PUNKTY WIDZENIA: Mówienie o Zagładzie we współczesnej Polsce
POINTS OF VIEW: Discussing the Holocaust in Contemporary Poland

Summary/Abstract: Discussion of the Holocaust is often obscured by the story of a resistance heroism. It is illustrated by Rapoport’s Warsaw monument of Warsaw Ghetto Heroes. That there are no words suitable for a discussion about the Holocaust reality is becoming evident when we speak about the purpose of the ghetto uprising. The Warsaw ghetto victims should be revered regardless of the uprising and be given voice in order to place the innocent victims in the central position. On the monument in Birkenau the inscription, concerning „the Auschwitz heroes”, says that they fought “for human freedom and dignity, for peace and brotherhood of nations.” Such words in a place where more than a million Jews who did not fight were gassed, are totally inadequate, even insulting. The recent history of the term “Holocaust” (its spread and acquisition of more profound sense, its abuse and attempts to appropriate it) is an example of the significance of Jewish fate for global civilization. The most tragic fragment of the recent Jewish history received a ennobling name. We can say that it is a story of another Jewish “success.”

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