The Labour Camps for Nuns which Functioned between 1954 and 1956 in Poland (original) (raw)
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Anti-Communist Resistance in Central and Eastern Europe, 2012
Knowing that both the dissolution of a one-of system and regaining independence in Poland (afer the Yalta Conference) was unreal, the part of society that didn’t accept the new communist system decided to work with great efort, planting the embryo of independent thinking and resistance in the name of law and the defence of values, as well as stirring up others who were less brave. Anti-communist resistance in the People’s Republic of Poland applied to every class and group of society. It was undertaken, not only by the armed Underground, but also by Polish society, which felt the need to join the resistance in whatever form. Te Great Primate didn’t expect the People’s Republic of Poland to weaken (in the near future) and was afraid of any violent shock that might result in Soviet intervention. He was strictly against profuse in with Polish blood. Instead he saw an opportunity for a gradual evolution of the system and extension of freedom of religion and civil rights. His strategy was a combination of both adjustment and resistance and was diferent from other strategies heldby the other great hierarch of Eastern Europe – the Primate of Hungary, Józef Mindszenty. Te described symptoms of adjustment were accompanied by keeping an internal sovereignty and an ability to make resistance at least against some of the system features or government acts. T e resistance was directed at issues limiting freedom of denomination, breaching the values of national traditions or limiting freedom of speech and beliefs. Real Christian life shown by Polish nuns in their dull everyday routine was the most efective picture of anti-communist action. Tis was the reason why the authorities were afraid of the nuns’ presence in society and tried, with perseverance and frmness, to push them into the dregs of society. Afrmation, adjustment, resistance and opposition – these attitudes appeared at the same time and were related to each other. Nuns, as well as the whole of society, were forced to remain silent and follow the rules. Tey got used to it but at the same time they tried to keep autonomy in certain areas and to extend it. Tese activities were ef ective. Discrepancies between guidelines from diferent instances and real life might be the proof. Te history of the People’s Republic of Poland might be described as a process of struggle between the authorities and society where both sides were changing under the infuence of this struggle.
Actions against the Catholic Church in Polish People’s Republic till 1953, „The Person and the Challenges” 2019, vol. 9, nr 2, p. 41–52
In the years 1944-1948, the authorities of communist Poland, for tactical reasons abstained from direct attacks on the Catholic Church. After the establishment of the au-thorities' structures and once the political opposition and armed forces underground were defeated, systematic restriction on the influence of the Church begun. Back then, the Catholic Church was the only independent social institution in the country. What was attacked then was, among others, religious education in schools (religious education , crosses and catechists were removed from schools, Catholic education was limited), catholic organisations, charitable and care activities of the Church (at the beginning of 1950, the state took over "Caritas" and kindergartens, children's homes, hospitals were taken from the Church) as well as publishing activities (Catholic press releases were being restricted). The repressions were hindered by the signature of the Church-State Agreement in April 1950. When in 1952, the activities aimed at the removal of religious education from schools were intensified, several dozens of theological seminaries were dissolved and some of the boarding-schools run by the Church were taken over, then Primate Stefan Wyszyński defined the relations between the Church and the State as a "state of emergency".
Roman Catholic Church in the Fight for Social Justice during the Communist Dictatorship in Poland
Studia Universitatis Babeș-Bolyai Theologia Orthodoxa, 2017
The Roman Catholic Church in Poland was the main force capable to oppose the communist dictatorship. Although the state was officially "socialist" the condition of ordinary people, including workers in industry and agriculture, was deplorable. Communist regime totally neglected the principles of social justice, creating and using against society the whole apparatus of repression. The Church was only force in the society which created "space of liberty", provided instruction in the principles of Catholic social teaching and moral strength to the fighting for peoples' rights. In the absence of any organisation truly representing the world of work, the Roman Catholic Church often played the role of intermediation between the civil authorities and the society. All this led in many ways to the martyrdom of Church leaders and other Church representatives. Suffering with the nation and sharing its fate allowed the Church building up a unique authority, what is still fruiting nowadays when the society tries to shake off the rests of communism now disguised in the suit of liberalism.
Enslavement of the Church in Poland in 1953
The Person and the Challenges. The Journal of Theology, Education, Canon Law and Social Studies Inspired by Pope John Paul II, 2019
The accord entered into by and between representatives of state and Church authorities on April 14th 1950 did not protect the Catholic Church from further repression. On February 9th 1953, the State Council decreed with regard to the filling of ecclesiastical posts in the Church. Through such normative, the state authorities awarded themselves the right to interfere with the human resources aspect of religious creed. A categorical objection (Non possumus!) to this policy determined the imprisonment of the Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński. The primate's detention offered proper political conditions to engage in this and other campaigns targeting the authority, independence, and identity of the Catholic Church. The clergy's influence on public life was restrained, and the Church was deprived of independence. It might well be assumed that were it not for events of October 1956, the Church in Poland would have been permanently subjugated to the State.
Communist Authorities and Missionary Activities in Poland, 1945-1990s
Social Sciences and Missions, 2009
Missionary activities were very strong in Poland before the Second World War. The establishment of a Communist regime after 1945 led to a break in the number of missionaries sent worldwide and, soon after, to a liquidation of all missionary institutions in the country. Because the Catholic Church was very strong, the state did not dare to launch an immediate and frontal attack on the church until 1947. From 1948 however, a full-blown campaign against the church began with nationalization, imprisonments and prohibitions, notably of mission activities. After 15 years, however, some forms of compromise between church and state began to appear. This allowed the Church to rebuild its missionary movement – as of 1965. The year 1980 saw the emergence of the Solidarity movement and the begining of the unmaking of Communism. It led to a revitalization of missionary activities and a normalization of church and state relations, particularly after 1989. The present article describes these devel...
Roczniki Teologiczne
The fundamental purpose of this article is to present the specificity of the totalitarian communist regime to the status quo of the Catholic Church functioning in the Polish People's Republic in the early post-war period (1945−1956). Therefore, the analysis of the discussed issues allows one to expose the nature of the Stalinist system of repression described as the “dictatorship of the proletariat,” taking into account the tough and challenging situation of the Catholic Church, forced not only to fight for her survival but above all to preserve the Christian identity of the Polish nation. The reinterpretation of the Stalinist totalitarian system from the perspective of Christian personalistic praxeology discloses its unprecedentedly criminal nature. Moreover, the presentation of the fundamental assumptions of the totally anti-human and anti-Christian paradigm that characterizes the “dictatorship of the proletariat” makes it possible to interpret Stalinism in terms of not only d...
Annales UMCS sec. F, 2020
After the Second World War, since 1949, the organisations were established in Poland with the aim to gather priests and Catholics and support the communist authorities. Members were recruited by the political police using terror and various discrediting materials. The organisations were created, financed and supervised by the communist party and the political police. Their task was to break up the Church from inside and subordinate it to the totalitarian state. The Catholic Church punished canonically the clergy who acted within the structures of these organisations as they were committing treason. These organisations gathered nearly 10 percent of all Catholic priests in the Lublin voivodeship. They ended their activity when de-Stalinization started in Poland in 1956. The clergy who supported the communist regime in Poland were popularly called patriot priests. It was an ironic term used by Poles. The article shows the organisational structures and analyses the motives and conditions that led the priests to collaborate with the communist authorities.
The Catholic Church in Poland in the Years 1944-1950
2013
The reality, in which the People's Republic of Poland found itself after world war II, made the Catholic Church in Poland meet the new challenges, in spite of much authority which it had in the society. The one of a principle importance was breaking the Concordat by the State authorities. After a certain period of time lack of any legal solution on such a level considerably complicated relations between the State and the Church. Searching closure in this area was supposed to guarantee the Church certain freedom in priests' activities and the State authorities-acceptance in the international arena. In spite of certain inconveniences the Polish Episcopate decided to sign an agreement, which however did not protect the Church against further excluding from the social life.