ŚLĄSKIE STUDIA HISTORYCZNO-TEOLOGICZNE

The Residence of the Discalced Carmelites in Szopienice 1954-1955. Episode of a Struggle with the Catholic Church in the Stalinist Period
The article presents a brief episode of the functioning of a pastoral station run by the Discalced Carmelites in Szopienice in the years 1954-1955. In autumn 1954, two monks: Father Daniel Rufeisen and Brother Lawrence Radkiewicz, with the help of residents, repaired the dilapidated barrack and turned it into a chapel. The communist authorities demanded that the monks close the chapel and leave Szopienice. When the additional fines and administrative decisions on the expulsion of the Carmelites were not effective, the authorities decided to seal the chapel. A month later, in December 1955, they conducted the final liquidation of the convent. The policemen led the faithful out of the chapel by force. Despite many petitions and complaints from local residents of Szopienice the chapel was not reactivated and the monks had to leave the city. This previously unknown case of the fight of the faithful for religious freedom depicts in a context of the anti-Church government’s policy during the Stalinist period.