The attitude of local party authorities to the Gorzów church in the late 1950s and early 1960s in the light of correspondence collected in the Diocesan Archives in Zielona Góra

Robert R. Kufel ks.

Abstract

After a brief period of tolerance by the communist authorities for the activities of the Catholic Church in Poland, ever-increasing acts of violence and restrictions on the activities of the Church in Poland began in 1947. This is evidenced by the liquidation of Catholic organizations, the withdrawal of religious lessons from schools, the processes of arresting and removing bishops, priests from episcopal capitals or parishes, and the almost total restrictions on the Catholic press and publishing. The death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in 1953 was followed by the so-called Khrushchev Thaw, which took place in the Soviet bloc countries (except Romania and Czechoslovakia). The exacerbation of communist terror in Poland in 1954–1955 was the result of decisions made by the state authorities very confident in its domination of society. The events of October 1956 gave Polish society hope for a further change in socio-political reality. Since 1960, the communist authorities have again repressed the Church in Poland. Against the backdrop of all these events, which were taking place throughout the country, the above article presents the attitude of the local party authorities in the late 1950s and early 1960s toward the Church in Gorzów, based on documentation kept in the Diocesan Archives in Zielona Góra. Representatives of the local party authorities, using the powers given to them by their superiors from the PZPR Central Committee, effectively restricted the activities of the Gorzów Church, represented by successive bishops Teodor Bensch and Wilhelm Pluta.