Every fifth diocesan priest
was murdered in Poland occupied by the Germans and Russians.
Four Polish bishops were killed
in the concentration camps, and
nearly half of the Roman Catholic dioceses were deprived of
diocesan bishops. It was also a
war with religion – said the spokesman of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, Fr Pawe B Rytel- Andrianik, on the 79th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II. The spokesman of the Episcopate reminded that during the World War II in Poland there was massive persecution of the clergy. “Priests, monks, nuns were shot, sent to concentration camps, imprisoned and tortured. The Germans confiscated the Church’s goods and closed the churches. Nevertheless, the faith of the Church in Poland survived this dark period of German Nazi terror” – he added.

Fr. Rytel-Andrianik pointed to the tragic data from World War II. “According to scientific research, for about 10,000 diocesan priests (in 1939) German Nazis murdered about 2,000 priests, that is every fifth priest. Among about 8,000 monks (in 1939), 370 were murdered. Among about 17,000 nuns, the Nazis murdered about 280 sisters. Additionally, during World War II about 4,000 priests and monks and about 1,100 nuns were imprisoned in German concentration camps. Those who were at large were also repressed” – said the spokesman of the Polish Episcopate. During the World War II, almost half of the Polish dioceses were deprived of diocesan bishops. In twenty-one Roman Catholic dioceses in Poland, nine were without bishops who were interned or forced to emigrate, and one of the diocesan bishops was murdered.