ADSS 1.188 Cortesi to Maglione: Germans are close to Poznan

ADSS 1.188 Filippo Cortesi, Poland, to Luigi Maglione, Sec State.

Reference: Telegram 40 (AES 6150/39)

Location and date: Warsaw, 05.09.1939

Summary statement: Germans are close to Poznan

Language: Italian

Text:

Cardinal Hlond (1) informs me he is coming to Warsaw today at the invitation of the civil and military authorities who foresee the imminent occupation of Poznan by invading army. (2)

Notes: 

(1) August Hlond, (1881-1948), Cardinal Primate of Poland, Archbishop of Poznan 1926-46.  Hlond followed the government into exile and made his way to Rome.  He then went to France on pilgrimage to Lourdes, and when forbidden to leave France he lived in a Benedictine community near Savoy from 1940. Himmler ordered his arrest in February 1944.  The Germans moved him to various places until his liberation by the Americans in early 1945.  He returned to Poland in July 1945.

(2) The Germans occupied Poznan on 10.09.1939.