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Shortly before World War II, Czechoslovakia ceased to exist, swallowed by Nazi expansion. Its territory was divided into the mainly Czech Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, and the newly declared Slovak Republic, while a considerable part of Czechoslovakia was directly joined to the Third Reich (Hungary and Poland also annexed areas).
His Ministry of Propaganda pressured the churches to voice support for World War II, and the Gestapo banned church meetings for several weeks. During the war's first few months, the churches complied; [170] no denunciations of the invasion of Poland or the Blitzkrieg were issued. [171]
Catholic resistance to Nazi Germany was a component of German resistance to Nazism and of Resistance during World War II. The role of the Catholic Church during the Nazi years remains a matter of much contention.
The Catholic trade unions formed the left wing of the Catholic community in Germany. The Nazis moved quickly to suppress both the "Free" unions (Socialist) and the "Christian unions" (allied with the Catholic Church). In 1933 all unions were liquidated. [56] Catholic union leaders arrested by the regime included Blessed Nikolaus Gross and Jakob ...
During the drafting of the letter, the Second World War commenced with the Nazi–Soviet invasion of Catholic Poland. Though couched in diplomatic language, Pius endorsed Catholic resistance, and stated his disapproval of the war, racism, anti-semitism, the Nazi/Soviet invasion of Poland and the persecutions of the Church. [13]
During the Holocaust, the Catholic Church was involved in rescuing Jews from persecution by Nazi Germany.By lobbying Axis officials, providing false documents, and hiding people in monasteries, convents, schools, among sympathetic families and in the institutions of the Vatican itself, members of the Catholic Church saved hundreds of thousands of Jews.
Catholic schools and newspapers were closed, and a propaganda campaign against the Catholics was launched. The Concordat, wrote William Shirer, "was hardly put to paper before it was being broken by the Nazi Government". On 25 July, the Nazis promulgated their sterilization law, an offensive policy in the eyes of the Catholic Church.
The Polish Church honours 108 Martyrs of World War II, including the 11 Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth murdered by the Gestapo in 1943 and known as the Blessed Martyrs of Nowogródek. [58] The Polish church opened the cause of Józef and Wiktoria Ulma to the process of beatification in 2003. The couple and their family were murdered for ...