Hilarius Breitinger
Hilarius Breitinger,
Early life
Breitinger was born as Lorenz Breitinger on 7 June 1907 in
According to Phayer, Breitinger is the "key to unraveling" the contradictory accounts of Catholicism in Poland between Poles of German ethnicity (Nazi term Volksdeutsche) and those of Polish ethnicity.[2] At the invitation of Primate Hlond, Breitinger (a German expatriate of Franconian descent) entered Poland in 1934 and began administering to Poles of German ethnicity in Poznań's church of St. Anthony of Padua,[2] under the authority of the Bundestreffen der Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe (LWW) as a pastor at a local Franciscan church.[1] Breitinger wrote in a letter to Pius XII that he "did not like" pastoral work.[2] While a pastor, Breitinger learned the Polish language.[1]
After the
When the
Assistant to Paech
In 1941, Pius XII appointed
Administrator to the Wartheland
In May 1942, Pius XII made Breitinger apostolic administrator to Catholics of German language in the
Breitinger was, however, more sympathetic to the condition of Polish Catholics than Cesare Orsenigo, the nuncio to Berlin (with his authority extended to Poland).[8] For example, when relaying a letter critical of the Pope's silence on the condition of Poland to Orsenigo, he also gave a second copy to Bishop Michael von Faulhaber (correctly) trusting only the second to deliver the letter to Rome.[8] Breitinger's second correspondence to Rome in 1942, he reported that unlike in Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia, another Nazi Gau comprising also annexed Polish area, in Arthur Greiser's Nazi prototype region of Wartheland Volksdeutsche Catholics were pressured to "drop their affiliation with the church" to secure advancement and the other fruits of the occupation, while Polish Catholics were treated far more harshly.[8]
Many members of the Polish Catholic hierarchy and the Polish government-in-exile regarded the appointment of Breitinger and other German bishops to Polish territory as a violation of the Concordat of 1925.[9] However, Bishop Dymek, and Gniezno's Cathedral Capitular Eduard van Blericq, whom Hlond had appointed vicar general for Gniezno, had pleaded to comply Greiser's policy of ethnic segregation in order to prevent him suppressing any church life.[10] For example, in September 1942, the exiled Bishop Karol Mieczyslaw Radonski wrote two letters to Rome protesting these appointments which—in his view—"signaled the Vatican's willingness to let Hitler have the northwest sector of Poland that he had incorporated into his Greater Reich".[9] Radonski criticized Pius XII directly: "et Papa tacet, tamquamsi nihil eum interesset de ovibus" ("and the pope keeps quiet as though these matters are of no interest to him").[11] The appointment of Breitinger and other German prelates was the pretext of the Polish Provisional Government for declaring the Concordat "null and void" in 1945.[12]
Return to Germany
As the Red Army advanced, Breitinger fled Poland in 1944, returning to his Franciscan order in Germany.
In 1972 he returned to the Guardian of the Graz monastery and the pastor of Graz-Mariahilf.[1] In 1978, he returned to Maria Eck in Upper Bavaria.[1] In Maria Eck, he began to write his memoirs, published in 1984.[1] In 1992, Pope John Paul II gave a special blessing to Breitinger on his birthday, expressing his "appreciation of his tireless pastoral ministry and apostolic ministry deserving as Apostolic Administrator of German Catholics in the Warta".[1] Breitinger died on August 23, 1994.[1]
Works by Breitinger
- 1984. Als Deutschenseelsorger in Posen und im Warthegau 1934–1945: Erinnerungen. Mainz: Grünewald.
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r (in German) Martin Sprungala. "Breitinger, Hilarius Archived 2009-08-10 at the Wayback Machine". Ostdeutsche Biographie.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Phayer, 2008, p. 6.
- ^ a b c Phayer, 2008, p. 7.
- ^ Phayer, 2008, p. 8.
- ^ Phayer, 2008, p. 9.
- ^ Phayer, 2000, p. 29.
- ISBN 3-412-11800-1.
- ^ a b c Phayer, 2008, p. 29.
- ^ a b Phayer, 2008, p. 30.
- ISBN 3-412-11800-1.
- ^ Phayer, 2008, p. 31.
- ^ Diskin, 2004, pp. 28–29.
References
- Diskin, Hanna. 2004. The Seeds of Triumph: Church and State in Gomułka's Poland. Central European University Press.
- ISBN 0-253-33725-9.
- Phayer, Michael. 2008. Pius XII, The Holocaust, and the Cold War. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-34930-9.