Tomasz Żukowski – författare

During the Holocaust, Polish bystanders were witnesses not only to Nazi crimes but also to their own collective violence toward Jewish neighbors. This book shows how these memories continue to be distorted and silenced in the Polish culture.

Considering the ways in which Polish culture displays symptoms of a suppressed and violent memory while obstinately refusing to see the meaning of such symptoms, the author shows how the narrative of the Holocaust, in threatening the self-image of the community, causes a continuous anxiety and thus compulsive and neurotic reactions. Through analyses of a wide range of literary, journalistic, commemorative, and cinematic texts, Forgetting Polish Violence Against the Jews sheds light on a set of narrative and discursive models connected with social practices, which serve to discipline individuals – especially Polish Jews – while generating pressure to defend both habits of silence and also an idealized selfimage of the Polish Christian majority.

This book will appeal to scholars with interests in memory studies, cultural studies, Holocaust studies, and psychoanalytic studies.

During the Holocaust, Polish bystanders were witnesses not only to Nazi crimes but also to their own collective violence toward Jewish neighbors. This book shows how these memories continue to be distorted and silenced in the Polish culture.

Considering the ways in which Polish culture displays symptoms of a suppressed and violent memory while obstinately refusing to see the meaning of such symptoms, the author shows how the narrative of the Holocaust, in threatening the self-image of the community, causes a continuous anxiety and thus compulsive and neurotic reactions. Through analyses of a wide range of literary, journalistic, commemorative, and cinematic texts, Forgetting Polish Violence Against the Jews sheds light on a set of narrative and discursive models connected with social practices, which serve to discipline individuals – especially Polish Jews – while generating pressure to defend both habits of silence and also an idealized selfimage of the Polish Christian majority.

This book will appeal to scholars with interests in memory studies, cultural studies, Holocaust studies, and psychoanalytic studies.

Year 1966 analyzes the breakthrough moment in the culture of the Polish People’s Republic when revolutionary social and cultural changes slowed down in the mid-1960s, leading to a turn toward the idea of a nation as a field of ideological dispute between different social actors.

The book explores the question of what happened in Polish culture at that time: how social ties were defined, where sources of legitimization of power for the new order were sought beyond the slogans of the revolution (equality, advancement, or prosperity), how historical politics participated in this process, the fate of the great emancipation projects of the 1950s such as emancipation of women or equality for ethnic minorities, and how the meanings of the related narratives changed. It also shows how all important actors (the diverse power camp, the emerging opposition, the Church) participated in this process, adapted their own narratives, and built a new understanding of society, social ties, history, and collective identity, with effects that would weigh heavily on the democratic transformations of the 1990s.

This volume is intended for researchers interested in the history and culture of Poland, communist Central and Eastern Europe, memory studies, cultural and literary history, social history, and sociology.

Year 1966 analyzes the breakthrough moment in the culture of the Polish People’s Republic when revolutionary social and cultural changes slowed down in the mid-1960s, leading to a turn toward the idea of a nation as a field of ideological dispute between different social actors.

The book explores the question of what happened in Polish culture at that time: how social ties were defined, where sources of legitimization of power for the new order were sought beyond the slogans of the revolution (equality, advancement, or prosperity), how historical politics participated in this process, the fate of the great emancipation projects of the 1950s such as emancipation of women or equality for ethnic minorities, and how the meanings of the related narratives changed. It also shows how all important actors (the diverse power camp, the emerging opposition, the Church) participated in this process, adapted their own narratives, and built a new understanding of society, social ties, history, and collective identity, with effects that would weigh heavily on the democratic transformations of the 1990s.

This volume is intended for researchers interested in the history and culture of Poland, communist Central and Eastern Europe, memory studies, cultural and literary history, social history, and sociology.