Why was August Hlond arrested by the Gestapo despite his anti-Semitism?

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Cantankerous
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Why was August Hlond arrested by the Gestapo despite his anti-Semitism?

#1

Post by Cantankerous » 29 Jul 2020, 01:39

I read in the book The Holocaust Chronicle that Polish priest August Hlond was anti-Semitic and ordered all Jews to convert to Catholicism, but it was ironic that the very Polish people that Hlond was part of were called inferior to Aryans by Hitler. Is it possible that Hlond was arrested by the Gestapo in 1944 in spite of his anti-Semitism because of his ethnicity, because Hitler considered all Slavic peoples, including non-Jewish Poles, to be inferior?

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Re: Why was August Hlond arrested by the Gestapo despite his anti-Semitism?

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Post by David Thompson » 29 Jul 2020, 05:51

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Re: Why was August Hlond arrested by the Gestapo despite his anti-Semitism?

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Post by wm » 29 Jul 2020, 06:28

Hlond wasn't anti-Semitic. "ordered all Jews to convert to Catholicism" - that's pure nonsense. Throw the book into the dumpster.

He was arrested because he was a Polish patriot, and Poland was the only country where the Nazis expected massive anti-German resistance. As a result, Poland was the only European country that didn't collaborate with Germany during ww2 (except neutral Switzerland.)
If the (unofficial) battle hymn of the Second Polish Republic contained the words:

We won't forsake the land we came from,
We won't let our speech be buried.
...
To the last blood drop in our veins
We will defend our Spirit
Till into dust and ash shall fall,
The Teutonic Order's windstorm.
(i.e., Germany)
...
The German won't spit in our face,
Nor Germanise our children.


You could imagine the prevailing mood in pre-war Poland.

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