Withdraw from the East: The Vatican View of New Borders between Poland and the USSR After World War II

• In Event: Remains of the Past: The Catholic Church in the Communist Regimes of East Central Europe II

Abstract

New borders between Poland and the USSR were agreed upon at the Yalta Conference. Denying new political reality, the Catholic Church in Poland and the Polish government in exile appealed to the Holy See for official support for their position, emphasizing the Polishness of eastern Galicia, now Western Ukraine. The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and the Ukrainian national emigration in the West defended the opposite point of view and - if we are talking about the latter - tried to ensure the Vatican's loyalty to their anti-Soviet struggle in Western Ukraine. For the Vatican itself, the Yalta agreements, which left behind the iron curtain millions of the Greek and Roman Catholic believers, meant shortening of the opportunities for the so-called "Russian apostolate". However, it is in the tradition of Vatican diplomacy to leave the door open for negotiations with every possible partner. This paper aims to discuss how the interaction of various players with different interests shaped the Vatican's position on the post-war eastern borders of Poland.

Author

• Viktoriia Serhiienko, German Historical Institute Warsaw (Poland)