Editing August Hlond (section)

===World War II===
{{see also|Occupation of Poland (1939–45)|Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland}}

The invasion of predominantly Catholic Poland by Nazi Germany in 1939 ignited the [[Second World War]]. The Nazi plan for Poland entailed the destruction of the Polish nation, which necessarily required attacking the Polish Church, particularly in those areas annexed to Germany.<ref name="autogenerated60">Jozef Garlinski; ''Poland and the Second World War''; Macmillan Press, 1985; p 60</ref> In the territories annexed to Greater Germany, the Nazis set about systematically dismantling the Catholic Church - arresting its leaders, exiling its clergymen, closing its churches, monasteries and convents. Many clergymen were murdered. Elsewhere in occupied Poland, the suppression was less severe, though still harsh.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Libionka |first1=Dariusz |title=The Catholic Church in Poland and the Holocaust |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/download/about_holocaust/christian_world/libionka.pdf |website=yadvashem.org |access-date=7 April 2022 |pages=72–78}}</ref> The Papal [[Nuncio]] to Poland, Fillipo Cortesi, had abandoned Warsaw along with the diplomatic corps, after the invasion. Other channels existed for communications, including Cardinal Hlond.<ref>Jozef Garlinski; Poland and the Second World War; Macmillan Press, 1985; pp. 71-72</ref>

On 18 September 1939, at the request of the Polish Government, Hlond left Poland, with part of the Army, in order to reach Rome and report on the actions of the Nazis in Poland, and inform the world via Vatican radio and press.<ref name="August, Cardinal Hlond"/> Hlond submitted an official account of the persecutions of the Polish Church to the Vatican, reporting seizures of church property and abuse of clergy and nuns in the annexed regions:<ref name="Catholic Church pp. 34-51">The Nazi War Against the Catholic Church; National Catholic Welfare Conference; Washington D.C.; 1942; pp. 34-51</ref>

{{quotation|Many priests are imprisoned, suffering humiliations, blows, maltreatment. A certain number were deported to Germany... Others have been detained in concentration camps... It is not rare to see a priest in the midst of labour gangs working in the fields... Some of them have even been shut up for the night in pigsties, barbarously beaten and subjected to other tortures... The Canon Casimir Stepczynski... was forced in company with a Jew to carry away the human excrement... the curate who wished to take the place of the venerable priest was brutally beaten with a rifle butt|Excerpts from Cardinal Hlond's report to the Vatican.}}

In his final observations for [[Pope Pius XII]], Hlond wrote:<ref name="Catholic Church pp. 34-51"/>
[[File:Herb Hlonda Poznan.svg|thumbnail|Coat of Arms of August Hlond as Archbishop of Gniezno and Poznań (1926-1946)]]
[[File:Herb Hlonda Katowice.svg|thumbnail|Coat of Arms of August Hlond as Bishop of Katowice (1925-1926)]]

{{quotation|Hitlerism aims at the systematic and total destruction of the Catholic Church in the rich and fertile territories of Poland which have been incorporated into the Reich... It is known for certain that 35 priests have been shot, but the real number of victims... undoubtedly amounts to more than a hundred... In many districts the life of the Church has been completely crushed, the clergy have been almost all expelled; the Catholic churches and cemeteries are in the hands of the invaders... Catholic worship hardly exists any more... Monasteries and convents have been methodically suppressed... [Church properties] all have been pillaged by the invaders.|Excerpts from Cardinal Hlond's report to the Vatican}}

In 1939 Hlond spent several months in Rome for the [[papal election|conclave]] of 1939. In January 1940, [[Vatican Radio]] broadcast Hlond's reports of German persecution of Jews and the Catholic clergy in Poland. These reports were included in the report of the Polish government to the [[Nuremberg Trials]] after the war.

In March 1940, Hlond went on a pilgrimage to [[Lourdes]], in [[France]]. Following the Fall of France, he remained in the country, staying at the Benedictine Abbey at Hautecombe, in Savoy, where remained, unable to leave, until Himmler ordered the Gestapo to arrest him in February 1944 (the only member of the Sacred College of Cardinals to be arrested by the Nazis). The Gestapo held him at their headquarters in Paris for two months, and, with the Soviet armies now driving the Nazis back from Russia, attempted to have him declare public support for the German war against the Soviet Union, in order to secure his release. The Gestapo offered to make Hlond Regent of Poland, but, according to The Tablet, "The withdrawal of all German troops from Poland was necessary, the Cardinal implacably insisted, before he could even discuss any matter whatsoever with a German officer." Hlond remained in the custody of the Gestapo, first at a convent at Bar-le-Duc, until the Allied advance forced the Germans to shift him to Wiedenbrtick, in Westphalia, where he remained for seven months, until released by American troops in 1945. The Americans flew Hlond to Paris, and then to Rome on April 25, finally returning to war ravaged Poland on 20 July 1945.<ref name="August, Cardinal Hlond"/>

Hlond reported in August 1941 to the Cardinal Secretary of State, [[Luigi Maglione]], that the Polish people believed [[Pope Pius XII]] had abandoned them. This was said in light of the Nazi [[Nazi persecution of the Catholic Church in Poland|persecution of the Polish church]] and clergy.{{Citation needed|date=September 2013}}