Soviet Terror Against Roman Catholicism in the 1930s-1950s

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to analyze the dynamics and outline the general trends in the development of Roman Catholic religious communities in the territory of Soviet Ukraine in the 30s-50s. XX century. in conditions of a fierce anti-religious struggle. It is noted that then representatives of the Soviet authorities exerted severe psychological pressure on parishioners, made active attempts to destroy the faith and centuries-old traditions of Roman Catholics, and converted churches into economic buildings. In the 30s. XX century in Kyiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia and other towns, where Roman Catholic communities constituted a minority of the population, where local priests became victims of Stalinist repressions - Roman Catholic communities quickly ceased their activities after the loss of leaders. In the 1950s, the situation in Western Ukrainian lands changed somewhat. There, Roman Catholic communities were very large, and the authority of the priest, especially in the provinces, was unquestionable. It was extremely difficult to diminish the authority of the priests – they were very educated and knew the intricacies of both Soviet legislation and the norms of international law at the time. It has been proven that the policy of the Soviet party and state leadership was aimed at brutal anti-religious propaganda, which, in essence, contradicted all norms of international law and violated the rights of man and citizen to freedom of religion. The emphasis is placed on the fact that despite the planned actual destruction of Roman Catholic communities (control and persecution of believers and clergy) by the representatives of the Soviet government, active anti-religious policy and propaganda, mainly in the western Ukrainian regions it was possible to preserve the development of Roman Catholicism. This happened due to the legally competent communication between the leaders of the communities (mostly well-educated) and the Soviet officials in the 50s of the 20th century; active and quite significant fundraising by members of Roman Catholic communities for the further restoration of churches and maintenance of the buildings of churches in proper architectural condition; a significant number of elderly women among the parishioners, who for decades carried the traditions and rules of Roman Catholicism into their families; the ability to attract a significant number of children to Roman Catholicism despite the categorical prohibition of this by Soviet jurisdiction.