The Role of the Christian Churches in the Reconciliation Processes in Central Europe: the Polish-German and the Czech-German Case

Abstract

The author uses the concept of reconciliation processes / reconciliation
issues, which is usually used in the environment of churches or in applied
theological discourses respectively, in connection with the specific
contribution of Christian churches to the historical settlement and
reconciliation among the European states and nations after the 2nd World
War, especially in Central Europe. He analyses and compares in detail the
Polish-German and Czech-German issues. While thanks to the important
position of the Church (or churches) in the Polish and German societies,
these activities (or initiatives) met with a great response as early as the
1960s – and gained a great importance also on the official level of the
(West-)German-Polish relations, in the Czechoslovak-(West-)German
relations, this factor long remained absent or entirely marginal. But after
the political change(s) of 1989 the churches became involved in the shaping
of the newly formed bilateral relations between the unified Germany and
the succesor states of former Czechoslovakia and greatly contributed to
their having a deeper anchorage in Europe. The author backs up in a
detailed way the relevance of this phenomenon, especially in Czech-German relations (or generally in church initiatives/activities with a German
participation), but less so in the mutual relations (and initiatives) between
the Central European churches. On the contrary, the previously highly
visible church engagement in the Polish-German case fell off in the 1990s.
The Central European churches gradually naturally realized again the
advantages and difficulties of their role as a trans-national /non-state actor
– and as one of the important players of the so-called public diplomacy. This
role culminated in the 1990s in connection with their social and political
emancipation in the post-communist states – and at the same time it
started to dwindle in importance as a consequence of the secularization
processes which accelerated considerably and often a surprisingly during
the 1990s (and also in the subsequent years) in this part of Europe.