Norbert Kmeť The Catholic Church and the People’s Democratic State

After the victory over the Nazi Germany, in 1945 in Central Europe began the building of a new type of state form called people’s democratic. The Red Army was present on the most part of the territory of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland. After the war in these countries difficult social, political, and economic changes went through that had mutual, but specific features, and in the end in all of these countries the power was taken over by political subjects inclining to the Soviet Union or political subjects that to a certain extent were dependent on the Soviet Union. The communists gained control over the mentioned countries through 1947–1948.

The situation of the church in the given country, and/or in the newly-created state except others was influenced by its relation with the communism. The Church’s relation to communism and the communistic teachings’ condemnatory relation to the Catholic Church is well known. After 1945 people faced not just the contrast between the church and the communism. Part of the population were struck again by forced deportations, and this time mainly of those who considered themselves of German or Hungarian nationality. Leaving mother country concerned also people belonging to Czech, Byelorus, Poland, Lithuanian, Slovak, and Ukrainian minority.
Also the prohibition of Catholic youth organisations was oriented on the hindering of the Catholic church’s social influence. They tried to group the youth into a single central organisation. The communistic power in the examined countries firstly tried to find co-operation with churches. It declared goodwill toward them, and at the same time made efforts to create such organisations that were close to the communists and supported the program of the communists.
In Czechoslovakia – in contrast with Hungary and Poland – the Catholic Church did not sign the agreement that was to be sent with the state. Otherwise, by signing the agreement the church’s general state did not become more advantegous, persecution, taking priests to legal actions continued and even the limitation of the church’s activities did not stop. In Czechoslovakia the restricting church policy, that persisted through the whole period of the communistic party’s power, continued. In Hungary and Poland the church policy of the following period became more liberal. Such creation of the developments obviously influenced the events that went through in internal politics of the countries, and after every „more liberal“ period a rearrangement followed that strengthened the regime, during which for example in Czechoslovakia church policy oriented on further limitation of social activites of the church was reinforced.