L’offensiva radiofonica nazista contro il card. Hlond nel 1940

Abstract

During his Roman exile from September 1939 to June 1940, Cardinal Hlond pleaded the cause of German occupied Poland before Pius XII, in providing him information on the living conditions of both the Church and population. He found a ready ear and support in the pontiff. He was authorized to address his compatriots on the waves of Vatican Radio. In January 1940, at the Pope’s request, Vatican Radio strongly denounced violence carried out by Nazis and its anti-religious character. The German authorities’ reactions, through diplomatic and political channels and in the Warthegau, led the Holy See to temporarily suspend that kind of broadcast, but not, for all that, withdrawing its protection of the Polish primate. Radio Berlin thereupon undertook a campaign of denigration aimed at A. Hlond, challenging his credibility as a bishop through wild accusations, as illustrated by two broadcasts, whose texts are published here for the first time.