Third day of the proceedings
The Presiding Judge: I call The Reverend Professor Mystkowski.
The Reverend Professor Stanisław Mystkowski, 54 years old, Canon of the Metropolitan Chapter of Warsaw, no relationship to the parties.
The Reverend Canon has been called to testify as an expert witness regarding the occupier’s persecution of the Catholic Church. Please provide the Tribunal with a comprehensive account.
Expert witness Mystkowski: Members of the Supreme Tribunal, the viewpoint of a Catholic priest in a criminal case, in which the sentence may cut the thread of life, is exceedingly difficult. The main duty of the Church and its servants is to spread and cultivate brotherly love and mercy, even toward the most hardened criminals, so that they might be given time to repent and change their lives for the better. Therefore, it is right that Canon 139 article 1 of the Canon Law in general forbids priests to take part in criminal court proceedings regardless of whether this would be as an expert witness or a witness. Especially so, when the wrongdoer is to be punished severely.
It is only in exceptional cases and weighty circumstances, gravi ex causa, as formulated in the code, that Canon Law allows the Bishop Ordinary to extend dispensation from this prohibition and admit the participation of priests in criminal proceedings before secular courts.
The proceedings in which sentences are pronounced concerning German crimes committed in Europe during the latest war constitute these exceptional and weighty circumstances. I would say that they are not only graves, but gravissumae causae and that they explicitly call for the participation and powerful voice of the members of the Church as well as experts in religion and Christian ethics. It is because these proceedings, especially the Nuremberg trials, are playing a vital role in the development of civilization and the spiritual culture of mankind, principally concerning the protection of ethical values in coexisting nations.
These proceedings coin new notions and introduce severe sanctions in the domain of international law, based on imperishable and invariable principles of divine natural law.
What is more, these proceedings stigmatize and uncover before contemporary mankind and before history not only individual crimes and hideous acts, but above all the system, the philosophy, the apotheosis and in a sense the religion of crimes that were glorified and absolved by German National Socialism.
Yes, National Socialism created a religion of race and blood, a religion of Herrenvolk, Nietzsche’s supermen, who, in fact, are not men. A religion whose monstrous orders and principles were meticulously executed with regard to the conquered non-Nordic nations.
Those who experienced the results of these orders and sanctions in prisons or concentration camps, especially us, Polish (Catholic priests in particular) and Jewish people, were deeply and truly conscious that the theory and philosophy behind it was deprived of humanity.
National Socialism annihilated the whole twenty-centuries-old spiritual and cultural heritage of the Christian nations! What is more, National Socialism was, in terms of ethics, decidedly behind the pagan societies of Greece and Rome existing before the birth of Christ. These societies, with their leading philosophers such as Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, and politicians, recognized the laws of nature and punished the non-respect of their orders and prohibitions, sparking the existence of the laws of nations: ius gentium.
And National Socialism violated and trampled upon the commands of natural law toward non-German nations with all possible disrespect.
Respecting and assuring safety for a guest or a newcomer, being compassionate and helping a vulnerable child in times of hardship, a helpless woman, an elderly man, and even taking care of a prisoner of war, regardless of their race or nationality, was known and practiced by pagan nations. National Socialism condemned hundreds of thousands of war prisoners to the excruciating agony of starvation, murdered women and children or burned them alive, killed and poisoned the elderly and the sick, and treated newly arrived agricultural and factory workers as slaves and working animals.
National Socialism discredits and irreverently ridicules The Ten Commandments, the foundation of the edifice of Christianity, treating it as poison and a source of shame and disgrace for mankind. Instead of the tablets of divine laws it engraves, with its mendacious propaganda, new commandments of materialist philosophy.
Heinrich von Than [?] shouted to the Archbishop of Płock Nowowiejski: ‘We, the German people, fight a war without God and against God – ohne Gott und gegen Gott – and Hitler is our God’. Frank writes the following in “The Diary”: ’Nowadays the Germans experience a mystery of God-man, their leader (Hitler)’. For the followers of National Socialism, the orders of ‘the leader’ constitute the only norm of conscience and the supreme test of the morality and ethical value of their deeds.
Instead of the greatest commandment, summing up the whole Decalogue, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself’, National Socialism professed a commandment of racial and tribal hate. It regards love as a weakness and hatred as a creative force serving as the basis for the philosophy and religion of National Socialism. A military chaplain of the German army once told me in confidence: ’We Catholic priests, Germans, pray for the Führer to lose the war, because if Germany wins the war, there will be religious persecution and oppression regardless of creed such as has never been since the beginning of Christianity’.
Having made these general observations, I will proceed to the responsibility of the National Socialist government in the occupied Polish lands.
A powerful German army, equipped with armored forces and an even mightier hatred against Catholicism and Polishness, attacks Poland, a militarily weak country, but armed with faith and patriotism. After achieving victory, the Hitlerite power tries to crush the spiritual resistance of the Polish nation. They perfectly realize that the clergy and the intelligentsia are the strongest line of defense of the nation, in which for nearly a thousand years Catholicism and patriotism have been converging to form two practically synonymous notions.
To crush and to destroy the power and influence of the clergy and the Catholic Church in Poland – such was the main and the most urgent task of the German secret police (Gestapo) and administration after taking over Poland in September 1939. But above all, it aimed at terminating the activity of the clergy in the capital city, Warsaw, the brain and the heart of the nation.
I will now communicate the individual and gradual ordinances and stages of the German action toward the clergy in the General Government.
Immediately after seizing Warsaw, on the 3rd of September, the German authorities issued, with remarkable haste, a secret ordinance ordering the arrest of all priests in Warsaw and sending them to the Pawiak prison or to the one on Daniłowiczowska Street. The priests were being caught on the streets, brutally shoved around and beaten with fists, forced into cars and then transported to the prisons which had been partly ruined during the siege of Warsaw, with no window panes, bedding, food supplies or water. The toilets were unwashed and the cells infested with insects. In some cells and sick rooms, the priests were kept together with public criminals. The detainees were forbidden to carry out religious practices and the last rites could not be given to the moribund.
At the time, 300 priests were imprisoned in Warsaw and several dozen in the Warsaw District. After a few weeks, the majority of the priests were freed. Before the release, Dr Otto, the Warsaw Governor at that time, gave a speech in which he stressed that their motherland is a concern for the German authorities, who will give an account to God in its name, and that they should only care for their good Lord and for otherworldly matters. To be completely sincere, one has to admit that the attitude of Dr Otto toward the Church and the clergy was generally correct. This is why he was soon dismissed from his position by the superior authorities.
During the time of Dr Otto’s successor, priests were, after a few weeks, once again subject to imprisonments in Warsaw, Łódź and Siedlce. The most numerous among the arrested were theological seminary professors, which hindered the formation of young clergy. It was forbidden to accept new candidates to seminars and religious orders, the intention being to prevent the influx of new forces from joining the priesthood.
In the next year, the transports of priests together with political prisoners to the concentration camps began, in Auschwitz and in Germany. Many died a slow or a sudden death there, and several dozen were shot to death within the district and in Warsaw. One of these was the Reverend Prelate Nowakowski, and also the Reverend Jan Krawczyk, a parson from Wilanów, both executed in Palmiry. In Mszczonów, a parson and a vicar were shot to death, because, without their approval or knowledge, a Polish military unit had briefly stayed at the parsonage.
In all, within the Archdiocese of Warsaw 82 priests were killed by the occupiers, in Łódź 128, in Lublin 30, in Łomża 48, in Włocławek 213, in Częstochowa 56, in Płock 109, in Sandomierz 25. In the Diocese of Czestochowa 56 priests lost their lives, in the Diocese of Kielce 43, in the Diocese of Pińsk 55, in the Diocese of Wilno 92, in the Diocese of Lwów 81. It is essential to point out that these statistics include only secular clergy, not monastic clergy. In the territory of the Warsaw District, 40 monastics were killed. The overall number of deaths amounted to 1,811 out of 10,000 priests. Nearly as many died of natural causes during the occupation due to wartime experiences and other torments, so as many as 2,500 priests left the ranks, and new forces were not coming. The occupiers had a clear intention of largely wiping out the pastoral and monastic clergy from the occupied Polish lands, especially from the lands incorporated into the Third Reich. In the third year of the war, nearly all monastics, missionaries, Salesians and Capuchins were removed from Warsaw. During the Uprising, 30 Redemptorists and 15 Jesuits were shot dead on the spot in Rakowiecka Street, of whom only two managed to escape.
Such was the bloody aftermath of the occupation. Besides this great loss of lives, the occupiers have done much wrong to the Church in the Warsaw District in terms of the Church’s property and administration. Twenty-eight sanctuaries were entirely destroyed in Warsaw, as well as 12 chapels and 37 parish churches outside Warsaw, in addition to nearly as many parsonages and religious buildings. Many churches and church towers were blown up using dynamite without any military necessity, such as the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul [św. Piotra i Pawła] in Koszyki [a residential area in Śródmieście District], The Cathedral Church of St. Florian [św. Floriana] and, partly destroyed, the Church of the Saviour [Zbawiciela].
Moreover, valuable liturgical vessels and vestments were plundered from the churches, for example from the Cathedral of Saint John in Warsaw and from the cathedral museum, rich in, mostly, works of art. It contained 265 of the most precious church exhibits from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. These objects of great historical value were collected from different churches of the Archdiocese of Warsaw by the Archbishops of Warsaw, especially by the Cardinal Kakowski. The collection included chasubles, copes, Slutsk sashes, figurines, chalices and missals. Within the whole district and the lands incorporated into the Reich, sanctuaries were deprived of bells in order to, as the proclamation of 12 August 1941 declared, ‘build up the reserve of metal for Christian Europe to overpower Soviet Russia’.
Leading processions outside of sanctuaries was strictly forbidden. The mention of ‘The Mother of God, Queen of Poland’ had to be removed from liturgical and other prayers. Religious and public holidays were abolished, such as the 3rd of May [signature of the Polish Constitution in 1791], the 15th of August [Assumption of Mary] and even the 10th of October, being a commemoration of the victory at Chocim. All files containing personal data of priests and seminary students were taken from the Metropolitan Curia of Warsaw and the theological seminar in order to keep the clergy under surveillance. It was forbidden to baptize Jews and to solemnize marriages of Germans and Volksdeutsche, who were to be under the German law only. The clergy was ordered to encourage Poles to leave for work in Germany. They were threatened with severe sanctions, in case they decided not to express such an encouragement from the pulpit. German soldiers were forbidden to attend the mass in Catholic sanctuaries and to go to confession. Burial vaults were profaned and plundered, as the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Leszno Street has been. The late Reverend Prelate Popławski lodged a protest against such actions with Governor Fisher, but without effect.
These casualties and the oppression of the Church are the not the responsibility of the superior German authorities alone, but also of the local officials of the Warsaw District, who constantly informed the high-level authorities of the clergy’s activities and presented their conclusions concerning the arrests of priests and the plunder of the property of the Church. Following the accounts secretly communicated to Rome, the Holy See lodged solemn protests with the government of the Reich through the Nuncio in Berlin, Orsini. In these protests the Holy Father Puis XII described extensively and in detail the desperate condition of the Church and priesthood in the Polish lands occupied by the German forces, especially in the Warsaw district. Unfortunately, these interventions left the occupation authorities indifferent and unmoved, and often enough it actually aggravated the repressions against the clergy. Such illegal acts resulted in the arrest of the Archbishop of Płock, Nowowiejski, and his suffragan, the Bishop Wetmański, who were subsequently placed in the Działdowo concentration camp and died a martyr’s death. It has to be stated that the authorities of the Warsaw District demanded that the archdiocesan authorities of Warsaw order [the priests] to take a stance against the Soviet Union in their sermons, promising in return to treat the Church and its representatives less harshly. Of course, these demands were not taken into consideration and firmly rejected. These dark and dismal times of German rule in the Warsaw District were brightened by rare rays of Christian goodness and compassion shown by German Catholic military chaplains, who aided the Polish priests and gave them advice. One of those noble-minded people was the chaplain from Berlin, H. v. Schulte. During the Warsaw Uprising, he protected the women’s monastic houses from orgies and barbarous German hordes and kept the liturgical vessels and vestments from plunder by taking them to Catholic parishes outside Warsaw. He helped nuns, the sick from hospitals and children to leave burning Warsaw. He was killed as the German army was retreating near Żyrardów. The priests received some assistance in their work and in the defense of the sanctuaries from soldiers and other men holding military ranks of the Hungarian and Bavarian armies, as well as from Polish soldiers forced to join the German army.
I would like to paint a few pictures of the situation that the Warsaw clergy was faced with, especially during the Uprising, in the area under my authority as a priest, including the notorious Zieleniak. The German authorities encouraged people to leave their homes and then Warsaw. Many people obeyed and so thousands were marching down Grójecka Street, then they were detained in Zieleniak, an area surrounded by high walls, where green groceries for Warsaw had been sold. That tens of thousands of people were gathered there, that there was hunger, poverty, misery, was a lesser evil, but at night there were terrible orgies, to which women were exposed in view of their fathers, mothers and husbands, there were brutal rapes of women. It might be said that these were inflicted by the Ukrainian troops, who joined the German army. But the Germans were indifferent to it all and our pleas were ignored. There were terrible orgies, defying Christian ethics and morality.
The second picture: the Wola District, The Redemptorist Monastery. Weapons secretly placed in the garden. A military unit breaks in and murders all monastics in such a dreadful manner, that future chronicles will continue the story.
The third picture: the chapel in Rakowiecka Street, 30 monastics who were not taking part in the Uprising, killed by grenades in the vault of the monastery chapel. The German soldiers came in and finished them off. And the most harrowing picture for us priests was a twelve-year-old boy, a German from the Hitlerjugend, running into the corpses and checking whether they were still alive. In cases where someone is still giving signs of life, he calls out: ‘ Noch frisch!’, there comes a soldier and kills the man. It is a dreadful proof of the depravation of the German youth through a Hitlerite upbringing.
The fourth picture. Having spent nine months at Pawiak prison, I had the chance to experience directly what the Gestapo’s spiritual values were like. It will be much talked of. A young scout, a Warsaw hero, praiseworthy young man, deeply religious and full of ardor for the national cause, comes up to me, wants to confess his sins, but still looks like he is afraid of something. ‘What are you afraid of?’ ‘I have just been brought from Szucha Avenue and there, at night, when I was only half-alive, a priest came to me and said: ‘Confess your sins, boy, I am a catholic priest’. He began his confession. Then, he was asked a question: ‘You will soon be executed. Tell me whether you were a member of a political party, for it is a mortal sin.’ Upon this, he realized that he was not a priest. He was a Gestapo officer. Priesthood and confession have been abused for such a terrible purpose.
My last remark concerns the immense services of the Bishop Szlagowski. When in charge of the diocese, he strived to protect not only catholic priests, not only sanctuaries and liturgical objects, but above all the beloved heroes, Poles who defended their motherland. In times of executions, he applied to the supreme authorities of Warsaw, praying and begging for mercy, especially regarding the mode of executions, which were carried out in freezing cold, before the eyes of youngsters, near sanctuaries, with a hardening liquid forced into the mouths of the victims. Unfortunately, the answer was: ‘It is none of my business, it is a political matter, and as such it is beyond my competence’. They knew no mercy. During the Uprising, the German authorities told the Archbishop Szlagowski to urge the people to obey. The Archbishop urged the clergy to persevere.
Your Honor, my remarks do not aim to increase the severity of the punishment for the defendant. It is not my intention as an expert witness, nor is it the intention of our religion. Rather, they aim to change their worldview and appeal to their conscience, as well as to trigger a change in the upbringing of the new generations of Germans. Their education should be based on the Gospels and the love of God, and not on hatred and diabolical pride.
Prosecutor Siewierski: During what period did the incident involving the dishonest confessor take place?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: It took place on the 15th April 1940.
Judge Rybczyński: The Reverend Professor has been telling us that the Reverend Prelate Popławski intervened with Fisher against the profanation of the Church of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Leszno Street. Does the Reverend know the particulars of the intervention, such as whether the intervention was in person or whether the defendant Fisher replied himself?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: I obtained this information from the Reverend Choromański, chancellor of the curia, and from the Reverend Popławski. It was, approximately, shortly before the creation of the Ghetto. The church on Leszno Street was to be inside, so the representative of the curia asked Governor Fisher not to include the sanctuary, because it was only a matter of moving [the borderline] just a few meters away. The response was that the ghetto had to be delimited in this way and that the church would not be excluded. The tombs were profaned before being walled up.
Judge Rybczyński: What interests us most is whether the intervention was in person.
Expert witness Mystkowski: The information I possess indicates that the intervention was with the Governor.
Judge Rybczyński: Has Bishop Szlagowski intervened in person with the defendant?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: Yes, in person.
Judge Rybczyński: And he refused him?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: He refused him.
Defendant Fisher: It is true that the Archbishop and one more priest, whose last name I cannot recall, intervened with me in person against including the church in the Ghetto. I had often tried to exclude the church by consulting the SS and Polizeiführer, and also, when the Ghetto was already being destroyed, I received consent to exclude the church from the SS and Polizeiführer, but the Higher SS and Police Commander had refused his consent. I have sent the original document containing the refusal to the Archbishop as a personal goodwill gesture. It was not because of my ill will that the church was not excluded, it was the doing of a higher level over which I had no influence.
Defendant Meissinger: Your Honor, may I ask whether the Reverend was present when the 300 were released in Dzielna Street?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: Regarding Defendant Fisher, I have to say that, if my memory does not fail me, such a declaration was indeed sent to Archbishop Szlagowski. When asked to increase his efforts, he explained that they could not have any effect. So, regarding this matter, the church authority did not have any serious accusations, it rather believed that he had greater influence upon these matters, and if he really had applied more pressure, he could have regained the church for us.
When it comes to the second question, I can say that at that time I was in prison with other priests. It was a preventive establishment, called “training”, and being a reminder to be completely loyal to the German authorities and not to take part in any national undertakings. The attitude of von Otto toward priests was then relatively benevolent.
Defendant Meissinger: It was for this reason that I took the liberty to ask this question. I would then like to ask the Reverend whether he knows me personally, as the person present when the 300 people were released?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: I saw someone, but I do not know whether he was a Gestapo or a police officer.
The Presiding Judge: Does the Reverend recognize the defendant Meissinger?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: As there was a large crowd in the square in front of the Pawiak prison, I cannot clearly recall the physiognomy of the defendant.
Defendant Meissinger: It was in the long corridor.
Expert Witness Mystkowski: It is possible that the depositions of witnesses who also were in the prison will be able to confirm that.
Defendant Meissinger: The 300 people had been arrested in part by the Gestapo, in part by the Wehrmacht, just in case. In any case, there were no incriminating documents against these people. I was charged with examining their offenses as part of disciplinary proceedings at the request of the Reich Commissioner of that time, Otto. I prevented the Gestapo from arresting some of these priests again, although, at that time, I had no official relationship with Gestapo at all. Further examination, which led to the conclusion that the 300 priests were innocent, revealed that 147 more priests and seminary students were arrested, against whom, likewise, there were no incriminating proofs. I managed to get them released, even though it was outside the sphere of my competence. I was able to do so only thanks to my personal acquaintance with the then Gestapo chief.
Therefore, I would like to say that, during the course of my duty, there were no actions against the Catholic priests. However, I have to admit that I was in charge only until the end of 1940. If this is still too little to reveal my personal attitude toward Christian issues, I would like to point out that I was one of the few who, despite the existing compulsion, did not leave the Catholic Church. I suppose too that I have not witnessed any more arrests of priests during the course of my duty.
Expert Witness Mystkowski: Most of the statements of the defendant are perfectly correct. There was a certain gradation in the policy of the occupation authorities toward the clergy. As soon as the German army entered, priests were only held hostages. In case of riots, they were threatened with execution, just as with the representatives of the city’s administration. After a few weeks, the majority of the detainees were released. In this matter I confirm the information given by the defendant. I cannot tell who ensured their release. In all probability, it was the doing of the same authorities who ordered the arrest. We thought it was Dr Otto’s doing.
Concerning the rearrest, it had indeed taken place after a few weeks, on the occasion of the national celebration of 11th November. As the defendant has said, more than 100 priests were arrested, especially theological seminary and university professors, as well as prefects. They were again released, but only around twenty men. Then, again, half of them were released and the rest was sent to the Dachau camp due to political reasons. It was in May 1940, as the first transports from Pawiak began.
Concerning the defendant, I heard from my superiors that he had visited the then Archbishop Gall a few times. The visits were regarded as a means of coercing the archbishop into staying at home, placing him under house arrest. He did not, however, suffer any major wrong from the defendant, he just had a general impression of being under surveillance.
Prosecutor Siewierski: Can the Reverend remember, how many people were still under arrest, when the larger group of hostages was released from Pawiak prison?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: Around 12 were left behind, including myself. I was released later, due to severe illness, because I was hospitalized. The rest were taken to Oranienburg.
Prosecutor Siewierski: If were not for the illness, the Reverend would have been taken too?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: Yes. In autumn 1939, most likely in the gardens of the Sejm, the Reverend Nowakowski was executed because of his patriotic speeches, his attitude toward the German authorities and his being known for clearly exposing German issues, and for his sermons. What is more, unbeknownst to him, some leaflets had appeared in front of the church. He was arrested with the Reverend Professor of the University of Warsaw, Rosłaniec. The former was shot to death and the latter was taken to Oranienburg, where he died.
Prosecutor Siewierski: And the Reverend Krawczyk?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: He was taken from Wilanów to the Pawiak prison, and then he was transported to Modlin, where he died. His dead body was found and identified the day before yesterday.
Defendant Meissinger: I would like to clarify one thing. The first release of the 300 priests was the doing of the then Reich Commissioner Otto in connection with the intervention of a delegation of priests with General Cochenhausen von Rhode [Conrad von Cochenhausen], the military commander of the city. Otto and I were present at the time.
I would like to complete what the Reverend has been saying about the release of the priests and the speech saying that the priests should care about the beloved Lord and otherworldly matters. I can assure you, that the German phrasing of the speech, which was then delivered in Polish and in French, did not contain this phrase. There was only a statement worded roughly like this: ’The situation is such, that I ask you, in your own interest, to stick to Church matters and not to get involved in politics.’ (Laughter in the room).
Let me clarify. If it was translated otherwise, then it is no concern of mine. I speak of this incident, although according to the indictment I am not facing any charges concerning the Catholic Church. I have never been in the apartment of the Reverend Bishop and I do not know who provided the Reverend Archbishop with such information.
Expert Witness Mystkowski: Members of the Supreme Tribunal, I believe that what I have just said does not incriminate the defendant. The attitude of the governor was favorable and concerned administrative matters.
Attorney Wagner: Reverend Prelate, today you have familiarized yourself with the colors of the uniforms. Can the Reverend recall who made his arrest, the police or ordinary soldiers?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: I can, easily, because it happened two or three days after the German army entered Warsaw; the streets were full of German soldiers. But the arrest of our representatives of the magistrate was the doing of the police, not the army. We saw men with skulls. They were well built, fine and had characteristically curved caps.
Attorney Wagner: At the moment of the release, supposing that the defendant was on the spot, what was his behavior toward the released priests? The Reverend has said that there was an officer of the police.
Expert Witness Mystkowski: There was someone from the police up front by Otto’s side. Further at the back were other Germans and, of course, the prison guard.
Attorney Wagner: What was the behavior of the German by Otto’s side like?
Expert Witness Grabowski: It was correct in general.
Attorney Wagner: Does the Reverend Prelate recall such details as the officer shaking hands with the priests?
Expert Witness Mystkowski: It is possible that there were such cases. When being released, some priests held out their hands, but the German withdrew his. I have done something similar, forgetting myself. I cannot tell whether this officer shook hands, but there might have been such cases.
Presiding Judge: Thank you.