Polin: Studies in Polish Jewry Volume 20

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Common Ground ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Jewish Studies ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
World War ◽  
Holocaust Memory ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

Although the reconciliation of Jewish and Polish memories of the Holocaust is the central issue in contemporary Polish–Jewish relations, this is the first attempt to examine these divisive memories in a comprehensive way. Until 1989, Polish consciousness of the Second World War subsumed the destruction of Polish Jewry within a communist narrative of Polish martyrdom and heroism. Post-war Jewish memory, by contrast, has been concerned mostly with Jewish martyrdom and heroism. Since the 1980s, however, a significant number of Jews and Poles have sought to identify a common ground and have met with partial but increasing success, notwithstanding the new debates that have emerged in recent years concerning Polish behaviour during the Nazi genocide of the Jews that Poles had ignored for half a century. This volume considers these contentious issues from different angles. Among the topics covered are Jewish memorial projects, both in Poland and beyond its borders, the Polish approach to Holocaust memory under communist rule, and post-communist efforts both to retrieve the Jewish dimension to Polish wartime memory and to reckon with the dark side of the Polish national past. An interview with Henryk Grynberg touches on many of these issues, as do the three poems by Grynberg reproduced here. The 'New Views' section features innovative research in other areas of Polish–Jewish studies. A special section is devoted to research concerning the New Synagogue in Poznan, built in 1907, which is still standing only because the Nazis turned it into a swimming pool.

RECEPCIJA I REPREZENTACIJA HOLOKAUSTA U ISTOČNOM BERLINU I BEOGRADU NAKON DRUGOG SVETSKOG RATA

Lipar ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (75) ◽  
pp. 163-186
Author(s):  
Milena Nešić Pavković ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Third Reich ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Political ◽  
World War ◽  
East Berlin ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
Communist Countries ◽  
Second World

The goal of this paper is to investigate the memory of the Holocaust, i.e. the reception and representation of the suffering of the Jewish population during the rule of the Third Reich (under Nazi rule and occupation) in the capitals of the states constituted after the Second World War - in East Berlin, GDR, and Belgrade, SFRY, during the period from 1945 to 1989/1991. Relying on the achievements of memory studies and analyzing the political moods of that time and the ways of constructing official narratives about Jewish suffering in selected post-war Communist countries, the similarities and differences in the policy of representing Jewish suffering in these two countries and the memory of Jewish victims in places of remembrance and in the practices of remembrance in their capitals will be pointed out.

The Holocaust, Israel and 'the Jew'

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
World War ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Radical Expression ◽  
Football Stadiums ◽  
Gas Chamber ◽  
Second World

This book is the first comprehensive study of postwar antisemitism in the Netherlands. It focuses on the way stereotypes are passed on from one decade to the next, as reflected in public debates, the mass media, protests and commemorations, and everyday interactions. The Holocaust, Israel and 'the Jew' explores the ways in which old stories and phrases relating to 'the stereotypical Jew' are recycled and modified for new uses, linking the antisemitism of the early postwar years to its enduring manifestations in today's world. The Dutch case is interesting because of the apparent contrast between the Netherlands' famous tradition of tolerance and the large numbers of Jews who were deported and murdered in the Second World War. The book sheds light on the dark side of this so-called 'Dutch paradox,' in manifestations of aversion and guilt after 1945. In this context, the abusive taunt 'They forgot to gas you' can be seen as the first radical expression of postwar antisemitism as well as an indication of how the Holocaust came to be turned against the Jews. The identification of 'the Jew' with the gas chamber spread from the streets to football stadiums, and from verbal abuse to pamphlet and protest. The slogan 'Hamas, Hamas all the Jews to the gas' indicates that Israel became a second marker of postwar antisemitism. The chapters cover themes including soccer-related antisemitism, Jewish responses, philosemitism, antisemitism in Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch- Turkish communities, contentious acts of remembrance, the neo-Nazi tradition, and the legacy of Theo van Gogh. The book concludes with a lengthy epilogue on 'the Jew' in the politics of the radical right, the attacks in Paris in 2015, and the refugee crisis. The stereotype of 'the Jew' appears to be transferable to other minorities.

The Memory of Europe’s Age of Catastrophe, 1914–2014

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Mercer
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
National Narratives ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Cultural Struggle ◽  
Nazi Past ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

The enormous death toll of the twentieth-century world wars created a cultural struggle over their meaning. States, institutions, and individuals developed conflicting memories, which shifted with the political trends of the post-war eras. After the First World War nationalist narratives promoted by states did not automatically win unanimous adherence, but the apparently apolitical language of loss and mourning was most successful where the war was least controversial or where national narratives were unavailable. While memory of the Second World War and the Holocaust has often been discussed in terms of forgetting, there was no amnesia but rather a selective appropriation of the past. Myths of victimhood and resistance proved popular across Europe and persisted despite periodic engagements with the past. Germany’s acknowledgement of the Nazi past is the most thorough, while most Europeans states now more easily remember the Second World War than their colonial heritage.

scholarly journals Scandinavia and Israel after the Holocaust

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-59
Author(s):  
Orna Keren-Carmel
Keyword(s):  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Early Years ◽  
World War ◽  
Jewish Communities ◽  
Holocaust Memory ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The 1950S ◽  
Second World

This article has two distinct yet interrelated aims. Firstly, through an exploration of three examples from Sweden, Norway and Denmark, it seeks to illustrate that an integrated examination of the events of both the Second World War and the Holocaust yields a more accurate, albeit complex, understanding of the period. Secondly, it endeavours to refute the widely accepted assumption that the close relations between Israel and the Scandinavian countries in the early years of Israel’s existence were a corollary of the exceptional manner in which these north European states behaved towards their Jewish communities during the war. A historical analysis in fact indicates the opposite, namely that the close ties existing between the countries during the 1950s led to the positive, even heroic, depiction of the Scandinavian nations’ conduct during the Second World War in Israeli Holocaust commemoration. Together, these twofold aims clearly reflect the implications of early Scandinavian–Israeli relations on the latter’s Holocaust memory, and vice versa.

scholarly journals Historical Context in the Latest Lithuanian Music: Contemporary Tensions

Menotyra ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jūratė Landsbergytė
Keyword(s):  
Historical Context ◽  
Visual Space ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
80Th Anniversary ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Post War ◽  
Language Of Music ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Second World

The historical context opens its unresolved issues inside contemporary cultural consciousness. It gives the language of music a specific dimension of dramatic tensions. Here, composers’ propositions acquire a coded imagery close to the aesthetics of modernist catastrophe. The musical text becomes highly contextual and filled with the knowledge arisen from history. It is like an encrypted message about the current transformation of history. The texture of the work becomes an expression of the signs incorporating also non-musical sounds or visual space. Semantics play a crucial role in soundscapes. In this sense, we can talk about the war and post-war semantics, which is making its comeback into Lithuanian music. Here, the aesthetic poles of tension or the dramaturgy of conflict arise and are realised through the spectra of hum or expression of identities. In this context, two recent works by Lithuanian composers should be mentioned: they accurately respond to the tensions and wounds of the Second World War that continue to bleed inside the identity consciousness of the Lithuanian nation. These wounds are the Holocaust and the post-war partisan struggle against the Soviet occupation. The topic of ‘war after war’ acquires its musical task in Vytautas Germanavičius’s (b.1969) work Red Trees (2018) for flute, cello, and organ dedicated to the partisan commander Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas. It is important to stress that Vanagas has been recognised as a de facto leader of the state and, thanks to sustained efforts of historians and archaeologists, his remains, which were discovered in the Vilnius Orphans’ Cemetery, were reburied in the Pantheon of State Leaders. All this forms an exceptional historical dimension, which finds an original reflection in Germanavičius’s work. Meanwhile, the Holocaust theme connects vividly with the 80th anniversary (late in 2020), of the deed of Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese diplomat who saved over 6,000 Jews in 1940. Algirdas Martinaitis (b.1950) work Visa for Life (2020) for two flutes, oboe, and organ is dedicated to Chiune Sugihara. Here, the composer combines, in a unique way, the worlds of the Japanese, the European tradition and Jewish music. His musical expression is based on the dramaturgy of transformation (the constant running of the toccata). In this way, each composer voices the context of the past: its tension transforms the language of music. It should be noted that both works bring back the catastrophe of the Second World War and the post-war period, which is a painful drama of the history of the Baltic States and not yet sufficiently understood in the world. As a result, the former meditative face of Baltic music identity changes accordingly.

The Holocaust, Israel and 'the Jew'

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
World War ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Radical Expression ◽  
Football Stadiums ◽  
Gas Chamber ◽  
Second World

This book is the first comprehensive study of postwar antisemitism in the Netherlands. It focuses on the way stereotypes are passed on from one decade to the next, as reflected in public debates, the mass media, protests and commemorations, and everyday interactions. The Holocaust, Israel and 'the Jew' explores the ways in which old stories and phrases relating to 'the stereotypical Jew' are recycled and modified for new uses, linking the antisemitism of the early postwar years to its enduring manifestations in today's world. The Dutch case is interesting because of the apparent contrast between the Netherlands' famous tradition of tolerance and the large numbers of Jews who were deported and murdered in the Second World War. The book sheds light on the dark side of this so-called 'Dutch paradox,' in manifestations of aversion and guilt after 1945. In this context, the abusive taunt 'They forgot to gas you' can be seen as the first radical expression of postwar antisemitism as well as an indication of how the Holocaust came to be turned against the Jews. The identification of 'the Jew' with the gas chamber spread from the streets to football stadiums, and from verbal abuse to pamphlet and protest. The slogan 'Hamas, Hamas all the Jews to the gas' indicates that Israel became a second marker of postwar antisemitism. The chapters cover themes including soccer-related antisemitism, Jewish responses, philosemitism, antisemitism in Dutch-Moroccan and Dutch- Turkish communities, contentious acts of remembrance, the neo-Nazi tradition, and the legacy of Theo van Gogh. The book concludes with a lengthy epilogue on 'the Jew' in the politics of the radical right, the attacks in Paris in 2015, and the refugee crisis. The stereotype of 'the Jew' appears to be transferable to other minorities. Now also available as paperback!

scholarly journals Unrecognizable, abandoned, unnamed, avoided places: On the murders committed against Jews in Poland in the period after the Second World War and their commemoration

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 111-147
Author(s):  
Andrzej Rykała
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Third Reich ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Third Reich ◽  
Post War ◽  
Anti Jewish ◽  
Second World

The fall of the Third Reich, turning the “most tragic page” in the history of the Jewish nation, i .e . the Second World War, did not mean the end of the tragedy for Jews on Polish soil. Even before the end of the greatest confl in the history of humankind, in the areas liberated from Nazi Germany occupation, many survivors of the Holocaust experienced acts of ruthless violence. However, very few of the numerous victims of the post-war anti-Jewish terror have been commemorated in public space. To a very small extent the form of public commemoration also covered earlier wartime cases of collective murders committed against Jews by Polish Christians. Even if the sites of the dramatic events which occurred in the shadow of the Holocaust were marked, the complete truth about their course was not restored everywhere.

Yiddish Studies

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecile E. Kuznitz
Keyword(s):  
First World War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Jewish Studies ◽  
World War ◽  
Language History ◽  
Vernacular Language ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The First World War ◽  
Second World ◽  
First World

This article describes the roots of Yiddish studies and its changing geography, Yiddish's role as a post-vernacular language, Yiddish studies as a post-ideological field, the continued ideological conflict over Yiddish's post-vernacular status, and trends in Yiddish publishing. The notion of including Yiddish studies as a distinct discipline within the wider field of Jewish studies would have been virtually inconceivable before the First World War. By the end of the Second World War, the Holocaust had devastated the Jewish communities whose language, history, and culture Yiddish studies sought to explore. A half-century after the catastrophe, Yiddish scholarship is only beginning to wrestle with its full impact. Today the field of Yiddish studies is vibrant, albeit in a form much different from that envisioned by its pioneers at the start of the previous century.

Introduction

2007 ◽  
pp. 3-54
Author(s):  
Gabriel N. Finder
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Holocaust Memory ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
Second World

UNDER THE TITLE ‘Making Holocaust Memory’ the chapters gathered in the first section of this issue of Polin examine ways in which Jews and Poles, from the end of the Second World War up to the present, have remembered, represented, and memorialized the Holocaust. This is a salient topic for the twentieth volume of ...

In the Shadow of the Holocaust

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fleming
Keyword(s):  
War Crimes ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Holocaust ◽  
The Government ◽  
Post War ◽  
Polish Government ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World

In the midst of the Second World War, the Allies acknowledged Germany's ongoing programme of extermination. In the Shadow of the Holocaust examines the struggle to attain post-war justice and prosecution. Focusing on Poland's engagement with the United Nations War Crimes Commission, it analyses the different ways that the Polish Government in Exile (based in London from 1940) agitated for an Allied response to German atrocities. Michael Fleming shows that jurists associated with the Government in Exile made significant contributions to legal debates on war crimes and, along with others, paid attention to German crimes against Jews. By exploring the relationship between the UNWCC and the Polish War Crimes Office under the authority of the Polish Government in Exile and later, from the summer of 1945, the Polish Government in Warsaw, Fleming provides a new lens through which to examine the early stages of the Cold War.

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