Those to whom attention will be paid who are considered to be members of the first generation of primates of Central Europe in the time of communism are the Czech Josef Cardinal Beran, the Hungarian Jozsef Cardinal Mindszenty, the Polish Stefan Cardinal Wyszyński, the Greek Catholic Pavol Peter Gojdič and the Ukrainian Josyf Cardinal Slipyj. The members of the second generation are the Czech (Moravian) František Cardinal Tomášek, the Hungarian cardinals László Lékai and László Paskai and the Polish Józef Cardinal Glemp. We will move our attention away from Greek-Catholic Ukraine, since in the second generation no man acted in a similar primate position there. Other suitable candidates are dealt with in further contributions to this publication, i.e. Alfred Cardinal Bengsch and Franz Cardinal König.