The Ministry of Public Administration was established pursuant to the Act of 31 December 1944 on the appointment of the Interim Government of the Republic of Poland. The matters arising from the relations between the State and the Churches and religious denominations were handled by Department V, which in 1946 consisted of two sections addressing Christian and non-Christian denominations, respectively. The Socio-Political Departments in the Provincial Offices, which employed officials responsible for matters relating to religious denominations, were subordinate to Department V. The same held true in Starostwa Powiatowe [County Offices]. In 1947, Department V was divided into three units addressing matters of the Catholic Church, Christian Denominations and Non-Christian denominations, respectively, and one year later still one more department, i.e. the Department of General Matters, was established. Since 1947 matters relating to religious denominations fell within the competences of Department IV. The Department of Religious Denominations in the Ministry of Public Administration from its beginnings was responsible for shaping the policy of the State towards religious denominations. The aforementioned policy was supposed to be concordant with the directives and principles of the communist party. The socio-political reforms conducted by the Ministry of Public Administration in relation to the Churches and religious associations were one of the means of repression, which within the years 1944-1950 was in its initial phase based on the trial-and-error method. However, it was the cooperation of the Ministry with Urząd Bezpieczeństwa Publicznego [Public Security Office], and later the establishment of Urząd ds. Wyznań [Office in charge of Religious Denominations] in 1950 which changed and regulated actions of the communist authorities towards the Churches and religious associations in Poland regarding the matters concerning the relations between the State and the Church and religious associations. From then on the competences to date of Department IV of the Ministry of Public Administration were transferred onto the Office in charge of Religious Denominations.
The article points to religion as a significant element of a nation’s culture and social consciousness influencing the preservation of the cultural identity of the Ukrainian minority, the community of which found itself in the European civilization circle within the Republic of Poland. The religious affiliation of the Ukrainian minority in Poland mainly regarded two rites: Greek Catholic and Orthodox. Since the beginning of its history the Greek Catholic Church, within the boundaries of the Polish state, has played the role of moral and intellectual support and promoted the statehood aspirations with the preservation of Ukrainian’s separate religious identity. The Orthodox Church in the Republic of Poland, dominated by the Russian influences, did not play a significant role in the development of Ukrainian minority’s national consciousness, yet both Churches contributed to the process of transformations in the social and politi-cal life of Ukrainians in Poland.
The issues of multiculturalism and religious diversity are the key research issues in the works of the historians and require proper knowledge. An example of a multicultural town in the Second Republic of Poland was Jarosław located in the Lviv region on the river San. During the interwar period Jarosław was inhabited by Poles and by such national minorities as: Jews, Ukrainians, Germans. Each of the communities inhabiting Jarosław during the above period left an indelible mark on that town. The melting pot of the multi-faith Jarosław included the faithful of the Greek Catholic Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the followers of the Evangelical and Jewish religions. Despite the large number of works relating to the history of Jarosław, many of the above issues have not been thoroughly investigated. The aim of this study is to show the state of research regarding the national and religious issues of Jarosław inhabitants in the Second Republic of Poland and the available source base, as well as to establish the research directions in the formof research postulates.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.