The Determined.Biographical Extractsof Three Governors of the Curia of Gorzów (1945–1956)

As a result of the Potsdam Conference, territory of Poland was shifted west. This decision forced the masses to migrate, and Polish government to populate and develop the new lands. Settlement of West Pomerania, Lubusz Land and other areas was started; priests came along with the crowds. The Church, trying to meet the expectations of the lost and anxious people, wanted to mark its presence in former German and Protestant areas. Curia was needed for this purpose – and its manager. Father Edmund Nowicki was first to be elected in 1945, however as a result of hostile policy of the authorities against the Church, he was replaced in 1951 by Fr. Tadeusz Załuczkowski. After his sudden death, the Curia manager position was taken by Zygmunt Szelążek. He occupied it until the end of 1956. Each one of the three had a huge influence on the religious life in the region. They built the Church structures virtually from scratch, they brought priests and religious, took over evangelical churches for the use of the Latin rite. They worked in the reality of the Polish People’s Republic, risking reprisals. On one hand, they were being defined by the circumstances of place and time, on the other, they were determined to achieve their goals and realize uneasy task of leading the Church in the most demanding and neglected, largest territorial unit in Poland at the time. The article depicts their struggle, insufficiently described in the literature, as of yet.