Language:
English
Year of publication:
2023
Titel der Quelle:
Buchenwald
Angaben zur Quelle:
(2023) 53-82
Keywords:
Buchenwald (Concentration camp)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in literature
;
Nazi concentration camps in literature
;
Polish literature History and criticism 20th century
Abstract:
In the context of the Polish literature devoted to German Nazi concentration camps, the works dealing with the subject of Buchenwald are rather scarce. None of them are masterpieces or at least exceptional literary works. Some, however, are interesting cognition- or artistic-wise. The former include the prewar reportages by Stanisław Nogaj entitled Za drutami i kratami Trzeciej Rzeszy (Behind the fences and bars of the Third Reich), the memoirs of Władysław Wójcik entitled Byłem w piekle… (I’ve been to hell…), and the poems written in Buchenwald. I would include among the latter the first edition of Bohdan Urbankowski’s poetry cycle Głosy (The Voices) and Piotr Matywiecki’s poem Wywleczeni na słońce… (Dragged Into the Sun). Situated between the two groups is Mieczysław Lurczyński’s revelatory - not just in the context of Polish literature - drama Stara Gwardia (The Old Guard), which depicts the so-called “grey zone”. The remaining works are interesting mostly as manifestation of ideological and political involvement, as well as of collective and individual memory and sensitivity. As a literary theme, Buchenwald has not been and likely never will be able to “compete” with camps located in the Polish territories, especially with Auschwitz-Birkenau, which is a central symbol of Polish martyrology and of Shoah, also being “a timeless tale marked with the stigma of non-transience” (Imre Kertész).
DOI:
10.1515/9783110770179-003
URL:
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