Catholic War Discourse in the German “Sonntagsblatt” of the Silesian Diocese Breslau during the First World War of 1914–1918

Church history Wrocławski Przegląd Teologiczny 28 (2020) 1, 283–294 Wrocław Theological Review Maik Schmerbauch University of Hildesheim, Germany ORCID: 0000-0001-9386-389X Catholic War Discourse in the German “Sonntagsblatt” of the Silesian Diocese Breslau during the First World War of 1914–1918 Katolickie dyskursy wojenne w niemieckiej „Sonntagsblatt” diecezji śląskiej Breslau podczas pierwszej wojny światowej (1914–1918) A bstr act: The First World War, 1914–1918, demanded that even the Breslau (Polish: Wrocław) Catholic Church give answers to their millions of faithful at home and the soldiers at the front how to value the war in theological and religious terms. “Sonntagsblatt,” the Catholic weekly published during the entire Great War period a large number of articles on this problem. Herewith we attempt to analyse how the Breslau clergy used the “Sonntagsblatt” to give spiritual support. Keywords: First World War, Diocese of Breslau/Wroclaw, Catholic press, Sonntagsblatt, discourse of war Abstr akt: Pierwsza wojna światowa (1914–1918) wymagała, aby Kościół katolicki we Wrocławiu podzielił się z milionami wiernych, zarówno tych pozostających w domach, jak i żołnierzy na froncie, z teologiczną i religijną oceną wojny. Przez cały okres Wielkiej Wojny “Sonntagsblatt,” tygodnik katolicki, publikował na ten temat liczne teksty. Niniejszy artykuł jest próbą analizy, jak duchowni wrocławscy wykorzystywali “Sonntagsblatt” do udzielania duchowego wsparcia. Słowa kluczowe: pierwsza wojna światowa, diecezja wrocławska, prasa katolicka, Sonntagsblatt, dyskurs wojenny DOI: 10.34839/wpt.2020.28.1.283-294 © Papieski Wydział Teologiczny we Wrocławiu 284 Maik Schmerbauch Catholic Press in the Diocese of Breslau during the First World War The attitude of the Catholic Church in the German Empire to the First World War has already been researched.1 The outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 had a big impact on the entire Catholic Church. Pope Pius X (1835–1914) criticized the war shortly after its inception. In his “Reminder to all Catholics in the World” he made it clear that Christ was the saviour in war times and that all politicians and heads of states should promote peace instead of the hostilities.2 His successor Pope Benedict XV (1854–1922) tried to undertake several peace initiatives. As the superior of the Catholic Church he was extremely concerned about Catholics fighting against Catholics. He went out of his way to contribute to peace processes and focused on the humanitarian issues, while trying to be relatively neutral while dealing with either party to the conflict.3 German bishops, priests and all the faithful had to bear all the war consequences at the home front and in the battlefields. The hostilities needed to be discussed not only among the German military and politicians, but also in the Catholic circles and their intellectuals. The question arises what the Church’s understanding of the war was, with which words, discourse and semiotics was it dealt with. In this respect our research has examined in a hermeneutic and discursive manner a very rich Catholic historical source in the form of the German Catholic Church press published during the period of 1914–1918. The journals of each single German diocese normally appeared every Sunday and tried to reach every Catholic household despite the troublesome times.4 1 2 3 4 See: exemplary literature regarding the Catholic Church and the First World War 1914–1918 [in:] H.-J. Scheidgen, Deutsche Bischöfe im Ersten Weltkrieg: die Mitglieder der Fuldaer Bischofskonferenz und ihre Ordinariate 1914–1918, Köln 1991; Und auch Soldaten fragten. Zu Aufgabe und Problematik der Militärseelsorge in drei Generationen. Bericht des wissenschaftlichen Symposiums zur Erforschung der Geschichte der Militärseelsorge vom Ersten Weltkrieg bis zur Gegenwart, B.H. Jürgen (hrsg.), Paderborn 1992 (Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Militärseelsorge 9), pp. 55–62; Geschichte des Breslauer Domkapitels 1800–1945 im Rahmen der Diözesangeschichte vom Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts bis zum Ende des Zweiten Weltkrieges, K. von Engelbert (hrsg.), Hildesheim 1964, pp. 169 ff; Faith of our fathers. Catholic chaplains on the Western Front, 1916–1919, Stephen Bellis, Warwick 2018. A. Struker, Die Kundgebungen Papst Benedikts XV. zum Weltfrieden, Freiburg 1917, pp. 113 ff. L.A. Friedrichs, Die Friedensinitiativen des Vatikans während des Ersten Weltkriegs, Norderstedt 2015. Regarding the meaning of Catholic publicists during the period of 1914–1918 see: D. Rose, Von der konfessionellen zur nationalen Polemik. Katholische Publizistik im Ersten Weltkrieg, [in:] W. Gömberg, T. Pittroff, Katholische Publizistik im 20. Jahrhundert. Positionen, Probleme, Profile (Reihe: Rombach, Quellen und Studien zur Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte des modernen Katholizismus 3), pp. 213–234. Catholic War Discourse in the German “Sonntagsblatt”… 285 The Sunday journal of the German Eastern Diocese of Breslau (present day Wrocław) was a very important medium Its circulation reached Prussian Silesia, the Berlin District, Austrian parts of Northern Bohemia and Moravia. Because of the nearness to the Eastern front the people and faithful in these regions were more affected by the armed conflict than those inhabiting dioceses in Central Germany.5 During the tenure of Cardinal Georg Kopp (1837–1914) the German-language “Katholisches Sonntagsblatt der Diöcese Breslau, zugleich Organ des Vereins der heil[igen] Familie,” was launched in 1895. Concurrently, the “Posłaniec Niedzielny dla dyecezyi Wrocławskiej zarazem organ związku Św. Rodziny” was started for the Polish-speaking Catholics.6 Both the German and Polish papers are valuable literally sources to the history of the Silesian Church of Breslau, not yet examined by (church) historians. Collectively, they reached almost five million recipients. Every issue appeared on Sunday and contained basic information about theological and biblical exegesis, discussions about political and social developments, reviews on Silesian and general church history, spiritual texts and essential information on current problems of the diocese. The content exemplifies discourse, semiotics and narratives from the Catholic point of view and reflects the Catholic attitude to the Great World War. The hostilities affected the diocese from the onset i.e. from August 1914 to a considerable extent. Many priests were drafted into the German military service. Cardinal Adolf Bertram (1859–1945),7 the newly elected Breslau bishop, was instantly confronted with the war situation. The clergy had to prepare conscripts spiritually by means of retreat days and exercises and provide the priests in the war zone with gifts of love. For the diocese it also meant a shortage of priests in their hundreds of Silesian parishes.8 The remaining priests had to care about their sheep, about the women mourning for their fallen husbands and sons, and they had to (...truncated)