It is estimated that during World War II, there were between 3 and 4.5 million Poles in the Third Reich. They were primarily forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners, and prisoners of war. This group also included women and children. The latter were sent to Germany both with their parents, who were assigned to perform forced labor, and on their own, as they were subject to the forced labor too. The German occupiers deported tens of thousands of Polish minors for the purpose of their Germanization.
Polish children were also born in the Third Reich during the war, and after its end. One could even speak of a sort of baby boom among displaced persons in the early postwar period. Most of DPs settled in camps and centers created specifically for this purpose, often located on the sites of former labor camps or military barracks. Many Poles, however, chose to remain outside this camp system and lived privately in German and Austrian cities and villages. The archives of the Piłsudski Institute in New York contain a substantial collection of documents concerning Polish refugees in Germany.
Poles emerged from the war devastated by hard labor, disease, and trauma, often in very poor physical, mental, and spiritual condition. During the war, religious practices for foreigners in the Third Reich were severely restricted, particularly for those classified by the Nazi racial system as “inferior people,” a category that included Poles. In practice, they were often cut off from the sacraments and regular pastoral care. In addition, the Nazi authorities restricted the ability to marry, and children born to Polish women were undergone to racial selection. Those deemed “racially valuable” were taken from their mothers and subjected to Germanization, while children classified as “undesirable” were often sentenced to death.
Few Poles employed in forced labor (excluding concentration camp prisoners) had access to Masses celebrated by Polish priests. Some priests voluntarily traveled to Nazi Germany to minister to their compatriots working there. Most of the clergy who found themselves in the Third Reich were concentration camp prisoners, primarily at KL Dachau. Of the nearly 2,800 priests imprisoned there, about 1,800 were Poles. By the end of the war, just over 800 of them had survived, many of them seriously ill, partly as a result of the medical experiments. Only a small number of clergy returned to Poland immediately. Most decided to remain in occupied Germany and Austria and, shortly after liberation, began to work as chaplains among Poles leaving the concentration camps and forced-labor sites.
On June 5, 1945, the Vatican appointed Archbishop Józef Gawlina as ordinary for Poles residing in Germany and Austria, establishing a bishop’s curia with full, independent jurisdiction over the Polish clergy and the faith community. In accordance with canon law, it was directly subject to the Holy See. The archbishop’s representative in the field, vicar general, was initially Fr. Franciszek Jedwabski, appointed in July 1945, and then, beginning in November of that same year, Fr. Edward Lubowiecki, who served in this role until his death in 1976.
The archbishop’s curia was initially located in Freimann near Munich, but as early as the fall of 1945 it was moved to Frankfurt am Main due to the city’s central location. Archbishop Gawlina resided permanently in Rome, but in practice he was constantly traveling. In addition to Poles in Germany and Austria, as field bishop of the Polish Army, he also provided pastoral care to Polish soldiers serving in the British and American armies. Until his death in 1964, he advocated for Polish refugees, supported them locally, and helped organize their emigration to Western countries, especially the United States and Australia.
In the Western occupation zones, an extensive structure of Polish pastoral care was established very quickly; deaneries were formed and headed by deans. Under their authority were chaplains serving in camps for displaced persons and in military guard companies. Immediately after the war, approximately 700 priests, most of them former prisoners of the Dachau concentration camp, began their pastoral work.
The central institution was the Bishop’s Curia for Poles in Germany, whose staff sought to bring order to the immense chaos surrounding the church records, the issuance of baptism, marriage and death certificates. They also mediated in searches for relatives in Poland, Germany, and other countries, and over time, they supported the organization of Polish emigration to the West. They collaborated with numerous international institutions and aid organizations that provided material assistance to refugees through the Catholic Church.
The greatest load of work, however, fell on the priests serving in the DP camps. Their primary task was to prepare chapels where services could be held, and the sacraments administered. Often, old barracks or utility buildings were adapted for this purpose. There was a shortage of practically everything, from liturgical vessels and vestments, through liturgical books, to prayer books and catechetical materials.
The priests not only celebrated Mass and administered the sacraments, but also taught catechism, delivered sermons, and gave religious talks. They generally enjoyed great authority, thanks to which they often served on camp governing bodies or acted as negotiators in dealings with the Allied administration. They interceded on behalf of Poles in trouble with the law, engaged in charitable work, organized religious life, established associations and prayer groups, published Catholic periodicals, and participated in organizing cultural life.
Clergy also worked outside the camps, providing care for Poles living in private homes in Germany and Austria. It was not uncommon for Masses to be celebrated in mobile chapels provided to Polish refugees by, among others, the Polish diaspora in the United States. Over time, the priests sought to support all those who, for various reasons, remained in Germany, becoming for many of them the sole source of spiritual, social, and sometimes even material support.
Most Polish priests eventually decided to emigrate, while a relatively small number returned to Poland, fearing repression by the communist authorities. From the second half of the 1950s, the activities of the Polish pastoral ministry in Germany were gradually restricted and transformed into work directed toward the Polish émigré community. In the late 1960s, the pastoral ministry was integrated into the structures of the Catholic Church in Germany, and since the second half of the 1970s, it has operated as the Polish Catholic Mission in Germany, which continues to exist and actively function to this day, with its headquarters currently located in Hanover.
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The Piłsudski Institute’s archives contain Archival Fonds No. 024 [Polish Refugees/ Displaced Persons in Germany], comprising 475 archival units and ranging from 1939 to 1952. The collection includes documents relating to religious matters and the Catholic Church (folders: 371–378). Most of these, however, are limited to the Catholic pastoral ministry in Munich and the surrounding area. Much more extensive documentation, covering all occupation zones, is held at the Archive of the Polish Catholic Mission in Germany in Hanover.
The photographs are from the Archives of the Polish Catholic Mission in Germany.
Co-financed by the Minister of Culture and National
Heritage of the Republic of Poland
