Polish Catholic Concerns regarding the Rise of National Socialism in Germany

Abstract

Critical discourse regarding National Socialism was well developed during the short period of the Second Polish Republic (1918–1939). These critical scholarly voices remain largely unknown. This historical discourse was in effect removed from the historical record, as these voices arose from religious, cultural, and political positions that were unacceptable to the post-war communist government – features that make these voices of such interest today. In attempting to explain the rise of Nazism, most of Western scholarship after the Second World War looks back in time through the lens of what came later, primarily the Holocaust and the wider horrors of World War II. Pre-war critical discourse in Poland developed side-by-side with the rise of Nazism itself, and can therefore provide invaluable insights into the phenomenon in real time. The current article is an attempt to raise awareness in the English-speaking world of these untranslated critical voices of the religious and ‘pseudo-religious’ aspects of the rise of National Socialism.