Spytkowicka parafia w czasie drugiej wojny światowej

SPYTKOWICE PARISH DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR. A CHRONICLE RECORD BY REV. STANISŁAW PIĄTEK Records of church provenance are valuable material for the study of regional history and social life. This article presents a fragment from the chronicle of the parish of St Catherine of Alexandria in Spytkowice, as a source for research into local history. The text presented - accompanied by a critical and factual discussion – concerns the period of the Second World War. Spytkowice, together with the western part of the Cracow archdiocese, was separated from the metropolis and incorporated into the Third Reich. The location on the border with the General Government and the shifting of the customs border to this border line had an impact on both the situation of the inhabitants and the priests, as well as on pastoral work, since part of the Spytkowice parish found itself on the other side of this border. The author of the cited record is Rev. Stanislaw Piątek, a priest who administered the Spytkowice parish for three years (1942-1945). The account he compiled also covers events before his arrival in Spytkowice. He outlined the political and social situation and the difficulties he had to face in his new post. In his chronicle he concentrated on facts connected with the life of the parish, affecting the situation of the priests, the worshippers, religious life and the state of the church buildings. Through laconic references, he recorded facts and people cherished to this day in the consciousness of the local community, as well as facts and people forgotten, restoring them, as it were, to the collective memory. He mentioned noble attitudes of helping at the cost of one’s own life, mentioning also infamous acts of informers, which is a starting point for further research on the history of Spytkowice and its inhabitants during the German occupation.