Maximilian Kaller
Encyclopedia
Maximilian Kaller was Roman Catholic Bishop of Ermland in East Prussia
from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.
, Prussian Silesia
into a merchant family as the second of altogether eight children. With the population of Beuthen being of German and Polish ethnicity he grew up bilingual in German and Polish language
. He graduated from Gymnasium
in 1899 with Abitur
. Then he started theological studies in Breslau (today's Wrocław) at the episcopal see
of his then home Prince-Bishopric of Breslau. There he was consecrated priest in 1903.
He first served as chaplain at the parish of Groß Strehlitz (today's Strzelce Opolskie)
in the Breslau diocese. Between 1905 and 1917 he practised as missionary priest at St. Boniface parish in Bergen
on Rügen
island in the Hither Pomerania
n Catholic diaspora within Breslau's Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania. He accomplished to raise the necessary donations to erect St. Boniface Church there in 1912. Since 1917 Kaller served as priest at Berlin's second oldest Catholic Church, Saint Michael's
.
of Schneidemühl (today's Piła). Kaller's jurisdiction comprised Catholic parishes of the dioceses of Chełmno and of Gniezno -Poznań, which had been dissected from their episcopal sees by the new Polish border in 1918 and 1920, respectively. On Kaller's instigation the seat of the apostolic administration had been moved from Tütz (Tuczno)
to Schneidemühl on 1 July 1926.
Following the Prussian Concordat
of 1929 some Catholic dioceses and jurisdictions in Northern
and Eastern Germany had been reorganised. In 1930 the Apostolic Administration of Tütz
was reconstituted as Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl with Kaller being promoted to prelate.
On 2 September 1930 again, Kaller was invested bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ermland (an archdiocese since 1992) by Pope Pius XI
and consecrated in Schneidemühl, afterwards taking the episcopal see in Frauenburg (today's Frombork). Franz Hartz succeeded Kaller as Prelate of Schneidemühl.
Since 1925 Ermland diocese comprised all of the Prussian Province of East Prussia
in its borders of 1938. In the year of Kaller's investiture his diocese, which had turned exempt
in 1566 when its original metropolitan
Archbishopric of Riga, had been become Lutheran and de jure dissolved, became again suffragan to an archdiocese. Ermland diocese, together with Berlin diocese
and Schneidemühl prelature joined the new Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province under the newly elevated Metropolitan
Archbishop Adolf Bertram of Breslau.
In 1932 Kaller consecrated the new diocesan seminary
for priests in Braunsberg in East Prussia (today's Braniewo)
. Under his jurisdiction Ermland diocese issued a new diocesan hymnal
and a diocesan rituale (cf. Rituale Romanum) in Latin and the three native languages usual among the diocesan parishioners, to wit German, Lithuanian
, and Polish. Kaller was also appointed apostolic visitator to the then 8,000 Catholic faithful in Memelland, a Lithuanian-annexed formerly East Prussian area, whose then four Catholic parishes had been seceded from Ermland diocese and subsequently formed part of the Territorial Prelature of Memel (Klaipėda
; ; ; ) existing between 1926 and 1991.
Kaller and other members of the German Catholic and Protestant Churches formulated their opposition to the policy of Nazi mysticism
early on (cf. Struggle of the churches
). German clergy who opposed Adolf Hitler
or supported refugees were strongly persecuted under the Nazi dictatorship. On 10 June 1939 Pope Pius XII
appointed Kaller apostolic administrator of the Territorial Prelature of Memel, after Lithuania
had ceded Memelland under German pressure to Nazi Germany
in March the same year. In 1942 Kaller applied at Nuncio
Cesare Orsenigo
to resign from episcopate in order to administer services at Theresienstadt
, but his wish was not granted.
On 7 February 1945, during World War II, the Nazi
Schutzstaffel
forced Kaller out of his episcopal office while the Soviet Red Army
was overrunning Ermland diocese. Kaller had appointed Frauenburg's Cathedral Dean Aloys Marquardt (1891–1972) as vicar general
to the see.
to Allied-occupied Germany, including Marquardt who had to leave in July. Frauenburg's cathedral chapter
then elected the aged Canon Johannes (Jan) Hanowski, a German of Polish ethnicity and long-term archpriest of Allenstein (today's Olsztyn)
, as capitular vicar, i.e. provisional head of the see, on 28 July 1945.
Kaller, who had stranded by the end of the war in Halle upon Saale, made his 720 kilometres (447.4 mi)-long way back to his see and arrived in one of the first nights of August 1945 in Allenstein/Olsztyn, taking on the jurisdiction from Hanowski. Kaller started to develop new plans for his diocese especially aiming at overcoming the nationalist antagonism between Catholics of German and Polish language, reshaping the diocese in the spirit of German-Polish reconciliation. He appointed Franciszek Borowiec, his close collaborator, as new vicar general for the Diocesan area under Polish occupation and Paul Hoppe (1900–1988), Königsberg in Prussia
(today's Kaliningrad
), as vicar general for the diocesan area under Soviet occupation.
Kaller further appointed an ethnic Pole as new cathedral provost
, since his predecessor Provost Franz Xaver Sander (also official), and five more fellow cathedral canons had been killed by the invading Soviets. Addressing the Polish authorities in the annexed area of his diocese Kaller declared that he wants to continue his episcopate within Poland
, however, the officials said it was neither him nor them, but Warsaw to decide that. Kaller chose four ethnic Poles as canon candidates to replenish the chapter to the end that ethnic Poles and Germans would each have half the seats. With these activities and plans Kaller was unique among the German bishops in the eastern territories.
On 14 August he received a telegramme from August Hlond for the expelled Marquardt. Polish Primate Hlond had invited the vicar general for a meeting on the diocesan future to Pelplin
, not knowing that the Polish authorities had expelled him, let alone that the deported Kaller had succeeded to return. A Polish government car was provided and Kaller and Borowiec travelled the next day to Pelplin. When – on coming for the general vicar – the Polish government representatives learned the bishop himself was coming, they sent an advance party to Pelplin in order to inform Hlond.
As Pelplin's Canon and Chancellor Franciszek Kurland recalled, Kaller was not welcomed in priestly fraternity. Difficult enough to urge a general vicar to resign, but the papally invested bishop was another task. In fluent Polish Kaller and Hlond, his chaplain Bolesław Filipiak, his brother Antoni Hlond SDB, Leon Kozłowski (Chełmno's vicar general) and Kurland conversed while taking lunch, discussing the situation. Kaller explained that he wanted to stay with his diocese in Poland and talked about his plans. Hlond replied that Kaller was no Polish citizen and thus unacceptable as bishop in the Polish area, avoiding the term state, since Ermland diocese was only Polish-occupied German territory. Afterwards in a private conversation Hlond urged Kaller to resign and so he did for the jurisdiction in the Polish-occupied diocesan area, but retained the office of Bishop of Ermland, which rather turned quite void, especially since in the Soviet-occupied diocesan area no Catholic ecclesiastical activity whatsoever was tolerated. Later in Poznań Hlond praised Kaller for how he complied with the demanded resignation from jurisdiction.
On his way back, accompanied by Borowiec, Kaller cried and told him that the jurisdiction in the Polish-occupied diocesan area will be passed on to Teodor Bensch, a German-born naturalised Pole, who would arrive within days officiating as apostolic administrator. They returned home in the evening on 16 August. Kaller could not appoint the four new canons for the chapter any more but was expelled the next day, transferred by lorry to Warsaw, accompanied by Borowiec, who also joined him on the train to Poznań on 18 August. Then Borowiec, who had not been expelled, returned to the diocese, while Kaller had to leave via Stettin for Allied-occupied Germany.
in 1947. On 26 September 1946 Pius XII appointed Kaller Papal Special Commissioner for the homeland-expelled Germans . In November 1946 Pius XII invited Kaller to Rome, both were personally acquainted since their common time in Berlin (Pius as Nuncio to Germany and Kaller as priest), and the latter reported the pope on the destitute situation of the expellees from eastern Europe. On 7 July 1947, Kaller died suddenly of a heart attack in Frankfurt upon Main and was buried besides St. Mary's Church in Königstein in the Taunus
.
in Elbing (today's Elbląg)
, capitular vicar, as provided by canon law in case of sede vacante
. The Holy See later confirmed him and thereafter Kather represented Ermland diocese in the Fulda Conference of Bishops until his death. On 29 July 1957 the Ermland chapter, with the surviving capitulars living in what had become West Germany
, elected Hoppe as capitular vicar, who had been expelled from the Soviet-occupied Ermland diocesan area (Kaliningrad Oblast
) in 1947. Hoppe held that post until Pope Paul VI
terminated the apostolic administration of Ermland diocese and finally appointed again a bishop to the see on 28 June 1972, then named Warmia (Polish for Ermland), however, not comprising the former diocesan area within the Soviet Union
. Paul VI then elevated Hoppe to Apostolic Visitator of Ermland taking care of Ermland's diocesans living in Germany.
, where he had earlier improved his German. On his further way to Nuremberg
Glemp stopped in Königstein to visit Kaller's grave. On 10 October 1980, Kaller's 100th birthday, Glemp celebrated a pontifical
requiem
in honour of Kaller in Frombork's Cathedral of Ss. Mary Assumption and Andrew, commemorating in his preach Kaller's personality as priest and his benedictory work for the diocese. In 1997, Archbishop Edmund Michał Piszcz of Warmia and the community of Ermlanders in Western Germany
commemorated Kaller and placed busts
of him in Germany and Poland
. On 4 May 2003 the procedure for his beatification
started.
East Prussia
East Prussia is the main part of the region of Prussia along the southeastern Baltic Coast from the 13th century to the end of World War II in May 1945. From 1772–1829 and 1878–1945, the Province of East Prussia was part of the German state of Prussia. The capital city was Königsberg.East Prussia...
from 1930–1947, however, de facto expelled since mid-August 1945 he served as special bishop for the homeland-expellees until his death.
Early life
Kaller was born in Beuthen (Bytom)Bytom
Bytom is a city in Silesia in southern Poland, near Katowice. The central-western district of the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - metropolis with the population of 2 millions. Bytom is located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Bytomka river .The city belongs to the Silesian Voivodeship since...
, Prussian Silesia
Province of Silesia
The Province of Silesia was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1815 to 1919.-Geography:The territory comprised the bulk of the former Bohemian crown land of Silesia and the County of Kladsko, which King Frederick the Great had conquered from the Austrian Habsburg Monarchy in the 18th...
into a merchant family as the second of altogether eight children. With the population of Beuthen being of German and Polish ethnicity he grew up bilingual in German and Polish language
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
. He graduated from Gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
in 1899 with Abitur
Abitur
Abitur is a designation used in Germany, Finland and Estonia for final exams that pupils take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling, see also for Germany Abitur after twelve years.The Zeugnis der Allgemeinen Hochschulreife, often referred to as...
. Then he started theological studies in Breslau (today's Wrocław) at the episcopal see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of his then home Prince-Bishopric of Breslau. There he was consecrated priest in 1903.
He first served as chaplain at the parish of Groß Strehlitz (today's Strzelce Opolskie)
Strzelce Opolskie
Strzelce Opolskie is a town in south-western Poland with 19,628 inhabitants , situated in the Opole Voivodeship. It is the capital of Strzelce County. Strzelce Opolskie is one of the biggest centers of German minority in Poland....
in the Breslau diocese. Between 1905 and 1917 he practised as missionary priest at St. Boniface parish in Bergen
Bergen auf Rügen
Bergen auf Rügen is the capital of the former district of Rügen in the middle of the island of Rügen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Since 1 January 2005, Bergen has moreover been the administrative seat of the Amt of Bergen auf Rügen, which with a population of over 23,000 is...
on Rügen
Rügen
Rügen is Germany's largest island. Located in the Baltic Sea, it is part of the Vorpommern-Rügen district of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.- Geography :Rügen is located off the north-eastern coast of Germany in the Baltic Sea...
island in the Hither Pomerania
Hither Pomerania
Western Pomerania, Cispomerania or Hither Pomerania are terms used in English to translate the German Vorpommern the western extremity of the historic region of the duchy, later Province of Pomerania, nowadays divided between the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Poland.Forming part of...
n Catholic diaspora within Breslau's Prince-Episcopal Delegation for Brandenburg and Pomerania. He accomplished to raise the necessary donations to erect St. Boniface Church there in 1912. Since 1917 Kaller served as priest at Berlin's second oldest Catholic Church, Saint Michael's
Saint Michael's church, Berlin
Saint Michael's church is a Roman Catholic church in Berlin, Germany, dedicated to Archangel Michael. The church was completed in 1851 and was partially destroyed during the Second World War. It is protected as a historical monument in Berlin....
.
Career as prelate and bishop
In 1926 he succeeded Robert Weimann (1870–1925) as Apostolic AdministratorApostolic Administrator
An apostolic administrator in the Roman Catholic Church is a prelate appointed by the Pope to serve as the ordinary for an apostolic administration...
of Schneidemühl (today's Piła). Kaller's jurisdiction comprised Catholic parishes of the dioceses of Chełmno and of Gniezno -Poznań, which had been dissected from their episcopal sees by the new Polish border in 1918 and 1920, respectively. On Kaller's instigation the seat of the apostolic administration had been moved from Tütz (Tuczno)
Tuczno
Tuczno is a town in Wałcz County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland, with 2,014 inhabitants .It is the home of the restored Tuczno Castle, which is a popular place for conferences....
to Schneidemühl on 1 July 1926.
Following the Prussian Concordat
Concordat
A concordat is an agreement between the Holy See of the Catholic Church and a sovereign state on religious matters. Legally, they are international treaties. They often includes both recognition and privileges for the Catholic Church in a particular country...
of 1929 some Catholic dioceses and jurisdictions in Northern
Northern Germany
- Geography :The key terrain features of North Germany are the marshes along the coastline of the North Sea and Baltic Sea, and the geest and heaths inland. Also prominent are the low hills of the Baltic Uplands, the ground moraines, end moraines, sandur, glacial valleys, bogs, and Luch...
and Eastern Germany had been reorganised. In 1930 the Apostolic Administration of Tütz
Tuczno
Tuczno is a town in Wałcz County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland, with 2,014 inhabitants .It is the home of the restored Tuczno Castle, which is a popular place for conferences....
was reconstituted as Territorial Prelature of Schneidemühl with Kaller being promoted to prelate.
On 2 September 1930 again, Kaller was invested bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ermland (an archdiocese since 1992) by Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, was Pope from 6 February 1922, and sovereign of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on 11 February 1929 until his death on 10 February 1939...
and consecrated in Schneidemühl, afterwards taking the episcopal see in Frauenburg (today's Frombork). Franz Hartz succeeded Kaller as Prelate of Schneidemühl.
Since 1925 Ermland diocese comprised all of the Prussian Province of East Prussia
Province of East Prussia
The Province of East Prussia was a province of Prussia from 1773–1829 and 1878-1945. Composed of the historical region East Prussia, the province's capital was Königsberg ....
in its borders of 1938. In the year of Kaller's investiture his diocese, which had turned exempt
Exemption (church)
In the Roman Catholic Church, exemption is the whole or partial release of an ecclesiastical person, corporation, or institution from the authority of the ecclesiastical superior next higher in rank....
in 1566 when its original metropolitan
Metropolis (religious jurisdiction)
A metropolis is a see or city whose bishop is the metropolitan of a province. Metropolises, historically, have been important cities in their provinces....
Archbishopric of Riga, had been become Lutheran and de jure dissolved, became again suffragan to an archdiocese. Ermland diocese, together with Berlin diocese
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Berlin
The Archdiocese of Berlin is a Roman Catholic archdiocese, seated in Berlin and covering the northeast of Germany.As of 2004 the archdiocese has 386,279 Catholics out of the population of Berlin, most of Brandenburg and Hither Pomerania, i. e. the German part of Pomerania...
and Schneidemühl prelature joined the new Eastern German Ecclesiastical Province under the newly elevated Metropolitan
Metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan, pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis; that is, the chief city of a historical Roman province, ecclesiastical province, or regional capital.Before the establishment of...
Archbishop Adolf Bertram of Breslau.
In 1932 Kaller consecrated the new diocesan seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
for priests in Braunsberg in East Prussia (today's Braniewo)
Braniewo
Braniewo is a town in northeastern Poland, in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, with a population of 18,068 . It is the capital of Braniewo County...
. Under his jurisdiction Ermland diocese issued a new diocesan hymnal
Hymnal
Hymnal or hymnary or hymnbook is a collection of hymns, i.e. religious songs, usually in the form of a book. The earliest hand-written hymnals are known since Middle Ages in the context of European Christianity...
and a diocesan rituale (cf. Rituale Romanum) in Latin and the three native languages usual among the diocesan parishioners, to wit German, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, and Polish. Kaller was also appointed apostolic visitator to the then 8,000 Catholic faithful in Memelland, a Lithuanian-annexed formerly East Prussian area, whose then four Catholic parishes had been seceded from Ermland diocese and subsequently formed part of the Territorial Prelature of Memel (Klaipėda
Klaipeda
Klaipėda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Nemunas River where it flows into the Baltic Sea. It is the third largest city in Lithuania and the capital of Klaipėda County....
; ; ; ) existing between 1926 and 1991.
Kaller and other members of the German Catholic and Protestant Churches formulated their opposition to the policy of Nazi mysticism
Nazi mysticism
Speculation about Nazism and occultism has become part of popular culture since 1959. Aside from several popular documentaries, there are numerous books on the topic, most notably The Morning of the Magicians and The Spear of Destiny ....
early on (cf. Struggle of the churches
Kirchenkampf
Kirchenkampf is a German term that translates as "struggle of the churches" or "church struggle" in English. The term is sometimes used ambiguously, and may refer to one or more of the following different church struggles:...
). German clergy who opposed Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
or supported refugees were strongly persecuted under the Nazi dictatorship. On 10 June 1939 Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII
The Venerable Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as Pope, head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City State, from 2 March 1939 until his death in 1958....
appointed Kaller apostolic administrator of the Territorial Prelature of Memel, after Lithuania
Lithuania
Lithuania , officially the Republic of Lithuania is a country in Northern Europe, the biggest of the three Baltic states. It is situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, whereby to the west lie Sweden and Denmark...
had ceded Memelland under German pressure to Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in March the same year. In 1942 Kaller applied at Nuncio
Nuncio
Nuncio is an ecclesiastical diplomatic title, derived from the ancient Latin word, Nuntius, meaning "envoy." This article addresses this title as well as derived similar titles, all within the structure of the Roman Catholic Church...
Cesare Orsenigo
Cesare Orsenigo
Cesare Vincenzo Orsenigo was Apostolic Nuncio to Germany from 1930 to 1945, during the rise of Nazi Germany and World War II...
to resign from episcopate in order to administer services at Theresienstadt
Terezín
Terezín is the name of a former military fortress and adjacent walled garrison town in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.-Early history:...
, but his wish was not granted.
On 7 February 1945, during World War II, the Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
Schutzstaffel
Schutzstaffel
The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...
forced Kaller out of his episcopal office while the Soviet Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
was overrunning Ermland diocese. Kaller had appointed Frauenburg's Cathedral Dean Aloys Marquardt (1891–1972) as vicar general
Vicar general
A vicar general is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ordinary executive power over the entire diocese and, thus, is the highest official in a diocese or other particular...
to the see.
After World War II
The Polish authorities ruling the former eastern territories of Germany expelled most GermansExpulsion of Germans after World War II
The later stages of World War II, and the period after the end of that war, saw the forced migration of millions of German nationals and ethnic Germans from various European states and territories, mostly into the areas which would become post-war Germany and post-war Austria...
to Allied-occupied Germany, including Marquardt who had to leave in July. Frauenburg's cathedral chapter
Cathedral chapter
In accordance with canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese in his stead. These councils are made up of canons and dignitaries; in the Roman Catholic church their...
then elected the aged Canon Johannes (Jan) Hanowski, a German of Polish ethnicity and long-term archpriest of Allenstein (today's Olsztyn)
Olsztyn
Olsztyn is a city in northeastern Poland, on the Łyna River. Olsztyn has been the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. It was previously in the Olsztyn Voivodeship...
, as capitular vicar, i.e. provisional head of the see, on 28 July 1945.
Kaller, who had stranded by the end of the war in Halle upon Saale, made his 720 kilometres (447.4 mi)-long way back to his see and arrived in one of the first nights of August 1945 in Allenstein/Olsztyn, taking on the jurisdiction from Hanowski. Kaller started to develop new plans for his diocese especially aiming at overcoming the nationalist antagonism between Catholics of German and Polish language, reshaping the diocese in the spirit of German-Polish reconciliation. He appointed Franciszek Borowiec, his close collaborator, as new vicar general for the Diocesan area under Polish occupation and Paul Hoppe (1900–1988), Königsberg in Prussia
Königsberg
Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
(today's Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...
), as vicar general for the diocesan area under Soviet occupation.
Kaller further appointed an ethnic Pole as new cathedral provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
, since his predecessor Provost Franz Xaver Sander (also official), and five more fellow cathedral canons had been killed by the invading Soviets. Addressing the Polish authorities in the annexed area of his diocese Kaller declared that he wants to continue his episcopate within Poland
People's Republic of Poland
The People's Republic of Poland was the official name of Poland from 1952 to 1990. Although the Soviet Union took control of the country immediately after the liberation from Nazi Germany in 1944, the name of the state was not changed until eight years later...
, however, the officials said it was neither him nor them, but Warsaw to decide that. Kaller chose four ethnic Poles as canon candidates to replenish the chapter to the end that ethnic Poles and Germans would each have half the seats. With these activities and plans Kaller was unique among the German bishops in the eastern territories.
On 14 August he received a telegramme from August Hlond for the expelled Marquardt. Polish Primate Hlond had invited the vicar general for a meeting on the diocesan future to Pelplin
Pelplin
Pelplin is a small town in Tczew County, Pomeranian Voivodship, Poland. Population: 9,993 . The former Pelplin Abbey is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pelplin, and the abbey church is now Pelpin Cathedral.It is located at around ....
, not knowing that the Polish authorities had expelled him, let alone that the deported Kaller had succeeded to return. A Polish government car was provided and Kaller and Borowiec travelled the next day to Pelplin. When – on coming for the general vicar – the Polish government representatives learned the bishop himself was coming, they sent an advance party to Pelplin in order to inform Hlond.
As Pelplin's Canon and Chancellor Franciszek Kurland recalled, Kaller was not welcomed in priestly fraternity. Difficult enough to urge a general vicar to resign, but the papally invested bishop was another task. In fluent Polish Kaller and Hlond, his chaplain Bolesław Filipiak, his brother Antoni Hlond SDB, Leon Kozłowski (Chełmno's vicar general) and Kurland conversed while taking lunch, discussing the situation. Kaller explained that he wanted to stay with his diocese in Poland and talked about his plans. Hlond replied that Kaller was no Polish citizen and thus unacceptable as bishop in the Polish area, avoiding the term state, since Ermland diocese was only Polish-occupied German territory. Afterwards in a private conversation Hlond urged Kaller to resign and so he did for the jurisdiction in the Polish-occupied diocesan area, but retained the office of Bishop of Ermland, which rather turned quite void, especially since in the Soviet-occupied diocesan area no Catholic ecclesiastical activity whatsoever was tolerated. Later in Poznań Hlond praised Kaller for how he complied with the demanded resignation from jurisdiction.
On his way back, accompanied by Borowiec, Kaller cried and told him that the jurisdiction in the Polish-occupied diocesan area will be passed on to Teodor Bensch, a German-born naturalised Pole, who would arrive within days officiating as apostolic administrator. They returned home in the evening on 16 August. Kaller could not appoint the four new canons for the chapter any more but was expelled the next day, transferred by lorry to Warsaw, accompanied by Borowiec, who also joined him on the train to Poznań on 18 August. Then Borowiec, who had not been expelled, returned to the diocese, while Kaller had to leave via Stettin for Allied-occupied Germany.
Kaller's last years
Kaller found asylum in what would become BizoneBizone
The Bizone, or Bizonia was the combination of the American and the British occupation zones in 1947 during the occupation of Germany after World War II. With the addition of the French occupation zone in March 1948, the entity became the Trizone...
in 1947. On 26 September 1946 Pius XII appointed Kaller Papal Special Commissioner for the homeland-expelled Germans . In November 1946 Pius XII invited Kaller to Rome, both were personally acquainted since their common time in Berlin (Pius as Nuncio to Germany and Kaller as priest), and the latter reported the pope on the destitute situation of the expellees from eastern Europe. On 7 July 1947, Kaller died suddenly of a heart attack in Frankfurt upon Main and was buried besides St. Mary's Church in Königstein in the Taunus
Königstein im Taunus
Königstein im Taunus is a climatic spa and lies on the thickly wooded slopes of the Taunus in Hesse, Germany. Owing to its advantageous location for both scenery and transport on the edge of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Region, Königstein is a favourite residential town...
.
Succession of Kaller until 1972
On 11 July 1947 the Ermland chapter, residing in the Allied Bizone, then elected Provost Arthur Kather (1883–1957), officiating before his exile at St. Nicholas Catholic ChurchSt. Nicholas Cathedral, Elblag
St. Nicholas Cathedral is a 13th century Gothic church in Elbląg, Poland.-History:When the burghers of Elbing first attempted to adopt the Protestant Reformation in 1525, the provost of St. Nicholas Church maintained Catholic practice. Since 1539 the city council tacitly tolerated and gradually...
in Elbing (today's Elbląg)
Elblag
Elbląg is a city in northern Poland with 127,892 inhabitants . It is the capital of Elbląg County and has been assigned to the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship since 1999. Before then it was the capital of Elbląg Voivodeship and a county seat in Gdańsk Voivodeship...
, capitular vicar, as provided by canon law in case of sede vacante
Sede vacante
Sede vacante is an expression, used in the Canon Law of the Catholic Church, that refers to the vacancy of the episcopal see of a particular church...
. The Holy See later confirmed him and thereafter Kather represented Ermland diocese in the Fulda Conference of Bishops until his death. On 29 July 1957 the Ermland chapter, with the surviving capitulars living in what had become West Germany
West Germany
West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....
, elected Hoppe as capitular vicar, who had been expelled from the Soviet-occupied Ermland diocesan area (Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast is a federal subject of Russia situated on the Baltic coast. It has a population of The oblast forms the westernmost part of the Russian Federation, but it has no land connection to the rest of Russia. Since its creation it has been an exclave of the Russian SFSR and then the...
) in 1947. Hoppe held that post until Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
terminated the apostolic administration of Ermland diocese and finally appointed again a bishop to the see on 28 June 1972, then named Warmia (Polish for Ermland), however, not comprising the former diocesan area within the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
. Paul VI then elevated Hoppe to Apostolic Visitator of Ermland taking care of Ermland's diocesans living in Germany.
Legacy
In July 1979 Kaller's successor Warmia's Bishop Józef Glemp visited StraelenStraelen
Straelen is a municipality in the district of Cleves, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located near the border with the Netherlands, approx. 10 km north-east of Venlo.Straelen was first mentioned in Latin as Strala in 1063.-External links:*...
, where he had earlier improved his German. On his further way to Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
Glemp stopped in Königstein to visit Kaller's grave. On 10 October 1980, Kaller's 100th birthday, Glemp celebrated a pontifical
Pontifical
Pontifical may refer to the Roman Pontifical, a Roman Catholic liturgical book used by a bishop.When used as an adjective, Pontifical may be used to describe things related to the office of a bishop, such as the following:*Solemn Pontifical Mass...
requiem
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
in honour of Kaller in Frombork's Cathedral of Ss. Mary Assumption and Andrew, commemorating in his preach Kaller's personality as priest and his benedictory work for the diocese. In 1997, Archbishop Edmund Michał Piszcz of Warmia and the community of Ermlanders in Western Germany
Western Germany
The geographic term Western Germany is used to describe a region in the west of Germany. The exact area defined by the term is not constant, but it usually includes, but does not have the borders of, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse...
commemorated Kaller and placed busts
Bust (sculpture)
A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, as well as a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual...
of him in Germany and Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
. On 4 May 2003 the procedure for his beatification
Beatification
Beatification is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a dead person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his or her name . Beatification is the third of the four steps in the canonization process...
started.