The Stalinist Trial of Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek, the Ordinary of the Diocese of Kielce

Abstract

The Kielce Bishop Czesław Kaczmarek is rightly considered one of the martyrs of the Catholic Church in Poland during the Stalinist era. He was the only bishop to be tried by the communist authorities. The allegations of cooperation with Germany and spying for the US were propaganda and nothing to do with the truth. For several years, the bishop had been kept in prison and was subjected to a brutal investigation. The authorities also imprisoned a number of priests and nuns. The Kaczmarek trial, as shown by events in the courtroom, was directed not only against him but against the entire Church in Poland and the Vatican. The communist authorities did not cease their repressions against the Kielce ordinary, after 1956, seeing in Czesław Kaczmarek a determined enemy of the system.