Pro Memoria, vol. VIII (1961)

Author: Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński

The eighth volume of Pro memoria illustrates - from the perspective of Primate Stefan Wyszynski - the situation of the Church in the People's Republic of Poland during a period of growing tension within the confessional relations. The Primate's notes, recording the legal and actual status of the Church, the conditions of its activities, the daily life of the clergy, the Polish intelligentsia and the average people, are a valuable testimony to the era and an indifferent voice for historiographical discourse on the Gomułka period, which is not infrequently idealized and "absolved." Wladyslaw Gomułka fought the Church because he perceived it as an ideological and political enemy. He used primarily administrative methods, though not exclusively. He aimed at the actual elimination of manifestations of religiosity from the public and legal space. In carrying out this task, a significant role was played by the central and local religious administration of the state, which was a tool of the party and government authorities in restricting the activities of the Church.