Razing the Church: The Enduring Effect of Nazi Repression in Poland

• In Event: Slavs in the Nazi World, 1933-1945

Abstract

Repression against religious elites and organizations is a common yet understudied phenomenon, a gap in the literature that this paper addresses by analyzing the nature and long-term consequences of repression in Nazi-occupied Poland during WWII. Using a spatial regression discontinuity design, this paper shows that repression in the incorporated Warthegau targeted the Catholic Church, a locus of Polish identity, with extreme intensity; while the systematic removal of Catholic clergy did not facilitate Communist infiltration of the Church, it had an enduring negative effect on church attendance. This legacy, however, did not weaken Polish political conservatism and, if anything, more repressed areas tend to show higher support for nationalist parties in elections where WWII issues are salient; therefore, these results suggest that foreign repression against domestic elites can reshape behavioral norms without weakening nationalism.

Author

• Volha Charnysh, MIT