Jerzy Kluger

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The grave of Jerzy Kluger in the Flaminio Cemetery in Rome

Jerzy Kluger (born April 4, 1921 in Krakow ; † December 31, 2011 in Rome ) was a Polish businessman who last lived in Rome. He became known for his friendship with Karol Wojtyła, the former Archbishop of Kraków and later Pope John Paul II.

Life

Jerzy Kluger was born in Kraków in 1921 to a Jewish family and grew up in Wadowice . Kluger's family was religious but open; Jerzy and his siblings attended public schools and spoke Polish , not Yiddish, among themselves . His father, a reserve officer in the Polish army, was president of the Wadowice Jewish Committee and mediated in disputes between Jews and Catholics. Jerzy Kluger and Karol Wojtyła met before they started school; they were later classmates in high school and played football together, with Lolek , as Wojtyła was called, also played in the team of Jewish students (Jerzy Kluger was named Jurek ).

During the Second World War , Kluger's grandmother, mother and sister were killed in the Auschwitz concentration camp ; he and his father joined the remnants of the Polish army in the Soviet Union. Jerzy Kluger reached the front in Italy via Palestine and Iraq . During the war years, Kluger met his future wife Renee in Africa. Born in Ireland, she worked as a driver for the British Army. The two married in Egypt in 1944, shortly before Kluger took part in the Battle of Monte Cassino . After the war, Kluger settled in Rome as a businessman. After 27 years, he re-established contact with Karol Wojtyła in 1965 when he learned that he, now Archbishop of the Archbishopric of Krakow , was giving a speech at the Second Vatican Council and that he recognized him as his school friend.

After his election as Pope in October 1978, John Paul II received his childhood friend Jerzy Kluger in his first private audience . Subsequently, Kluger was ascribed "great influence" on the Pope. As early as 1981 he served the Pope as an unofficial mediator between Vatican and Israeli agencies and promoted a dialogue. Among other things, he advised the Pope in 1986 to make his historic visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome , the first visit by a Pope to a synagogue who "wrote theological history". He later advised him to establish diplomatic relations with the State of Israel . The book The Hidden Pope , written by Darcy O'Brien in 1998, is also dedicated to the theme of the friendship between Wojtyla and Kluger . Their intermittent lifelong friendship influenced the Pope's understanding of Judaism; it is considered unique in papal-Jewish relations.

In 2003, Kluger received the Figure of Reconciliation award from the Polish Association of Christians and Jews (Polska Rada Chrześcijan i Żydów).

literature

  • Darcy O'Brien : The Unknown Pope: Karol Wojtyla and Jerzy Kluger - the story of their lifelong friendship that changed the relationship between Catholics and Jews . Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 1999, ISBN 3-7857-0964-1 . (From the American by Anita Krätzer and Bernd Rullkötter)
  • Gian Franco Svidercoschi : Letter to a Jewish friend - Karol Wojtyla and Jerzy Kluger . Publishing house Styria, Graz u. a. 1993, ISBN 3-222-12228-8 . (From the Italian by Crista Kramer von Reisswitz)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jerzy Kluger is dead . Vatican Radio , January 3, 2012
  2. ↑ David G. Dalin, Matthew Levering: Social memory and history: anthropological perspectives , pp. 16-17 (digitized version, English)
  3. ↑ Jerzy Kluger, boyhood friend of Pope John Paul II . Washington Post, Jan. 3, 2012
  4. ^ Laurie Goldstein, How a boyhood friend aided pope with Israel : The New York Times, March 29, 1998
  5. ↑ John Paul II also wanted to resign
  6. ↑ Walter deGregorio, Hanns-Bruno Kammertöns: “Pray for me” ; in: The time of October 16, 2003
  7. ^ Jo Renée Formicola: Pope John Paul II: prophetic politician ; Georgetown University Press, 2002; P. 117
  8. ↑ Voderholzer: Back to the roots on the Mount of Beatitudes  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The daily mail@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.die-tagespost.de  
  9. ^ A b David G. Dalin, Matthew Levering: John Paul II and the Jewish people: a Jewish-Christian dialogue : Rowman & Littlefield, 2007; P. 16 ff.
  10. ↑ Darcy O'Brien: The Hidden Pope
  11. ↑ American Jewish Year Book 104 (2004), p. 353
personal data
SURNAME Kluger, Jerzy
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Polish Jewish businessman, friend of Pope John Paul II
DATE OF BIRTH April 4, 1921
PLACE OF BIRTH Krakow
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 2011
Place of death Rome