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Polish boys clothes religion -- First Communion chronology 1940s
Polish First Communion: 20th Century Chronology--The 1940s
Figure 1.-- This is a Polish First Communion group with the priest during World War II (1941). At the time, Poland was occupied by the Soviet Union and Germany. Unfortunately we do not know where in Poland. The photograph raises a range of questions. We do not know if the Soviets permitted First Communions like this in the area of eastern Poland they seized and annexed. The Germans reduced Poland to the the central area called the General Goverment. They annexed western Poland to the Reich and began deporting the Polish population. We do not know if this photograph was taken in the General Goverment or the areas annexed to the Reich. Nor do we know if the children are Poles or Germans. Nor do we know to what extent the NAZIs permitted mixed congregations.
The decade of the 1940s was a dreadful time for most Poles. Few countries have undergone just drastic chnges as Poles in the 1940s. Situated between two giant totalitarian states, NAZI Germany and the Soviet Union, both intent on sestroying Poland, the country struggled to survive. The NAZIs tolarated Catholcism, but along with killing Jews deported Poles from western Poland to the Gerneral Government. The Soviest in the east were less intent on eliminating Poles, but they did want to destroy the Polish nation and eliminate the Church. Despite the War and the occupatioj of brutal totalitarian states, some chikdren were still able to do their First Communions. We also notice Edward Piskozub in 1942.
The Soviets entered what is now Poland in the final months of World War II (late-1944/early 1945). The German defeats in the East led to the imposition of Communism and shifting the country west. Stalin was uncompromising about Poland, except that he dropped the policy of destroying the Polish nation, largely because he now controlled it. He did physically move the country west ito what had been eastern Germany. The Soviets and the Polish Communists they installed in power attacked the Church in various ways, but did not outlaw this. We are not sure how First Communion was affected. The Communists attempted to reduce the Church's access to children, especially in the schools. But as you can see on the previous page in 1948, children after the War still did First Communions. We believe that Soviet anti-Catholic policies were more severe when they occupied eastern Poland as a NAZI ally, but our information is limited. We are not sure if the practice was increasing or decling or what pressure Polish Communists applied to discourage the practice. Hopefilly Polish readers can provide some insights. One source reports, "After World War II, the communistic system was implemented. The communists wanted to replace religious traditions with secular practices by promoting civil marriages and also civil baptism ceremonies. Since Poles were too attached to their Church and their religion tradition, it was not very successful. Poles struggled to resist the impositions of the Communist state.
