Polish Literature and Genocide presents the attitude of Polish literature to the 20th-century acts of genocide. This volume examines the literary representations of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the massacre in Srebrenica in a rich, detailed, and comprehensive way, expanding the existing research and, in some cases, challenging the former sometimes ossified ideas. Polish literature not only reflects the obvious extermination of Jews and Poles, but also records what had been largely overlooked: the extermination of disabled and mentally ill people, the Roma and Sinti, and the Soviet prisoners of war by the Nazis. This volume includes analysis of the literary works of Władysław Szlengel, the most prominent Polish-language poet in the Warsaw ghetto; the peculiar reception of Julian Tuwim’s famous poem for children "Locomotive;" the memoir of Leon Weliczker, a prisoner of the Janowska concentration camp in Lvov and a member of the ‘death brigade’ (Sonderkommando); the origins of Medallions by Zofia Nałkowska, who ‘processed’ historical documents into literature and contributed to the making of professor Rudolf Spanner’s ‘dark legend,’ and the textual origins of Tadeusz Różewicz’s ‘poetry after Auschwitz.’ Furthermore, this volume addresses issues related to the genesis and function of ‘genocide literature’ – aesthetic, cognitive, ideological, and social. This volume will be a crucial resource for academics interested in genocide and Holocaust literary studies.

Polish Literature and Genocide presents the attitude of Polish literature to the 20th-century acts of genocide. This volume examines the literary representations of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the massacre in Srebrenica in a rich, detailed, and comprehensive way, expanding the existing research and, in some cases, challenging the former sometimes ossified ideas. Polish literature not only reflects the obvious extermination of Jews and Poles, but also records what had been largely overlooked: the extermination of disabled and mentally ill people, the Roma and Sinti, and the Soviet prisoners of war by the Nazis. This volume includes analysis of the literary works of Władysław Szlengel, the most prominent Polish-language poet in the Warsaw ghetto; the peculiar reception of Julian Tuwim’s famous poem for children "Locomotive;" the memoir of Leon Weliczker, a prisoner of the Janowska concentration camp in Lvov and a member of the ‘death brigade’ (Sonderkommando); the origins of Medallions by Zofia Nałkowska, who ‘processed’ historical documents into literature and contributed to the making of professor Rudolf Spanner’s ‘dark legend,’ and the textual origins of Tadeusz Różewicz’s ‘poetry after Auschwitz.’ Furthermore, this volume addresses issues related to the genesis and function of ‘genocide literature’ – aesthetic, cognitive, ideological, and social. This volume will be a crucial resource for academics interested in genocide and Holocaust literary studies.

Polish Camp Literature expands the boundaries of Polish camp literature, which has so far been defined too narrowly. This restricted outlook has been determined by politics, ideology, the scarcity of historical knowledge, the lack of literary research, and frequent manipulation concerning terms such as "concentration camp", "forced labor camp", and "death camp". Camp literature was initially limited to "Lager" literature (pertaining to Nazi German camps). Over time, gulag literature (pertaining to Soviet camps) came to be included as well. It turns out that Polish camp literature is much more extensive and richer. This volume consists of mini-monographs on Polish literary works concerning either a specific camp or a specific type (system) of camps. The chapters devoted to gulag literature (i.e. texts about the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp and Lager literature (i.e. texts about Konzentrationslager Buchenwald) expand on established findings, while the following chapters deal with topics previously unexplored, namely, the literature relating to Polish camps, such as the prewar Place of Isolation in Bereza Kartuska and the postwar communist concentration and labor camps in Łambinowice and Jaworzno, the Spanish (Francoist) Campo de Concentración de Miranda de Ebro, and the Japanese Unit 731 and its research center in Pingfang (Manchuria), which included – on top of laboratories and chemical and bacteriological weapons production units – a prison, a gas chamber, and crematoria. This book is intended to provide the impetus not just for further investigation into the unknown and insufficiently recognized areas of Polish camp literature, but also – through embedding the Polish literary output in the context of other national literatures, and by means of their cross-comparison – for charting a map of world camp literature.

Polish Literature and Genocide presents the attitude of Polish literature to the 20th-century acts of genocide. This volume examines the literary representations of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the massacre in Srebrenica in a rich, detailed, and comprehensive way, expanding the existing research and, in some cases, challenging the former sometimes ossified ideas. Polish literature not only reflects the obvious extermination of Jews and Poles, but also records what had been largely overlooked: the extermination of disabled and mentally ill people, the Roma and Sinti, and the Soviet prisoners of war by the Nazis. This volume includes analysis of the literary works of Władysław Szlengel, the most prominent Polish-language poet in the Warsaw ghetto; the peculiar reception of Julian Tuwim’s famous poem for children "Locomotive;" the memoir of Leon Weliczker, a prisoner of the Janowska concentration camp in Lvov and a member of the ‘death brigade’ (Sonderkommando); the origins of Medallions by Zofia Nałkowska, who ‘processed’ historical documents into literature and contributed to the making of professor Rudolf Spanner’s ‘dark legend,’ and the textual origins of Tadeusz Różewicz’s ‘poetry after Auschwitz.’ Furthermore, this volume addresses issues related to the genesis and function of ‘genocide literature’ – aesthetic, cognitive, ideological, and social. This volume will be a crucial resource for academics interested in genocide and Holocaust literary studies.

Polish Literature and Genocide presents the attitude of Polish literature to the 20th-century acts of genocide. This volume examines the literary representations of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and the massacre in Srebrenica in a rich, detailed, and comprehensive way, expanding the existing research and, in some cases, challenging the former sometimes ossified ideas. Polish literature not only reflects the obvious extermination of Jews and Poles, but also records what had been largely overlooked: the extermination of disabled and mentally ill people, the Roma and Sinti, and the Soviet prisoners of war by the Nazis. This volume includes analysis of the literary works of Władysław Szlengel, the most prominent Polish-language poet in the Warsaw ghetto; the peculiar reception of Julian Tuwim’s famous poem for children "Locomotive;" the memoir of Leon Weliczker, a prisoner of the Janowska concentration camp in Lvov and a member of the ‘death brigade’ (Sonderkommando); the origins of Medallions by Zofia Nałkowska, who ‘processed’ historical documents into literature and contributed to the making of professor Rudolf Spanner’s ‘dark legend,’ and the textual origins of Tadeusz Różewicz’s ‘poetry after Auschwitz.’ Furthermore, this volume addresses issues related to the genesis and function of ‘genocide literature’ – aesthetic, cognitive, ideological, and social. This volume will be a crucial resource for academics interested in genocide and Holocaust literary studies.

Polish Camp Literature expands the boundaries of Polish camp literature, which has so far been defined too narrowly. This restricted outlook has been determined by politics, ideology, the scarcity of historical knowledge, the lack of literary research, and frequent manipulation concerning terms such as "concentration camp", "forced labor camp", and "death camp". Camp literature was initially limited to "Lager" literature (pertaining to Nazi German camps). Over time, gulag literature (pertaining to Soviet camps) came to be included as well. It turns out that Polish camp literature is much more extensive and richer. This volume consists of mini-monographs on Polish literary works concerning either a specific camp or a specific type (system) of camps. The chapters devoted to gulag literature (i.e. texts about the Solovetsky Special Purpose Camp and Lager literature (i.e. texts about Konzentrationslager Buchenwald) expand on established findings, while the following chapters deal with topics previously unexplored, namely, the literature relating to Polish camps, such as the prewar Place of Isolation in Bereza Kartuska and the postwar communist concentration and labor camps in Łambinowice and Jaworzno, the Spanish (Francoist) Campo de Concentración de Miranda de Ebro, and the Japanese Unit 731 and its research center in Pingfang (Manchuria), which included – on top of laboratories and chemical and bacteriological weapons production units – a prison, a gas chamber, and crematoria. This book is intended to provide the impetus not just for further investigation into the unknown and insufficiently recognized areas of Polish camp literature, but also – through embedding the Polish literary output in the context of other national literatures, and by means of their cross-comparison – for charting a map of world camp literature.