cracow, elderly Archbishop Adam Stefan SapiehaAdam Stefan Sapieha
Prince Adam Stefan Stanisław Bonifacy Józef Sapieha was a Polish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Kraków. Between 1922–1923 he was a senator of the Second Rzeczpospolita. In 1946, Pope Pius XII created him Cardinal....
had sent his letter of resignation to the pope.
Cardinal August Hlond, the primate of Poland, was unable to return to his Archdioceses of Poznań-Gniezno, having accompanied the Polish government-in-exile to Romania
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
and then continued to Rome. However, he had appointed vicars general to represent him, Cathedral Capitular
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
Eduard van Blericq for Gniezno and 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 for Poznań.
Other bishops had been forced out of their diocese in the first days of the war, such as Stanisław Okoniewski, the bishop of Chełmno-Pelplin, and Karol Mieczysław Radoński, the bishop of Włocławek. Archibshop Antoni Julian Nowowiejski
Antoni Julian Nowowiejski
Antoni Julian Nowowiejski was a Polish bishop of Płock , titular archbishop of Silyum, first secretary of Polish Episcopal Conference , honorary citizen of Płock and historian...
of Płock diocese was killedat Soldau Cocentration Kamp i Działdów. Furthermore, Radoński's auxiliary bishop Michał Kozal was arrested by the end of 1939 and eventually died in Dachau concentration camp; the auxiliary of Lublin, Bishop Władysław Goral was similarly arrested and killed in Oranienburg-Sachsenhausen as was Bishop Leon Wetmanski, the auxiliary of Płock, at Auschwitz. Indeed, the German occupants undertook a systematic policy of forcing bishops from their diocese, interning and arresting them.
Approximately 2,600, or 20% of all, Polish clergy members were killed by the Nazis, including five of the six bishops 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...
; priests were targeted for their resistance activities and cultural importance. Along the Nazi-Soviet demarcation line, established by the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, rather than appointing new bishops in the newly dissected dioceses, the bishops of neighboring diocese were made to serve as 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...
s. The apostolic administrators in turn were to designate two priests who could replace them in the event of their death or arrest.Blet, 1999, p. 72.
Almost immediately, the Reich's ambassador to the Holy See, Diego von Bergen
Diego von Bergen
Dr. Carl-Ludwig Diego von Bergen was the ambassador to the Holy See from the Kingdom of Prussia , the Weimar Republic , and Nazi Germany , most notably during the negotiation of the Reichskonkordat and during World War II.From 1930 to 1943, by virtue of seniority, von Bergen was also the doyen of...
made clear that Nazi Germany would like to see German prelates made temporary administrators of the sees whose bishops had been deposed. Prelate Franz Hartz, German Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl, was suggested by the ambassador as administrator for Gniezno-Poznań, Danzig's Bishop Carl Maria Splett
Carl Maria Splett
Carl Maria Splett was a German Roman Catholic priest and Bishop of Danzig, after World War II he was imprisoned in Poland and exiled in West Germany.-Early life:...
for Chełmno-Pelplin, and Breslau's Archbishop Adolf Bertram for Katowice, which had been disentangled from his see in 1922. According to Monsignore Domenico Tardini, Pius XII "acknowledging the soundness of this proposal, has decided to postpone it". Except of Splett the Holy See did not take up any of the proposals.
As the nuncio to Warsaw
Apostolic Nuncio to Poland
The Apostolic Nuncio to Poland is one of the oldest nuncios, appointed by the Pope as apostolic representative to the Roman Catholic Church in Poland. Three nuncios to Poland went on to be elected pope...
, Filippo Cortesi
Filippo Cortesi
Filippo Cortesi was the Apostolic Nuncio to Poland from December 24, 1936 to February 1, 1947. Cortesi earlier served as nuncio to Paraguay in the interim. Cortesi was the only nuncio to Poland never to become a cardinal....
, had fled with the government-in-exile, Pius XII extended the jurisdiction 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
Apostolic Nunciature to Germany
The Apostolic Nunciature to Germany is an ecclesiastical office of the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. It is a diplomatic post of the Holy See, whose representative is called the Apostolic Nuncio to Germany with the rank of an ambassador. The office of the nunciature has been located in Berlin...
, to Poland on November 1. Nazi Germany strictly opposed Orsenigo's competence for Poland because the Holy See did not recognise the German annexations of Polish territory and Danzig, but upheld its diplomatic ties with the Polish government-in-exile.
By November 29, Pius XII reversed his stance against appointing foreigners to sees in occupied Poland. Orsenigo suggested to Pius XII it would be "opportune to appoint" Splett as apostolic administrator to Chełmno-Pelplin. Splett was bishop of then exempt Danzig diocese which belonged to the nunciature to Poland, and he was a Danziger, thus no German until the annexation of his home country only weeks before his appointment. So Pius XII agreed that Orsenigo designated Splett the apostolic administrator to Chełmno-Pelplin with effect of 5 December 1939. The government-in-exile, now in London, saw this as a betrayal of the 1925 concordat between the Holy See and Poland, which prohibited placing any Polish territory under the jurisdiction of a bishop outside Poland. It was very unusual that not the Consistorial Congregation or the Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs
The Sacred Congregation for Extraordinary Ecclesiastical Affairs was a congregation of the Roman Curia, erected by Pope Pius VII on 19 July 1814 by extending the competence to the Sacred Congregation for the Ecclesiastical Affairs of the Kingdom of France , which Pope Pius VI had set up in 1793...
, respectively, in the papal name, but Orsenigo, using special papal plenipotentiary powers, appointed Splett, a peculiarity repeating with each appointment of foreign apostolic administrators in German annexed and occupied Poland.
On 23 December 1939 Orsenigo appointed Bertram and Leopold Prečan, Archbishop of Olomouc, as apostolic administrators for the Catholic parishes in Zaolzie
Zaolzie
Zaolzie is the Polish name for an area now in the Czech Republic which was disputed between interwar Poland and Czechoslovakia. The name means "lands beyond the Olza River"; it is also called Śląsk zaolziański, meaning "trans-Olza Silesia". Equivalent terms in other languages include Zaolší in...
with effect of 1 January 1940. Zaolzie was actually a Czechoslovak area, which Poland had annexed on 2 October 1938 on the grounds that most Czechoslovaks there were of Polish ethnicity. The parishes there actually had belonged either to the Archdiocese of Breslau or to the Archdiocese of Olomouc, respectively, both traditionally comprising cross-border diocesan territories in Czechoslovakia and Germany.
When the Polish government demanded after the Polish takeover of Zaolzie, still lacking international recognition, that the parishes there be disentangled from these two archdioceses, the Holy See complied. Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
then subjected the Catholic parishes in Zaolzie to an apostolic administration under Stanisław Adamski, Bishop of Katowice. So in Zaolzie Bertram and Prečan replaced Adamski in 1940, who again had replaced them there in 1938. It is wrong, however, that Bertram - as apostolic administrator - replaced Adamski as bishop of Katowice.
On 22 June 1940 Orsenigo informed Splett that he would appoint him also apostolic administrator for the diocesan territories of Płock (Lipno county) and of Włocławek (Rypin county) within 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,...
, if the respective bishops would consent. Bishop Antoni Julian Nowowiejski
Antoni Julian Nowowiejski
Antoni Julian Nowowiejski was a Polish bishop of Płock , titular archbishop of Silyum, first secretary of Polish Episcopal Conference , honorary citizen of Płock and historian...
of Płock agreed. After Nowowiejski's murder in Soldau concentration camp
Soldau concentration camp
The Soldau concentration camp was a concentration camp established by Nazi Germany during World War II in Działdowo , which after the occupation of Poland was part of East Prussia....
on 28 May 1941 the Holy See invested his vicar general Stanisław Figielski as apostolic administrator on 6 March 1942. On 7 January 1941 the Holy See appointed Bolesław Gumowski for the German annexed Suwałki Region within the Diocese of Łomża.
In early 1941 Bertram, Metropolitan bishop of the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province and speaker of the Fulda Conference of Bishops, rejected the request to admit the Danzig diocese as member in his ecclesiastical province and at the conference. Any arguments that Free City of Danzig had been annexed to Nazi Germany, did not impress since Danzig's annexation lacked international recognition.
Bishop Adamski of Katowice, whom German occupants prevented from carrying out his duties since 1940, had appointed Franz Stryż as vicar general. In early 1941 Adamski was expelled from Katowice diocese, this made Stryż appeal at Orsenigo in March the same year to invest Heinrich Wienken as apostolic administrator. However, the Holy See refused. After Stryż's death the exiled Adamski secretly invested as new vicar general Franz Wosnitza (1902–1979) on 3 June 1942. Grown up in Königshütte (Chorzów
Chorzów
Chorzów is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. Chorzów is one of the central districts of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metropolis with a population of 2 million...
) Wosnitza had been studying Catholic theology in Breslau, when his home town turned Polish in 1922. He then decided to move back home, to become bilingual and to live as 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...
in the Polish Katowice diocese, where its then Bishop Hlond consecrated him priest on 20 June 1926. He started a career as priest also serving the minority of Poles of German native language. The Consistorial Congregation, pretending the late Stryż had chosen Wosnitza, confirmed the latter as vicar general, an act not required by canon law for a vicar general appointed by his bishop, in order to help Adamski concealing that he still acted in secret as bishop of Katowice. Wosnitza's appointment silenced the claims of the German occupants to invest an apostolic administrator of their choice.
On 18 October 1941 Orsenigo appointed Joseph Paech (1880–1942), Capitular vicar of Poznań-Gniezno, as Apostolic administrator for the Catholics among the German minority in Poland
German minority in Poland
The registered German minority in Poland consists of 152,900 people, according to a 2002 census.The German language is used in certain areas in Opole Voivodeship , where most of the minority resides...
within Reichsgau Wartheland. For the Catholic parishioners of Polish language in Wartheland Orsenigo appointed Auxiliary Bishop 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.
After Paech's resignation through ill health Nazi Germany requested that Pius XII appoint a German apostolic administrator. On 2 May 1942 Orsenigo then made Father Hilarius Breitinger
Hilarius Breitinger
Hilarius Breitinger, OFM Conv 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...
, since 1934 serving as German expatriate at Poznań's Franciscan Church of St. Anthony of Padua, the apostolic administrator to the Reichsgau Wartheland for the Catholic parishioners of German language. The Polish government-in-exile protested the appointments of Breitinger and Splett as violations of the concordat. On November 12, the government-in-exile issued a statement from London stating that "Pius XII's decision is tantamount to the acceptance of illegal German demands and comprises an unfriendly act towards the Polish people". Relations between the Holy See and the government-in-exile appreciably worsened, and the Holy See countered that the government-in-exile itself had abrogated the concordat by not ensuring the communication between the Vatican and the Polish clergy. According to Phayer, "betrayal was exactly what Poles felt when Pius appointed the German Fransiscan Breitinger the apostolic administrator to the Wartheland in May 1942".
However, Pius XII appointed the foreigners Splett, and Breitinger to fill the Polish bishoprics in parallel with the Polish incumbents, complying with German demands, originating from Wartheland's Reichsstatthalter 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...
, that only German clergy could fulfill the spiritual needs of ethnic Germans.
While the bishops living under German occupation, like Adamski, Teodor Kubina (1880–1951; Częstochowa), Nowowiejski, and Sapieha considered their agreement to and the appointments of administrators for (parts of) their dioceses as the only way to maintain some precarious, though, modus vivendi for the Catholic Church under the anti-Christian and anti-Polish ideology of Nazism, bishops in exile like Hlond and Radoński were more concerned about these emergency measurements, because Polish Catholics could resent them as additional humiliation, and Nazi Germany could gain from them a propagandist benefit, misinterpreting them as complaisances by the Holy See.
Post-war legacy
On September 12, 1945, the Provisional Government of Poland
History of Poland (1945–1989)
The history of Poland from 1945 to 1989 spans the period of Soviet Communist dominance imposed after the end of World War II over the People's Republic of Poland...
declared 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 as a result of the "unilateral violation by the Holy See stemming from illegal conduct repudiating its principles during the occupation", primarily as a result of the appointment of German apostolic administrators in violation of article 9.
German prelates in Poland after the war were viewed as collaborators with the occupation. Carl Maria Splett
Carl Maria Splett
Carl Maria Splett was a German Roman Catholic priest and Bishop of Danzig, after World War II he was imprisoned in Poland and exiled in West Germany.-Early life:...
, the bishop of Danzig and administrator of Chełmno was tried for collaboration in January 1946. He was accused of aiding the persecution by suppressing 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...
within his diocese and barring the return of Polish prelates even after they were released from the concentration camps. When he defended himself by claiming he was following the orders of the Gestapo
Gestapo
The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...
, the prosecution retorted that he just as easily could say he was following the orders of the pope. On February 2, 1946 the special tribunal in Gdansk sentence Splett to eight years in prison, denial of civil rights for five years, and confiscation of property. The trial of Splett galvanized widespread anti-Vatican sentiment among Polish Catholics.