Message from the Polish bishops to their German colleagues on reconciliation
The message of the Polish bishops to their German brothers in office (Polish: Orędzie biskupów polskich do ich niemieckich braci w Chrystusowym urzędzie pasterskim ) was sent on November 18, 1965 by the Polish Catholic bishops to their brothers in office of the German Bishops' Conference in the Federal Republic of Germany .
This letter also contained an invitation to the Catholic celebrations for the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of Poland .
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In the letter, the Polish bishops formulated a series of historical events from the Polish point of view and in view of the millions of deaths and displaced persons on both sides as a result of the Second World War , including the famous sentence: "We forgive and ask for forgiveness". This was one of the first steps towards reconciliation between Germans and Poles after World War II.
The author of the letter was the Wroclaw Bishop Bolesław Kominek , who was also able to convince initially reluctant ministerial brothers like the Primate Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński to send the letter.
The then Archbishop of Cracow, Karol Wojtyła, who later became Pope John Paul II , supported the letter.
Reactions and consequences
The letter was widely published in the Catholic churches in Poland ; the communist leadership resolutely opposed it. The PZPR and its party leader Władysław Gomułka wanted to prevent rapprochement with West Germany , especially since the most important propaganda measures were aimed at the Federal Republic and stylized it as Poland's greatest enemy. As in the years since 1945, the leadership also carried out anti-Catholic propaganda and measures. The Primate of Poland was refused the necessary passport for his trip to Rome on January 15, 1966. With the competing national 1000th anniversary celebration of Poland an attempt was made to overshadow the Catholic events on the 1000th anniversary of the Christianization of Poland . Germanists at Polish universities were forced to sign a protest paper against these Catholic celebrations. In 1966 the political leadership said twice that Pope Paul VI was visiting Poland . from. In general, until the end of the Gomułka era, the communists tried to strengthen their power base and close Catholic schools.
literature
- Friedhelm Boll, Wiesław Wysocki, Klaus Ziemer (eds.), Reconciliation and Politics. Polish-German reconciliation initiatives of the 1960s and the policy of détente . Dietz Verlag, Bonn 2009.
- Edith Heller: Power church politics: the correspondence between the Polish and German bishops in 1965. Treffpunkt Verlag, Cologne 1991.
- Basil Kerski , Thomas Kycia, Robert Żurek: "We forgive and ask for forgiveness": The exchange of letters between the Polish and German bishops in 1965 . Fiber Verlag, Osnabrück 2006, ISBN 3-938400-10-2 .
- Piotr Madajczyk, Approach through Forgiveness. The message of the Polish bishops to their German brothers in the pastoral office of November 18, 1965, Fourth Year Books for Contemporary History 1992, No. 2, pp. 223–240.
Web links
- Text of the pastoral letter of the Polish bishops (... we (...) “grant forgiveness and ask for forgiveness”) and answer from the German bishops .
- OME Lexicon: Correspondence between the Polish and German bishops , accessed on May 1, 2020.
Individual evidence
- ↑ On the situation in March 1966 see also Die Zeit 13/1966