Repressions Against the Catholic Clergy in Warsaw (1939–1940) in Testimonies Made Before the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland

Abstract

The present article concerns German repressions against the clergy of the Catholic Church in occupied Warsaw in the years 1939–1940. Its source base is formed from the testimonies of victims and witnesses of Nazi terror, collected after the war by the Main Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. The text presents a variety of aspects relative to the violence, both physical and administrative, employed by the occupying forces, including restriction of religious freedoms, arrest, torture, transport to concentration camps, and execution. The author strives to identify whether the central motive for the persecution of the clergy was based on adherence to the Catholic faith or rather on nationality. The intention herein is to present the extremely complicated reasons for the repressions against the clergy, who were at once priests, Poles, and members of the national elite. The persecution of the clergy is presented in the more general context of German repressions in Warsaw and the General Government in order to facilitate consideration whether the clergy were a special case, or whether the occupier’s actions were part of a broader criminal plan.