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Nasza Przeszłość

Vol. 109 (2008): Our Past

Articles

The intervention of Archbishop Bolesław Twardowski at Archbishop Adam Stefan Sapieha in 1944 to save the Poles from the attacks by Ukrainian nationalists

  • Józef Wołczański
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52204/np.2008.109.207-238  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2008-06-30

Abstract

The systematic extermination of the Polish population in eastern Lesser Poland by Ukrainian nationalists during the Second World War forced the Latin Metropolitan of Lwów, Bolesław Twardowski, to seek help from various authorities. An unsuccessful intervention in 1943-1944 with the head of the Greek Catholic Church in Lwów, Archbishop Andrzej Szeptycki, and an unsuccessful petition to the Galician District Governor Otto Gustav Wachter in February 1944 led him to turn to the doyen of the Polish episcopate - the Metropolitan Archbishop of Kraków Adam Stefan Sapieha. Unable to visit him in person, he resorted to correspondence. He sent him three letters: on 8 March, 21 March and 13 July 1944. They contained a detailed account of the dramatic situation of the Polish population, the Roman Catholic clergy and the parishes of the Lviv archdiocese. Archbishop Twardowski gave the names of fallen priests, the exact number of faithful killed, and lists of parishes and churches abandoned as a result of Ukrainian terror.
The letters of the Metropolitan of Lwów were intended not only to describe the situation of the Polish population during the war, but also to draw the attention of the rest of Poland to the events unfolding in the east of the Polish lands. Indeed, on 27 March 1944, Archbishop Sapieha used the statistical data he had obtained to write a letter of intervention to the head of the General Government, Dr Hans Frank. The fate of this letter is unknown, but given that the genocide in the region continued until 1946, it can be assumed that it had no effect. In any case, the Metropolitan of Krakow attempted to organise a network of support for lay and clerical refugees from eastern Lesser Poland. These people were to find temporary help in the Archdiocese of Krakow until their living conditions were stabilised.

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