Archbishop of Prague in the former Nazi camp: reconciliation must be proclaimed even if it does not seem "appropriate"

by Bohumil Petrík

Litoměřice (Fides News Agency) - "Jesus does not want us to make exceptions when it comes to forgiveness, for example, saying, 'I forgive you up to this point, but here I no longer forgive you,'" said Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl of Prague on the subject of forgiveness and reconciliation, "regardless of whether this seems appropriate under different circumstances and in the eyes of others." He made these remarks on the occasion of the recent ecumenical service held at the Church of the Resurrection in the former Nazi concentration camp Terezín in the Czech Republic.

The ecumenical meeting on May 9 was the fifth event organized during the Jubilee of Reconciliation, proclaimed by Stanislav Přibyl himself, then Bishop of the Diocese of Litoměřice, for the year 2026. Přibyl has since been appointed Archbishop of Prague by Pope Leo XIV and is currently the Apostolic Administrator of Litoměřice. The Jubilee of Reconciliation was proclaimed to heal the still-open wounds of World War II, the end of which is commemorated in the Czech Republic on May 8, a national holiday. Each month in 2026, as part of the Jubilee, an event—a prayer, a Mass, or a pilgrimage—will be held, open to all, at one of the sites associated with the atrocities and violence committed during and after the war.
“The Year of Reconciliation has proven to be a sign of the times. Let us look at what is happening in politics,” the Archbishop of Prague continued at the meeting with representatives of various denominations in Terezín, emphasizing: “When we go through dark times, we play the threat card, we begin to count people like statistics, and we begin to create our own justice.”
According to the Czech Archbishop, the tragedies of hatred must not be reduced to mere statistics, and it is not about measuring “how many people died during and after the war.” For “when one person dies, the whole world dies.”
Following the sermon, the Lord’s Prayer was recited together in Czech and German. Priests of various denominations prayed for harmony among nations, for the war-torn regions, for the reconciliation of a divided society through humility, and for all who suffered in Terezín. The Te Deum was sung to conclude the service.

In 1941, the Theresienstadt (Terezín) Ghetto was established. During the Nazi occupation, at least 35,000 people died in the transit camp due to the appalling living conditions, and approximately 140,000 Jews were deported there on their way to other concentration camps. Today, a museum in what is now the Czech Republic commemorates these atrocities.
A lesser-known chapter of this history is that an internment camp for Germans operated within the Theresienstadt fortress walls from 1945 to 1948. Some were transferred from there to other camps and prisons, but more than 500 died on site. In 1938, Nazi Germany annexed the Sudetenland, the predominantly German-speaking region of Czechoslovakia, and established the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. Following Germany's defeat in World War II, Czechoslovakia expelled approximately three million Germans between 1945 and 1946, primarily from the Sudetenland, which today belongs to the Diocese of Litoměřice. Some Germans were killed, others driven to suicide.
During the Holy Year of the Diocese of Litoměřice, the miraculous healing of the orphan Magdalena Kade after a Marian apparition (which occurred in 1866) and the founding, in 1946, of the Ackermann-Gemeinde, a Catholic reconciliation group established by Germans expelled to Germany.
The first event of the Jubilee of Reconciliation took place on January 13th. The next one – a pilgrimage from Postoloprty to Žatec – is planned for June 3. (Fides News Agency, 17/5/2026)

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