Roman Catholic Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl
Encyclopedia
The Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl was a Roman Catholic territorial prelature in first Germany
(Nazi Germany
as of 1933) and then Poland
. It was located first in the Prussian Province
of the Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia
, but also including the Pomeranian
Lauenburg and Bütow Land
. It was named after its seat in Schneidemühl (Piła) and belonged to the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province under the Breslau Metropolia since 1930.
) and the Diocese of Culm remained with Germany after the boundary changes in 1919 and 1920 following World War I
. On 1 December 1920 Archbishop Edmund Dalbor
of Gniezno-Poznań appointed an archiepiscopal delegate with the powers of a vicar general
for the five concerned deaneries
with 45 parish
es and 80,000-100,000 Catholic faithful. Bishop Augustinus Rosentreter of Culm again refused to separate his three concerned deaneries located in the eastern Pomeranian districts of Bütow (Bytow)
and Lauenburg in Pomerania (Lębork)
and southwestern West Prussia
with about 40,000 Catholic parishioners.
Nevertheless, the Holy See
disentangled these deaneries of Culm in 1922 and subordinated them to the archiepiscopal delegate seated in Tütz (Tuczno)
. On 1 May 1923 the Holy See united the concerned deaneries to form the new Apostolic Administration
of Tütz. The Holy See entrusted protonotary
Robert Weimann (1870–1925) with the Administration Apostolic of Tütz.
On 6 July 1926 Maximilian Kaller
succeeded Weimann. On Kaller's instigation the seat of the Administration was moved from Tütz to Schneidemühl (Piła) in 1927, where Kaller then took on the local parish. Schneidemühl had become the capital of Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia
Province, when the Free State of Prussia had reorganised its dissected remnants of the former Provinces of Posen
and of West Prussia
as a province
of their own on 1 July 1922.
Following the 1929 Prussian Concordat
, concluded between the Nuncio to Prussia, Eugenio Pacelli, and the Free State, the administration was elevated to Territorial Prelature within the new Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province under the Metropolia
of Breslau (Wrocław) on 13 August 1930. The prelates were not to be consecrated as bishops. Kaller was elevated to be the first prelate.
In 1930 Kaller founded Katholischer Siedlungsdienst (Catholic Colonisation Service) in Berlin and entrusted Ludwig Sebald Polzin (1892–1964) with its management. During his term the colonisation service bought and parcelled manor estates and founded new settlements in Adlig Rose, Bärenwalde (Bińcze)
, Barkenfelde (Barkowo)
, Eckartsberge (Kolno), Falkenwalde (Sokole), Marienthal, Paradies (Paradyż)
, Philipshof, Sampohl (Sąpolno), Schlichtingsheim (Szlichtyngowa)
, and Schmirtenau (Śmiardowo)
. Later in 1930 Kaller was consecrated in Schneidemühl's Holy Family Concathedral bishop of his new Diocese of Ermland (Warmia), then moving to its diocesan seat in Frauenburg in East Prussia (Frombork)
.
In 1930 the new prelature comprised 74 parishes with 123 priests dispersed in four separate exclaves, on the German side of the border to the Polish Voivodeships of Poznań and of Pomerania. Visiting the parishes in the different exclaves was a tiresome effort. In 1933 the prelature comprised 9,601 km² with 135,310 Catholic parishioners among 427,522 inhabitants. It was divided into eight deaneries
seated in Betsche (Pszczew)
, Bomst (Babimost)
, Deutsch Krone (Wałcz), Flatow (Złotów), Fraustadt (Wschowa)
, Lauenburg in Pomerania (Lębork), Schlochau (Człuchów) and Schneidemühl.
Neighbouring dioceses were Culm in the northeast, Poznań in the east and south, Breslau in the south and Berlin in the west and north. While the Apostolic Administration did not dispose of an efficace administration, the Prelature had a consistory
consisting of five persons, with a vicar general
(Msgr. Johannes Bleske) and an official (Erich Klitsche) since 1930. On 25 February 1931 Franz Hartz succeeded Kaller as prelate.
During the Great Depression
Polzin organised "Katholischer Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst" (Catholic Volunteer Service), an employment-creation measure financed by the prelature. Soon after the Nazi takeover the volunteer service was confiscated by the Reichsarbeitsdienst
, the colonisation service was gradually usurped by the Nazi party and Polzin temporarily taken into Gestapo arrest in 1935, while the Nazis fought the Catholic youth organisations.
In early 1945 Prelate Hartz fled - like many other parishioners too - the invading Soviet
Red Army
and stranded in Fulda
by the end of World War II
. In March 1945 Poland annexed the area and the new Polish authorities expelled most of the remaining and surviving German population to Allied-occupied Germany in the years between 1945 and 1948. Polzin, who served as priest in Rokitten (Rokitno)
since 1936, was expelled on 22 June 1945. Stranded in Berlin he organised the "Katholischer Flüchtlingsdienst" (Catholic Refugee Service), taking care of the destitute refugees and expellees.
Cardinal August Hlond, arrogating his special papal plenipotentiary power to reorganise the Polish episcopate, also appointed apostolic administrators for the German dioceses now under Polish rule. Although Hartz had not resigned, Hlond appointed on 15 August 1945 Edmund Nowicki (1900–1971) with effect of 1 September as administrator for the Prelature and the Diocese of Berlin east of the Oder
. Nowicki was titled Administrator of Cammin, Lebus
and the Prelature Schneidemühl , seated in Gorzów Wielkopolski (Landsberg upon Warthe)
. The anti-clerical Polish government under Bolesław Bierut deposed and banished Nowicki from the administration in 1951. Thus Vicar Tadeusz Załuczkowski replaced him, followed by Vicar Zygmunt Szelążek in 1952.
Prelate Hartz died in 1953 in Hüls, a locality of Krefeld
. In the same year the Schneidemühl Consistory, whose members then lived in the Federal Republic of Germany
, then – following canon law
– elected Polzin capitular vicar for the vacant see
, confirmed by the Holy See on 20 October 1953. In 1956 Teodor Bensch (1903–1958) was appointed administrator of Cammin, Lebus and the Prelature Schneidemühl, succeeded by Jozef Michalski (only 1958), and again by Administrator Wilhelm Pluta (1910–1986), Bishop of the titulature of Leptis Magna, serving as administrator until 1972.
After Polzin's death the Schneidemühl Consistory had elected Wilhelm Volkmann capitular vicar in 1964, holding that position until 1972. With the reorganisation of the formerly Eastern German dioceses in the Polish-annexed areas in 1972 the Prelature of Schneidemühl (Prałatura Pilska) was dissolved and its diocesan area divided between the Dioceses of Gorzów (since 1992 Zielona Góra-Gorzów) and of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg.
The Holy See established the office of a Visitator Apostolic for the diocesans of the Prelature of Schneidemühl exiled in today's Germany. Paul Snowadzki was appointed first visitator in 1972 (till 1982), succeeded by Wolfgang Klemp in the years 1982 to 1997. Currently, Lothar Schlegel is entrusted the visitation of the diocesans of Danzig, Ermland and Schneidemühl living in Germany. In Fulda former Schneidemühl diocesans run the Heimatwerk der Katholiken aus der Freien Prälatur Schneidemühl e.V. (Homeland endowment of the Catholics from the Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl), an association occupied with the history, culture and legacy of the prelature and its diocesans.
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic is the name given by historians to the parliamentary republic established in 1919 in Germany to replace the imperial form of government...
(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...
as of 1933) and then Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
. It was located first in the Prussian Province
Provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
of the Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia
Posen-West Prussia
The border province of historical period Posen-West Prussia was a province of the Free State of Prussia. The capital was Schneidemühl . The province had an area of 7,695 km², and was located within present-day Poland....
, but also including the Pomeranian
Province of Pomerania
The Province of Pomerania was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Free State of Prussia from 1815 until 1945. Afterwards its territory became part of Allied-occupied Germany and Poland....
Lauenburg and Bütow Land
Lauenburg and Bütow Land
Lauenburg and Bütow Land formed a historical region in eastern in eastern Pomerania. Composed of two districts centered around the towns of Lauenburg and Bütow , it was on the western periphery of Pomerelia...
. It was named after its seat in Schneidemühl (Piła) and belonged to the Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province under the Breslau Metropolia since 1930.
History
Parts of the newly Polish bishoprics of the Archdiocese of Gniezno-Poznań (until 1946 in personal unionPersonal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
) and the Diocese of Culm remained with Germany after the boundary changes in 1919 and 1920 following World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. On 1 December 1920 Archbishop Edmund Dalbor
Edmund Dalbor
Edmund Dalbor was a Polish Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań, thus Primate of Poland, from 1915 until his death. Dalbor was elevated to the cardinalate in 1919....
of Gniezno-Poznań appointed an archiepiscopal delegate with the powers of a 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...
for the five concerned deaneries
Deanery
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 :...
with 45 parish
Parish
A parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
es and 80,000-100,000 Catholic faithful. Bishop Augustinus Rosentreter of Culm again refused to separate his three concerned deaneries located in the eastern Pomeranian districts of Bütow (Bytow)
Bytów
Bytów is a town in the Middle Pomerania region of northern Poland in the Bytów Lakeland with 16,888 inhabitants . Previously in Słupsk Voivodeship , it is the capital of Bytów County in Pomeranian Voivodeship .-History:...
and Lauenburg in Pomerania (Lębork)
Lebork
Lębork is a town on the Łeba and Okalica rivers in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland with some 37,000 inhabitants.Lębork is also the capital of Lębork County in Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, formerly in Słupsk Voivodeship ....
and southwestern West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
with about 40,000 Catholic parishioners.
Nevertheless, the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
disentangled these deaneries of Culm in 1922 and subordinated them to the archiepiscopal delegate seated in Tütz (Tuczno)
Tuczno
Tuczno is a town in Wałcz County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland, with 2,014 inhabitants .It is the home of the restored Tuczno Castle, which is a popular place for conferences....
. On 1 May 1923 the Holy See united the concerned deaneries to form the new Apostolic Administration
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 Tütz. The Holy See entrusted protonotary
Protonotary apostolic
In the Roman Catholic Church, protonotary apostolic is the title for a member of the highest non-episcopal college of prelates in the Roman Curia or, outside of Rome, an honorary prelate on whom the pope has conferred this title and its special privileges.-History:In later antiquity there were in...
Robert Weimann (1870–1925) with the Administration Apostolic of Tütz.
On 6 July 1926 Maximilian Kaller
Maximilian Kaller
Maximilian Kaller was Roman Catholic Bishop of Ermland in East Prussia from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.-Early life:...
succeeded Weimann. On Kaller's instigation the seat of the Administration was moved from Tütz to Schneidemühl (Piła) in 1927, where Kaller then took on the local parish. Schneidemühl had become the capital of Frontier March of Posen-West Prussia
Posen-West Prussia
The border province of historical period Posen-West Prussia was a province of the Free State of Prussia. The capital was Schneidemühl . The province had an area of 7,695 km², and was located within present-day Poland....
Province, when the Free State of Prussia had reorganised its dissected remnants of the former Provinces of Posen
Province of Posen
The Province of Posen was a province of Prussia from 1848–1918 and as such part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918. The area was about 29,000 km2....
and of West Prussia
West Prussia
West Prussia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773–1824 and 1878–1919/20 which was created out of the earlier Polish province of Royal Prussia...
as a province
Provinces of Prussia
The Provinces of Prussia constituted the main administrative divisions of Prussia. Following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the Congress of Vienna in 1815 the various princely states in Germany gained their nominal sovereignty, but the reunification process that culminated in...
of their own on 1 July 1922.
Following the 1929 Prussian Concordat
Concordat
A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
, concluded between the Nuncio to Prussia, Eugenio Pacelli, and the Free State, the administration was elevated to Territorial Prelature within the new Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province under the Metropolia
Metropolia
Metropolia may mean:* Metropolia is the pre-1970 general term for the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in America, now known as the Orthodox Church in America .* Metropolia is a Polish Business Magazine published in the UK since 2007....
of Breslau (Wrocław) on 13 August 1930. The prelates were not to be consecrated as bishops. Kaller was elevated to be the first prelate.
In 1930 Kaller founded Katholischer Siedlungsdienst (Catholic Colonisation Service) in Berlin and entrusted Ludwig Sebald Polzin (1892–1964) with its management. During his term the colonisation service bought and parcelled manor estates and founded new settlements in Adlig Rose, Bärenwalde (Bińcze)
Bincze
Bińcze is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Czarne, within Człuchów County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately east of Czarne, west of Człuchów, and south-west of the regional capital Gdańsk....
, Barkenfelde (Barkowo)
Barkowo, Pomeranian Voivodeship
Barkowo is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Człuchów, within Człuchów County, Pomeranian Voivodeship, in northern Poland. It lies approximately west of Człuchów and south-west of the regional capital Gdańsk....
, Eckartsberge (Kolno), Falkenwalde (Sokole), Marienthal, Paradies (Paradyż)
Goscikowo
Gościkowo , formerly Paradyż , is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Świebodzin, within Świebodzin County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland...
, Philipshof, Sampohl (Sąpolno), Schlichtingsheim (Szlichtyngowa)
Szlichtyngowa
Szlichtyngowa is a town in Poland, in the Wschowa County of the Lubuskie Voivodship, near the Oder River.It was founded in 1644, about one mile behind the border between Silesia and Greater Poland by the junker Johann Georg von Schlichting who obtained a royal charter from the King Władysław IV...
, and Schmirtenau (Śmiardowo)
Smiardowo Krajenskie
Śmiardowo Krajeńskie is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Krajenka, within Złotów County, Greater Poland Voivodeship, in west-central Poland. It lies approximately south of Krajenka, south of Złotów, and north of the regional capital Poznań....
. Later in 1930 Kaller was consecrated in Schneidemühl's Holy Family Concathedral bishop of his new Diocese of Ermland (Warmia), then moving to its diocesan seat in Frauenburg in East Prussia (Frombork)
Frombork
Frombork is a town in northern Poland, on the Vistula Lagoon, in Braniewo County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship. It had a population of 2,528 as of 2005....
.
In 1930 the new prelature comprised 74 parishes with 123 priests dispersed in four separate exclaves, on the German side of the border to the Polish Voivodeships of Poznań and of Pomerania. Visiting the parishes in the different exclaves was a tiresome effort. In 1933 the prelature comprised 9,601 km² with 135,310 Catholic parishioners among 427,522 inhabitants. It was divided into eight deaneries
Deanery
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 :...
seated in Betsche (Pszczew)
Pszczew
Pszczew is a village in Międzyrzecz County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina called Gmina Pszczew. It lies approximately east of Międzyrzecz, south-east of Gorzów Wielkopolski, and north of Zielona Góra.The village has a population of 1,826...
, Bomst (Babimost)
Babimost
Babimost is a small town in Poland in the Lubusz Voivodeship, Zielona Gora County.Area: 3,6 km², Population: 4,300 , City rights: 1397...
, Deutsch Krone (Wałcz), Flatow (Złotów), Fraustadt (Wschowa)
Wschowa
Wschowa is a town in the Lubusz Voivodeship in Poland with 14,607 inhabitants . It is the capital of Wschowa County.-History:Wschowa was originally a border fortress in a region disputed by the Polish dukes of Silesia and Greater Poland. After German colonists had established a settlement nearby,...
, Lauenburg in Pomerania (Lębork), Schlochau (Człuchów) and Schneidemühl.
Neighbouring dioceses were Culm in the northeast, Poznań in the east and south, Breslau in the south and Berlin in the west and north. While the Apostolic Administration did not dispose of an efficace administration, the Prelature had a consistory
Consistory
-Antiquity:Originally, the Latin word consistorium meant simply 'sitting together', just as the Greek synedrion ....
consisting of five persons, with a 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...
(Msgr. Johannes Bleske) and an official (Erich Klitsche) since 1930. On 25 February 1931 Franz Hartz succeeded Kaller as prelate.
During the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
Polzin organised "Katholischer Freiwilliger Arbeitsdienst" (Catholic Volunteer Service), an employment-creation measure financed by the prelature. Soon after the Nazi takeover the volunteer service was confiscated by the Reichsarbeitsdienst
Reichsarbeitsdienst
The Reichsarbeitsdienst was an institution established by Nazi Germany as an agency to reduce unemployment, similar to the relief programs in other countries. During the Second World War it was an auxiliary formation which provided support for the Wehrmacht.The RAD was formed during July 1934 as...
, the colonisation service was gradually usurped by the Nazi party and Polzin temporarily taken into Gestapo arrest in 1935, while the Nazis fought the Catholic youth organisations.
In early 1945 Prelate Hartz fled - like many other parishioners too - the invading Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
and stranded in Fulda
Fulda
Fulda is a city in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district .- Early Middle Ages :...
by the end of 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...
. In March 1945 Poland annexed the area and the new Polish authorities expelled most of the remaining and surviving German population to Allied-occupied Germany in the years between 1945 and 1948. Polzin, who served as priest in Rokitten (Rokitno)
Rokitno, Miedzyrzecz County
Rokitno is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Przytoczna, within Międzyrzecz County, Lubusz Voivodeship, in western Poland. It lies approximately south-west of Przytoczna, north of Międzyrzecz, south-east of Gorzów Wielkopolski, and north of Zielona Góra.The village has a...
since 1936, was expelled on 22 June 1945. Stranded in Berlin he organised the "Katholischer Flüchtlingsdienst" (Catholic Refugee Service), taking care of the destitute refugees and expellees.
Cardinal August Hlond, arrogating his special papal plenipotentiary power to reorganise the Polish episcopate, also appointed apostolic administrators for the German dioceses now under Polish rule. Although Hartz had not resigned, Hlond appointed on 15 August 1945 Edmund Nowicki (1900–1971) with effect of 1 September as administrator for the Prelature and the Diocese of Berlin east of the Oder
Oder
The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...
. Nowicki was titled Administrator of Cammin, Lebus
Bishopric of Lebus
The Bishopric of Lebus was a Roman Catholic diocese and later an ecclesiastical territory of the Holy Roman Empire. It existed from 1125 until 1598...
and the Prelature Schneidemühl , seated in Gorzów Wielkopolski (Landsberg upon Warthe)
Gorzów Wielkopolski
Gorzów Wielkopolski is a city in western Poland, on the Warta river. It is the biggest city in the Lubusz Voivodeship with 125,149 inhabitants...
. The anti-clerical Polish government under Bolesław Bierut deposed and banished Nowicki from the administration in 1951. Thus Vicar Tadeusz Załuczkowski replaced him, followed by Vicar Zygmunt Szelążek in 1952.
Prelate Hartz died in 1953 in Hüls, a locality of Krefeld
Krefeld
Krefeld , also known as Crefeld until 1929, is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its centre lying just a few kilometres to the west of the River Rhine; the borough of Uerdingen is situated directly on the Rhine...
. In the same year the Schneidemühl Consistory, whose members then lived in the Federal Republic of Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, then – following canon law
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
– elected Polzin capitular vicar for the vacant see
Sede vacante
Sede vacante is an expression, used in the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, that refers to the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church...
, confirmed by the Holy See on 20 October 1953. In 1956 Teodor Bensch (1903–1958) was appointed administrator of Cammin, Lebus and the Prelature Schneidemühl, succeeded by Jozef Michalski (only 1958), and again by Administrator Wilhelm Pluta (1910–1986), Bishop of the titulature of Leptis Magna, serving as administrator until 1972.
After Polzin's death the Schneidemühl Consistory had elected Wilhelm Volkmann capitular vicar in 1964, holding that position until 1972. With the reorganisation of the formerly Eastern German dioceses in the Polish-annexed areas in 1972 the Prelature of Schneidemühl (Prałatura Pilska) was dissolved and its diocesan area divided between the Dioceses of Gorzów (since 1992 Zielona Góra-Gorzów) and of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg.
The Holy See established the office of a Visitator Apostolic for the diocesans of the Prelature of Schneidemühl exiled in today's Germany. Paul Snowadzki was appointed first visitator in 1972 (till 1982), succeeded by Wolfgang Klemp in the years 1982 to 1997. Currently, Lothar Schlegel is entrusted the visitation of the diocesans of Danzig, Ermland and Schneidemühl living in Germany. In Fulda former Schneidemühl diocesans run the Heimatwerk der Katholiken aus der Freien Prälatur Schneidemühl e.V. (Homeland endowment of the Catholics from the Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl), an association occupied with the history, culture and legacy of the prelature and its diocesans.
Administrators of Tütz
- 1923–1925: Protonotary Robert Weimann (1870–1925), already archiepiscopal delegate since 1920
- 1926–1930: Administrator Maximilian KallerMaximilian KallerMaximilian Kaller was Roman Catholic Bishop of Ermland in East Prussia from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.-Early life:...
(1870–1947)
Prelates of Schneidemühl
- 1930: Prelate Maximilian KallerMaximilian KallerMaximilian Kaller was Roman Catholic Bishop of Ermland in East Prussia from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.-Early life:...
, advanced to Bishop of Ermland - 1931–1953: Prelate Franz Hartz (1870–1953)
Capitular Vicars of Schneidemühl
- 1953–1964: Ludwig Sebald Polzin (1892–1964)
- 1964–1972: Wilhelm Volkmann
Apostolic Administrators and Vicars of Cammin, Lebus and Schneidemühl
- 1945–1951: Administrator Edmund Nowicki (1900–1971), deposed and banished by Bolesław Bierut government
- 1951–1952: Vicar Tadeusz Załuczkowski
- 1952–1956: Vicar Zygmunt Szelążek
- 1956–1958: Administrator Teodor Bensch (1903–1958)
- 1958: Jozef Michalski
- 1958–1972: Administrator Wilhelm Pluta (1910–1986), advanced to Bishop of Gorzów
Apostolic Visitators for the exiled Schneidemühl diocesans
- 1972–1982: Paul Snowadzki
- 1982–1997: Wolfgang Klemp
- 1997–present: Msgr. Lothar Schlegel
Literature
- Die Apostolische Administratur Schneidemühl. Ein Buch für das katholische Volk, Franz Westpfahl (ed.), Schneidemühl: Verlag des Johannesboten, 1928.
- Kirchliches Handbuch für das katholische Deutschland, Amtliche Zentralstelle für Kirchliche Statistik des Katholischen Deutschlands (ed.), Cologne: Bachem, 1909–1943, here: vol. 20 '1937/1938' (publ. 1937), vol. 21: '1939/1940' (publ. 1939) and vol. 22 '1943' (publ. 1943).