Language:
German
Year of publication:
2015
Titel der Quelle:
Jahrbuch des Simon-Dubnow-Instituts
Angaben zur Quelle:
14 (2015) 265-290
Keywords:
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in motion pictures
;
Motion pictures
Abstract:
The debate over Holocaust memory and the role of the Poles in World War II as portrayed in Polish films prior to 1989 was dominated by the heroic self-image which emerged in the country after the war. In the case of the first Polish Holocaust film, Alexander Ford's "Ulica Graniczna" (1948), the script had to undergo radical changes before it was accepted by the National Film Board; Polish antisemitism and ethnic inequality were deleted and Polish eyewitnesses were idealized. The 1960s were characterized by increasing nationalization of the war narrative, stress on Polish victimization, and systematic exclusion of the fate of the Jews. In this climate of increasing antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Holocaust films attempted to show that the Poles were not antisemitic during the war. This being difficult, hardly any Holocaust films were produced. The filming of Andrzej Wajda's "Wielki Tydzień" was interrupted in 1967 and concluded only in the 1990s. Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" (1985), the first film to present Polish bystanders to a Western audience, drew a very negative picture; this led to a strengthening of the positive portrayal of eyewitnesses in Polish films. After 1989 some cautious attempts were made to diversify this trend. Paweł Pawlikowski's "Ida" (2013) is nearly the only film to give the Jewish perspective in a Polish film and present it as a part of Polish history. "Ida" is also unique in that it refrains from conclusive assignation of guilt.
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