Muranów, or about land clearing The article is a review of “Festung Warschau” by Elżbieta Janicka which maps the clash between the recently built monuments celebrating Jewish or Polish places of martyrdom from the times of Second World War. Janicka walks through the streets of the former Jewish neighbourhoods of Warsaw; she photographs and discusses the new plaques, crosses, monuments, and other forms of public marking of history on the buildings, squares and streets. She convincingly shows that the new historical commemorative signs of Polish martyrdom are often placed in the sites that were marked by Jewish resistance or suffering, and that the marks of Polish suffering are rarely linked materially to the site. The new monuments obstruct and hide the past presence of Warsaw Jews and, by submerging their past, create a new vision of ethnically cleansed history of Warsaw, especially in its relation to Second World War. The review applauds the book and rejects some of the criticism against it.
Miłosz, war and civilian poetryThe article addresses the reaction of the Polish population during Second World War towards the military resistance to the occupier. The author offers a case study of the life choices of Czesław Miłosz, the poet. Considering them hopeless and counterproductive, Miłosz decided not to participate in military actions. He had no confidence in the Polish government in exile and its military decisions. Instead, the poet concentrated on writing and publishing; he also criticized what he viewed as unjustified sacrifice of life in the Warsaw Uprising of 1944. His attitude was criticized then, and today continues to be a source of attacks against the poet. The article analyses the logic of national solidarity in the times of foreign occupation and the arguments of the poet’s critics. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that Miłosz’s stand was beneficial not only for himself but also for the community as a whole.
Between overabundance and scarcity. Joanna Tokarska-Bakir in an interview with Irena Grudzińska GrossThis conversation with Irena Grudzińska-Gross starts a series of interviews in “Studia Litteraria et Historica”, which motto is the title of the essay of Jan Stanisław Bystroń “On subjects I was advised not to pursue”. Among these subjects that Irena Grudzińska-Gross names are: war, family history, women. Grudzińska-Gross tells also about the reactions to “Złote Żniwa” - a book that she wrote together with Jan Tomasz Gross, and about academic work of people of Eastern Europe living in the United States. One part of the interview concerns also a “collective hypnosis”, that Americans underwent after the 9/11 World Trade Center Attack and the price, that Susan Sontag had to pay for being critical about American militarism. Między brakiem a nadmiarem. Z Ireną Grudzińską-Gross rozmawia Joanna Tokarska-BakirRozmowa z Ireną Grudzińską-Gross otwiera cykl wywiadów “Studia Litteraria et Historica”, których mottem jest tytuł eseju Jana Stanisława Bystronia: “Tematy, które mi odradzano”. Wśród “odradzanych” tematów, które wymienia Irena Grudzińska-Gross są między innymi: wojna, historia rodzinna, kobiety. Grudzińska-Gross opowiada także o reakcjach na książkę “Złote żniwa”, którą napisała wraz z Janem Tomaszem Grossem oraz o pracy akademickiej osób z Europy Wschodniej w Stanach Zjednoczonych. Część rozmowy dotyczy także “zbiorowej hipnozy”, której ulegli mieszkańcy USA po ataku 11 września 2001 na World Trade Center i ceny, jaką musiała zapłacić Susan Sontag za krytykę amerykańskiego militaryzmu.
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