Dzieci króla olch. Analiza przypadków z gościńca śląskiego oraz innych
Children of the Erlking. An Analysis of Upper Silesian and Other Cases
Author(s): Krystian WęgrzynekSubject(s): Psychology, Studies of Literature, Local History / Microhistory, Educational Psychology, Social psychology and group interaction, Developmental Psychology, Criminology, Studies in violence and power, Family and social welfare, Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: child; kidnapping; indoctrination; seduction; Silesia
Summary/Abstract: The article offers an analysis of the fate of an Upper Silesian child in the totalitarian period (Nazi occupation, Stalinist period). Physically kidnapped by the occupier and taken over by his family or indoctrinated at school or other educational institutions, it was most often subjected to excluding models of teaching in the Polish or German spirit. Often the methods of formation were sophisticated – children were bribed, tempted, and seduced. The analysis of this situation is based on the interpretation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem Erlkönig, in which the dominant feature is the struggle for the soul of a child between a natural ally (parent) and an adversary who comes from the outside (king); the vision of the elven kingdom is juxtaposed with the totalitarian utopia of a society – racially strong and perfect, or with the vision of Poland – a society devoid of differences, and at the same time perfectly anti-German. Various kinds of texts were taken into consideration documentary (R. Hrabar, A. Malinowska, G. Gruschka), quasi-documentary (J. Durski, F. Netz, A. Lysko) and literary (A. Dziewit-Meller, L. Libera, I. Villqist).
Journal: Rana. Literatura – Doświadczenie – Tożsamość
- Issue Year: 5/2022
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 1-27
- Page Count: 27
- Language: Polish