
Father Wolfgang Globisch has passed away
He was an advocate of Polish and German reconciliation, and, at the same time, as a person who was raised in a bilingual Silesian family, was a witnessed to the history which left its tragic mark on his close relatives. Father Wolfgang Globisch devoted almost his entire adult life to the idea of the post-war dialogue between Polish people and their Western neighbours.
It was his very activity and life caused that the paths of the prelate and our Museum crossed quite often. Owing to the materials given by Father Globisch, the story of his father Paul became part of the exhibition "After the War. The Labour Camp in Łambinowice (1945-1946)". The arrest of Paul Globisch, his detention in the camp in October 1945, and subsequently premature death, as well as the family’s escape from the Red Army and lost of their livelihood, were the experiences that greatly influenced the young Wolfgang. He was ordained a priest in 1956. Fr. Globisch was also engaged in the organisation visits to Poland (for example to the sites of the former Gross Rosen, Lamsdorf and Auschwitz camps) by German youth as part of the "Sign of Penitence" campaign. He himself took part in them, including a bicycle pilgrimage which route led through Łambinowice.
He was very active socially - among other things, he participated, in 2014, in the scientific conference co-organised by the Museum, "Around the Upper Silesian Tragedy. Reflections - analyses - polemics'. He was also the protagonist of one of the meetings within our museum series called "Faces of Opole". The title of this event was very telling: "My 60 years in the 'ministry of unification'", and resonated with an apt metaphor in which, to describe the difficulty of this mission, Fr. Arnold Drechsler compared Father Wolfgang Globisch to a sapper who was able "to move over terrain where no one had walked before him". This is true - although we trust that Fr. Globisch's conciliation work will continue - his charisma and passion will be greatly missed by us all.