Juozapas Skvireckas

Juozapas Skvireckas (1873–1959) was a Lithuanian archbishop of Kaunas (1926–1959). [ [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bskvi.html Catholic Hierarchy -Archbishop Juozapas Skvireckas] ]

In 1911–1937 he translated the Bible into the Lithuanian language. [ [http://www.btz.lt/English/Bible/index.htm Lithuanian Bible] ] During the occupation of the Baltic States by the Nazis, Skvireckas and his assistant, bishop Vincentas Brizgys, welcomed the Nazis. [Yitzhak Arad, [http://www1.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%203235.pdf The Christian Churches and the Persecution of Jews in the Occupied Territories of the U.S.S.R] , Shoah Resource Center, The International School for Holocaust Studies] Skvireckas would provide chaplains for Lithuanian-manned Nazi auxiliary units.en icon cite book | author =Tadeusz Piotrowski | coauthors = | title =Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide... | year =1997 | editor = | pages =165-166 | publisher =McFarland & Company | id =ISBN 0-7864-0371-3| url =http://books.google.com/books?id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA165&vq=Skvireckas&dq=1939+Soviet+citizenship+Poland&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U15J1alKqHHbL_53klmxh_8MYsAFw | format = | accessdate =2008-03-15 ] In later years however Skvireckas issued multiple protests to Nazi authorities regarding the conditions of the Catholic church in Lithuania. [http://www.komisija.lt/Files/www.komisija.lt/File/Tyrimu_baze/Naciu%20okupacija/Instituciju,%20asmenu%20vaidmuo/Streikus.%20Baznycia/ENG/A.Streikus_Church%20and%20Nazi_ENG.pdf A. Strielkus Church Institution during the Period of Nazi Occupation in Lithuania] ] He also sent reports to Vatican and since 1942 started receiving instructions form papal office. In 1944, Skvireckas, Brizgys and over 200 other Lithuanian clergymen left Kaunas with retreating German forces, and went into exile. He would settle in Austria, where he died in 1959. [Piotrowski, [http://books.google.com/books?id=A4FlatJCro4C&pg=PA350&vq=Skvireckas&dq=1939+Soviet+citizenship+Poland&source=gbs_search_s&sig=ACfU3U0pa_MCiAEGMR0jhH_YKybm2Fsbcw p. 350] ] After his death, the post of an (arch)bishop of Kaunas was vacant till 1989.

References

* [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bskvi.html Archbishop Juozapas Skvireckas]
* [http://kaunas.lcn.lt/en/ THE ARCHDIOCESE OF KAUNAS]

Further reading

* [http://www.lcn.lt/kaunas/kan/kan_3.html#Arkivyskupas%20JUOZAPAS%20SKVIRECKAS "Arkivyskupas Juozas Skvireckas] " by Arūnas Streikus, "Kauno Arkivyskupijos Naujienos", No. 3, winter of 1999
* [http://www.komisija.lt/Files/www.komisija.lt/File/Tyrimu_baze/Naciu%20okupacija/Instituciju,%20asmenu%20vaidmuo/Streikus.%20Baznycia/ENG/A.Streikus_Church%20and%20Nazi_ENG.pdf Church Institution during the Period of Nazi Occupation in Lithuania]
*Archbishop Skvireckas’s diary, 1941 m. Birželio sukilimas (collection documents), ed. V. Brandišauskas, Vilnius, 2000
*Vilma Narkutė, "The Confrontation Between the Lithuanian Catholic Church and the Soviet Regime", New Blackfriars, Volume 87 Issue 1011, pages 456–475, 2006