Activity of the Polish Catholic Church in Hungary During the Second World War

Abstract

The outbreak of the Second World War caused a mass influx of Poles into Hungary. Bp Karol Radon´ ski (Włocławek) took up the coordination of the pastoral work among his Polish nationals in Budapest. It was arranged in concert with the Hungarian episcopate that the Polish clergymen would be subordinated to ordinary bishops. The priests received a permission of the Hungarian authorities to include within their pastoral work the Poles grouped in the camps of internment. The Polish clergymen lived at Hungarian presbyteries and received aid from the Sacerdotal Committee in Aid of the Polish Fugitive Priest as well as from the Hungarian government. The clergymen took also part in the educational-upbringing and adaptative work among the Polish children and youth who learned in schools of various types. In order to teach adults there was established the Free Catholic University (1940) which run in Budapest under the auspices of bp Radon´ ski. The aid of the Polish clergy went far to help the interned fellow-citizens, and especially to organize their escapes from camps. The Germans protested against these actions and that is why bp Radon´ ski was dismissed, and Fr Wilk-Witosławski OFM, his successor, was interned. After Germans’ invasion to Hungary many clergymen were taken to concentration camps. Part of them managed to get a job at Hungarian parishes, others remained under the care of the International Red Cross. The Apostolic Nuntiature also participated in saving Poles.