Poland’s Catholic Church has called for a fitting tribute to hundreds of its priests who died in the Nazi concentration camp of Dachau.
Commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Dachau, near Munich, in 1945 run from April 30 to May 3.
A spokesman for the Polish bishops, Msgr Józef Kloch, said Dachau was the main camp for priests from all over Europe.
More than half the priests imprisoned in Dachau came from Poland, he said.
Dauchau started in 1933 as a camp for political prisoners.
By the end of World War II, more than 200,000 people from all over Europe had been imprisoned there and in its subsidiary camps. Of these, 41,500 were murdered.
Among the prisoners were 2794 priests, with 1773 of these from Poland. Of the Polish priests, 865 lost their lives.
“We want to highlight this as we remember the camp’s liberation by the US Army, paying tribute to those who died, as well as to their spiritual achievements in such appalling conditions,” Msgr Kloch explained.
About 800 priests and 30 bishops from Poland were expected to attend the commemorations in southern Germany.
Many priests who survived Dachau were harassed as suspected American spies by the secret police when they returned home after the war to Communist-ruled Poland, Mgr Kloch told the US Catholic News Service.
Despite the sufferings of the Polish clergy, their story remained little known.
Mgr Kloch said he was shocked to discover that virtually all of Dachau’s buildings had since been demolished.
“Unlike at Auschwitz, where much still remains, there’s now hardly any trace of Dachau at all. It’s as if history itself has been erased there,” he said.
On the final day of the Dachau liberation commemorations, the president of the German bishops’ conference, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, will take part in an ecumenical service.
More than 100 survivors of Dachau and its satellite camps will attend the commemorations, as will veterans from the US Seventh Army, which liberated the concentration camp on April 29, 1945.
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