August Hlond
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August Hlond (1888-1948), was since 1926 Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznan and primate (highest ranking church official) in Poland, since 1946 Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw.
When the Polish leader Jozef Pilsudski died in 1935, Poland became more nationalistic. American Great Depression put Poles into poverty. While it was less to divide, tensions in the society had grown and extermists flourished.
Some people believed, that if peasants are able to start small business, they will find a way out of their poverty. In mean time over 90% of shop keepers in Poland were Jewish. In 1935 Hlond called for a boycott of Jewish businesses with the words: "It is an actual fact that the Jews fight against the Catholic church, they are free-thinkers, and constitute the vanguard of atheism, bolshevism and revolution... 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... 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 1936, Cardinal Hlond wrote a letter very detrimental to Jewish people living in Poland.
Some historians claim, that thanks to Hlond, the Catholic church give religious legitimacy to extremists Anti-Jewish groups. Jewish citizens were directly harmed by Cardinal Hlond's letter of 1936. Jewish groups have strong misgivings about possible beatification and sainthood of Cardinal Hlond.
In 1939 Hlond went for several months to Rome for the conclave of 1939. In January 1940, Vatican Radio broadcast Hlond's reports of Nazi persecution of Jews and 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 of Poland reported in August 1941 to the secretary of state that the Polish people believed the Pope Pius XII had abandoned them. This was said in light of the Nazi persecution of the Polish church and clergy.
He resided in southern France from 1940 to 1944 during WW II. He was arrested by Gestapo on February 3, 1944; but freed by the Allies on April 1, 1945. He returned to Poznan on July 20, 1945. He was transferred to Warsaw and named primate of Poland on June 13, 1946. He strongly opposed the communist regime in Poland.
Hlond has been accused of overstepping his authority by forcing German officeholders to resign their church posts in 1945 in favor of Poles. Maximilian Kaller is one of the priests who were removed from their dioceses at this time.
Professor Franz Scholz, a German theologian as well as many others recorded their opposition to the beatification of Cardinal Hlond.
| Preceded by: Edmund Dalbor | Primate of Poland 1926 – 1948 | Succeeded by: Stefan Wyszyński |
| Preceded by: Edmund Dalbor | Archbishop of Poznan 1926 – 1946 | Succeeded by: Walenty Dymek |
| Preceded by: Aleksander Kakowski | Archbishop of Warsaw 1946 – 1948 | Succeeded by: Stefan Wyszyński External links
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