Producing the 'guilt of indifference' and the category of "indifferent witness". A case study of Jan Błoński’s 'Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto' Cover Image

Wytwarzanie „winy obojętności” oraz kategorii „obojętnego świadka” na przykładzie artykułu Jana Błońskiego „Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto”
Producing the 'guilt of indifference' and the category of "indifferent witness". A case study of Jan Błoński’s 'Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto'

Author(s): Tomasz Żukowski
Subject(s): History, Jewish studies, Recent History (1900 till today), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
Published by: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Holocaust; memory; public discourse in Poland

Summary/Abstract: Błoński’s article Biedni Polacy patrzą na getto (1987) is regarded as a milestone for the Polish awareness of the Holocaust. Błoński tried to tackle the issue of the Polish complicity, and his narration updated an important model in the Polish culture. It contained some facts about the wartime reality, but at the same time it overturned much of the knowledge about those times and rendered it mostly transparent. The analysis of Błoński’s article allowed me to elucidate the relation between the catharsis effect and the denial, which appeared as the effect of the article. The paper attempts at answering some important questions: What is the Polish complicity according to Błoński? What are the different perceptions of the relations between Poles and Jews? What is the perception of the majority? How the different opinions on the Polish complicity in the Holocaust are legitimised by the majority? How are they removed and delegitimised at the same time? [The article was prepared with financial support of the NPRH.]

  • Issue Year: 2013
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 423-451
  • Page Count: 29
  • Language: Polish