Franz Wosnitza was a Catholic priest from Upper Silesia, which was a bitterly contested area between Poland and Germany in the first half of the last century. Born in 1902, and trained in both Breslau and Cracow he was posted back to the newly-created Polish diocese of Kattowitz to minister to the German-speaking minority. He soon found that the congregations were deeply divided on ethnic and nationalistic grounds. The Polish authorities put great pressure on the German minority and antagonisms were only increased after the Nazi rise to power in Germany. But Wosnitza and other German-speaking priests were quick to oppose Nazism for theological reasons. In his capacity as editor of the German-Catholic newspaper he sought to maintain an eirenical stance, despite frequent attacks by Polish nationalists against the German congregations. Following the German invasion of 1939, Kattowitz was reintegrated into Germany, but the Nazis' anti-clerical campaign was only intensified. All Catholic organisations were forbidden. The Catholic press was suppressed. No Polish services were allowed. After the Polish bishop was banished, Wosnitza was thrust into the post of vicar-general, and attempted to ward off the predatory attacks of various Nazi agencies. Following the Soviet Army's re-conquest of the area, and the re-establishment of Polish sovereignty, Wosnitza was accused of collaboration with the Nazis but later acquitted. Nevertheless in 1946, along with the remainder of the German-speaking community, he was expelled across the new Oder-Neisse frontier. In his subsequent career in West Germany, as Director of the Catholic Resettlement Service, Wosnitza sought to uphold the identity and integrity of his Silesian compatriots. As this short, well-written biography makes clear, Wosnitza continued to hope until he died in 1979 that he could return to serve in his homeland. But the political and ecclesiastical antagonisms between Poland and Germany were too entrenched. It was left to the first Polish pope to heal the wounds and bring about reconciliation amongst the Catholic faithful, whom Wosnitza had so devotedly served.