Bishop Gawlina’s Position on Jews during the Second World War

The aim of this publication is to analyze the attitude of the Military Bishop of the Polish Armed Forces, Józef Gawlina (1882–1963), toward the so-called Jewish question during the Second World War. The study examines not only the views and concepts of the hierarch concerning followers of the Mosaic faith, but also situates them within the context of the contemporary state of knowledge, prevailing social norms, and the historical and political conditions of the time. Bishop Gawlina was a Polish patriot whose outlook was critical and at times marked by anti-Jewish sentiments however, he was not an antisemite in the ideological sense, as evidenced by his concrete actions undertaken to assist and rescue Jews during the war. A particular value of the monograph lies in a unique collection of correspondence—previously unknown in the scholarly literature—which documents the assistance provided to the Jewish population by the Polish hierarch. These documents constitute an important testimony to the relations between the Polish military chaplaincy and representatives of the Jewish community under wartime conditions, and they make it possible to supplement the existing state of research on Bishop Gawlina’s activities during the Second World War.