Main political and legal problems of religious building construction in the Polish People’s Republic between 1945 and 1989

Abstract

The article deals with the most important issues of law and religious policy of the People’s Republic of Poland in the field of religious building construction. Licensing of permits for the implementation of construction projects by religious associations, especially the Catholic Church and the repression of people and communities undertaking illegal construction of religious and ecclesiastical buildings was one of the main forms of conducting religious policy by the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland. At the same time, uniform provisions of the law in force in this matter were applied in an extremely diverse way (both within individual units of the Catholic Church and non-Roman Catholic religious associations), depending on extra-legal political and religious factors. Therefore, the issue of sacred buildings is one of the clearest examples of instrumentalisation of the law – both at the level of its establishment and application – in the activities of the authorities of the People’s Republic of Poland.