Modernism in Poland (architecture)

[FiveLinden]

The eye-popping churches of Communist Poland

 

[catholic03]

That is most interesting, thank you for sharing.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Very nice. If these were in any former Communist country but Poland, I would worry the construction was bad and they might fall on someone’s head. However, the Poles know how to build very well.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

As modern church buildings go, these are not bad at all. I like to think I know a little bit about Poland, as I have spent a fair amount of time there, and my son is a citizen through his mother. Poles have always been pretty good at improvising with whatever they have at hand.

However, I was surprised at this:

But if communism didn’t allow religion, how did these churches get the go-ahead? It was down to a mixture of strong faith and pragmatic politics. “All the PZPR (Communist Party) first secretaries in towns such as Glogów were deeply religious and became party secretaries just for the sake of having a career,” explains architect Jerzy Gurawski in Day-VII Architecture. He designed three churches including Glogów’s Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Poland. These functionaries needed somewhere to be married and to have their children baptised.

I thought Communist Party members, in Poland and elsewhere, had to choose between the party and the Church. General Jaruzelski felt as though he had to get permission from party leaders to attend his mother’s church funeral.

Guess I didn’t know as much as I thought I did. Not the first time, won’t be the last.

 

[Jbrady]

I thought Communist Party members, in Poland and elsewhere, had to choose between the party and the Church.

Theoretically, yes. Practically, no, especially the further down the ladder one was. Party secretary in a backwater like Głogów isn’t high enough on the latter to matter much on a national scale. Whether he was religious or not was of marginal interest to the Central Committee.

Also, the Party in Poland was a lot more tolerant of the Church than it’s counterparts in other Eastern Block countries. For practical reasons, they were much more willing to compromise or turn a blind eye.

 

[catholic03]

I thought Communist Party members, in Poland and elsewhere, had to choose between the party and the Church. General Jaruzelski felt as though he had to get permission from party leaders to attend his mother’s church funeral.

Also, Catholics are forbidden to become communist party members.

 

[Jbrady]

Also, Catholics are forbidden to become communist party members.

Again, in theory more so than in practice in Poland at the time.

 

[catholic03]

Again, in theory more so than in practice in Poland at the time.

Sorry, I meant that the Church forbids voluntary membership in communist parties.

 

[HomeschoolDad]

HomeschoolDad:

I thought Communist Party members, in Poland and elsewhere, had to choose between the party and the Church. General Jaruzelski felt as though he had to get permission from party leaders to attend his mother’s church funeral.

Also, Catholics are forbidden to become communist party members.

Well, yes, that is true, but I’m quite sure a lot of them didn’t let that stop them, as long as the PZPR didn’t have a problem with it. Probably more of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” situation than anything else, though Party membership would be pretty hard to hide in a small town. My wife grew up in a town much smaller than Głogów (pronounced “gwoh-goof”) and there was certainly no keeping secrets there — a kind of Polish Mayberry.

Incidentally, police officers weren’t allowed to go to Mass either. That probably didn’t stop them, at least from time to time.

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(Note that the women all had their heads covered. Very nice.)