Dr. Kazimierz Papée (sometimes Anglicized Casimir, January 10, 1889 - January 19, 1979) was the ambassador from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

from 1939 to 1958, during and after World War II. Due to the

Nazi invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week afte ...

months after Papée's appointment, Papée represented the

Polish government-in-exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

for the remainder of

Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII ( it, Pio XII), born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli (; 2 March 18769 October 1958), was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 2 March 1939 until his death in October 1958. Before his e ...

's papacy, before being dismissed by his successor,

Pope John XXIII Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...

Early life

Kazimierz Papée was born January 10, 1889, in

Lwow Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

. His father Fryderyk was a renowned historian employed by the

Ossolineum Ossoliński National Institute ( pl, Zakład Narodowy im. Ossolińskich, ZNiO), or the Ossolineum is a Polish cultural foundation, publishing house, archival institute and a research centre of national significance founded in 1817 in Lwów (now Lv ...

, his mother Wladyslawa was daughter of poet Wladyslaw Anczyc. In 1905, the family moved to Krakow, where Fryderyk Papée got a job at the library of the

Jagiellonian University The Jagiellonian University (Polish: ''Uniwersytet Jagielloński'', UJ) is a public research university in Kraków, Poland. Founded in 1364 by King Casimir III the Great, it is the oldest university in Poland and the 13th oldest university in ...

. Kazimierz graduated from law department of the Jagiellonian University, later receiving his PhD. During World War I, he served in the Polish Legions (1915 - 1916), and after the war, when

regained independence, he became a diplomat, working in Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On April 1, 1920, Kazimierz Papée took a job in Polish legation in

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, and two years later he was transferred to Berlin. In 1923, after returning to Poland, Papée became a deputy to the Director of the Political Department. On January 14, 1924, he took the post of

chargé d'affaires A ''chargé d'affaires'' (), plural ''chargés d'affaires'', often shortened to ''chargé'' (French) and sometimes in colloquial English to ''charge-D'', is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador ...

of the Polish legation in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

, where he remained until December 1, 1924. The next four years Papée spent in Poland, working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. On January 1, 1928, he became director of the consular office of the Polish legation in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

. In the first half of 1929, he worked in the Polish legation in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, and on July 16, 1929, he became general consul of Poland in

Königsberg Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...

Polish High Commissioner of Danzig

Papée became the "Polish High Commissioner of Danzig" on February 12, 1932; the "nomination was taken to mean that Poland intended to take a stronger attitude toward the Free City". Papée thus served as Poland's diplomatic representative to the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...

, in which role he dealt with the Polish boycott of the city. As envoy, Papée's main demand was that the Free City turn over its customs revenue to Poland. Papée negotiated primarily with

Arthur Greiser Arthur Karl Greiser (22 January 1897 – 21 July 1946) was a Nazi German politician, SS-''Obergruppenführer'', ''Gauleiter'' and ''Reichsstatthalter'' (Reich Governor) of the German-occupied territory of ''Wartheland''. He was one of the perso ...

, the President of the

Danzig Senate The Senate of the Free City of Danzig was the government of the Free City of Danzig from 1920 to 1939, after the Allied administration of Reginald Tower and the Danzig Staatsrat. Constitutional Regulations The separation of Danzig from the Germ ...

. The dispute and the ensuing reprisals became known as the "customs war". Papée was ultimately successful in obtaining the concession from Danzig. Papée combatted Nazi efforts to eliminate the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

role in the governance of the Free City. Papée persuaded Greiser not to enforce various decrees designed to suppress the Danzig Opposition. Papée continued to convey the protests of Colonel

Józef Beck Józef Beck (; 4 October 1894 – 5 June 1944) was a Poles, Polish statesman who served the Second Republic of Poland as a diplomat and military officer. A close associate of Józef Piłsudski, Beck is most famous for being Polish foreign minist ...

to Greiser.

Envoy in Prague

In 1938, Papée was relocated to

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

as envoy to Czechoslovakia, siding with the Czechs against Germany in the

Sudetenland crisis The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and sk, Sudety) is the historical German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the ...

. Papée held the diplomatic rank of "Minister".''New York Times''. 1939, June 24. "Poland Sends Papee to Vatican". p. 2. Polish-Czech tension was raised as well, and Papée soon lodged protests against Czech troop movements near the Polish border, and radio propaganda.

Ambassador to the Holy See

Papée was appointed ambassador to the Holy See on June 23, 1939. The post had lain vacant since the 1937 death of

Władysław Skrzyński Władysław is a Polish given male name, cognate with Vladislav. The feminine form is Władysława, archaic forms are Włodzisław (male) and Włodzisława (female), and Wladislaw is a variation. These names may refer to: Famous people Mononym * W ...

. Papée attended to

's attempts to mediate the disputes between Germany and Poland. Papée unsuccessfully pressured Pius XII to more strongly speak out against the situation in occupied Poland throughout the war.Phayer, 2000, p. 23. For example, Papée met with Pius XII on September 30, 1940—along with Cardinal

August Hlond August Hlond (July 5, 1881 – October 22, 1948) was a Polish cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, who was Archbishop of Poznań and Gniezno in 1926 and Primate of Poland. He was then appointed as the Archbishop of Gniezno and Warsaw in 194 ...

, the

primate of Poland This is a list of archbishops of the Archdiocese of Gniezno, who are simultaneously primates of Poland since 1418.Wladimir Ledóchowski, the

Superior General of the Jesuits The superior general of the Society of Jesus is the leader of the Society of Jesus, the Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. He is generally addressed as Father General. The position sometimes carries the nickname of the Black Po ...

—but all three left disappointed when Pius XII declined to condemn the double invasion of Poland because he did not want the Vatican "to become a platform for Polish objections against Germany". However, Pius XII's June 3, 1941, and May 21, 1943, meetings with Papée were perceived as ''de facto'' recognition of the

. Papée never accepted Pius XII's proposal to accept the Nazi annexation of a portion of Poland. Later, in May 1942, he complained to Cardinal Secretary of State

Luigi Maglione Luigi Maglione (2 March 1877 – 22 August 1944) was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He was elevated to the cardinalate in 1935 and served as the Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Pius XII from 1939 until his death. Pius ...

that Pius XII had not condemned the recent wave of terror in Poland. When Maglione replied that it was impossible to document such atrocities, Papée retorted "there was sufficient proof and, besides, when something becomes notorious, proof is not required". Papée reported after the war: "I remember when I came to see the Holy Father for ..perhaps the tenth time in 1944; he was angry. When he saw me as I entered the room and stood at the door awaiting permission to approach, he raised both his arms in a gesture of exasperation. 'I have listened again and again to your representations about Our unhappy children in Poland. Must I be given the same story yet again?'".Phayer, 2000, p. 61. Papée pressured Pius XII to speak out not only against the persecution of Poles, but also against

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. Papée was present in a 1944 audience with Polish officers where Pius XII urged Poland to avoid retribution against Germany or Russia. By 1953, Papée was entitled by virtue of seniority to the title of dean of the

diplomatic corps The diplomatic corps (french: corps diplomatique) is the collective body of foreign diplomats accredited to a particular country or body. The diplomatic corps may, in certain contexts, refer to the collection of accredited heads of mission ( am ...

, but had not acted as dean for years due to his continuing representation of the government-in-exile, not Communist Poland.

revoked Papée's accreditation as ambassador in December 1958, in a move that somewhat improved relations between the Vatican and the

People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic ( pl, Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, PRL) was a country in Central Europe that existed from 1947 to 1989 as the predecessor of the modern Republic of Poland. With a population of approximately 37.9 million nea ...

. Also de-recognized was Stanislovas Girdvainis, the ambassador of the Lithuanian government-in-exile.

Memoir

After the war, Papée published ''Pius XII i Polska'' (''Pius XII and Poland'', 1954), documenting the policies of Pius XII vis-a-vis Poland from 1939 to 1949. He wrote that when he pleaded with Pius XII to denounce or condemn the mass killing centers of

Auschwitz Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

and

Birkenau Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...

, he received only a generic reply: "The Vatican is always ready to alleviate all misery due to war" (p. 94). Papée wrote memos to the Pope notifying him specifically about topics such as the liquidation of the Warsaw Ghetto, mass executions in specialized killing centers, and mass deportations of Jews.Phayer, 2000, p. 48. He died on January 19, 1979, in Rome. Dr.

Dariusz Libionka Dariusz Marian Libionka (born on 25 June 1963 in Bielsko-Biała) is a Polish historian affiliated with the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin. Libionka graduated from the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) and the School for Social Scie ...

's analysis of Papée's attempts to get Pius XII to act or speak out against the Holocaust in Poland is bluntly titled "Against a Brick Wall".

Notes

References

* Chadwick, Owen. 1988. ''Britain and the Vatican During the Second World War''. Cambridge University Press. *Luxmoore, Jonathan, and Babiuch, Jolanta. 2000. ''The Vatican and the red flag''. * Phayer, Michael. 2000. ''The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930–1965''. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Papee, Kazimierz Jagiellonian University alumni Ambassadors of Poland to the Holy See Pope Pius XII foreign relations Polish Underground State History of Catholicism in Poland 1889 births 1979 deaths Polish people of French descent Diplomats from Lviv