August Hlond

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August Hlond
August Hlond

August Cardinal Hlond (July 5, 1881 - October 22, 1948) was a Polish prelate. He was Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno in 1926 and primate (highest ranking church official) in Poland, Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw in 1946.

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[edit] Youth

Second son of a simple railway worker. After finishing school eduation in Poland, he was sent to Italy, where he studied philosophy at the Papal University. Completed his baccalaureate grade in 1904 in Poland. Consecrated to Bishop in 1926, and Cardinal in 1927.

[edit] Controversial bishop

When the Polish leader Józef Piłsudski died in 1935, Poland became highly nationalistic. The Great Depression of the 1930s pushed many Poles into dire poverty. This led to tensions in Polish society and extremism flourished. Some people believed that if peasants were able to start small businesses, they would escape this poverty.

Styles of
August Cardinal Hlond
Reference style His Eminence
Spoken style Your Eminence
Informal style Cardinal
See Gniezno


In the meantime a large proportion (estimated at more than 90%) of shop keepers in Poland were Jewish. In 1936 Cardinal Hlond, the Primate of Poland issued a pastoral letter in which he warned against hating the Jews, but opened an exception for allowing the boycott of Jewish businesses with these ambivalent words: "There will be a Jewish problem as long as the Jews remain...It is a fact that the Jews fight against the Catholic church, they are free-thinkers, and constitute the vanguard of atheism, bolshevism and revolution. It is true that the Jews are committing frauds, practicing usury, and dealing in white slavery. It is also true that in the schools the Jewish youth is having an evil influence, from an ethical and religious point of view, on the Catholic youth. But let us be just. Not all Jews are like that. One does well to avoid Jewish shops and Jewish stalls in the markets, but it is not permitted to demolish Jewish businesses. One should protect oneself against the influence of Jewish morals...but it is inadmissible to assault, hit or injure Jews. In a Jew you should also respect and love a human being and your neighbor." (August Cardinal Hlond's Pastoral Letter of February 29, 1936 which was read from pulpits across the country.)


In 1939 Hlond spent several months in Rome for the conclave of 1939. In January 1940, Vatican Radio broadcast Hlond's reports of German persecution of Jews and the Catholic clergy in Poland. These reports were included in the report of the Polish government to the Nuremberg Trials after the war.

Cardinal August Hlond reported in August 1941 to the secretary of state that the Polish people believed Pope Pius XII had abandoned them. This was said in light of the Nazi persecution of the Polish church and clergy.

He lived in southern France from 1940 to 1944 during most of WW II. He was arrested by the Gestapo on February 3, 1944, but was freed by the Allies on April 1, 1945. He returned to Poznań on July 20, 1945. He was transferred to Warsaw and named primate of Poland on June 13, 1946. He strongly opposed the communist regime there.

Hlond has been accused of overstepping his authority by forcing German officeholders to resign their church posts in 1945 in favor of Poles, thereby supporting the Polish annexation of historical eastern German territories after Potsdam. Maximilian Kaller was one of the bishops who was removed from his diocese and deported to West Germany. Kaller is now in process of beatification. Another bishop forced out was Carl Maria Splett, Bishop of Danzig.

[edit] Beatification and further controversy

Professor Franz Scholz, a German theologian, as well as many others have expressed their opposition to the proposed beatification of Cardinal Hlond. Scholz opposes his actions against post-war German expellees and civilians on territory annexated by the Polish Republic. Again Jewish groups, for example, have pointed out that not long after his 1935 call to boycott Jewish shopkeepers, Cardinal Hlond wrote a pastoral letter in 1936 that proved harmful to Polish Jews[citation needed]. Some historians have suggested that because of Hlond's allegedly anti-Semitic views, the Roman Catholic Church effectively provided religious cover to the country's extremist anti-Jewish groups[citation needed]. Jewish citizens, they say, were directly affected by Cardinal Hlond's letter. However, it must be noted, that while Hlond promoted the expulsion of German civilians after World War II, Hlond had always consistently condemned the Nazi persecution of the Jews and had been openly opposed to all actions hurting Jews materially and physically. Another controversy was caused by Hlond's reaction to Kielce pogrom, that took place in Polish town of Kielce on July 4, 1946. While condeming murders, Hlond denied racist nature of this crime. [1] [2] He saw pogrom as a reaction against Jewish bureaucrats serving Communist regime [2]. This position was echoed by Cardinal Sapieha, who was reported to have said that the Jews brought it on themselves. [1]

Preceded by
Edmund Dalbor
Archbishop of Poznań
1926–1946
Succeeded by
Walenty Dymek
Preceded by
Edmund Dalbor
Primate of Poland
1926–1948
Succeeded by
Stefan Wyszyński
Preceded by
Aleksander Kakowski
Archbishop of Warsaw
1946–1948
Succeeded by
Stefan Wyszyński

[edit] References

[edit] External links