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Mordet i Jedwabne – en utmaning för polackernas kollektiva minne. En analys av den polska debatten kring Jan Gross bok Sąsiedzi (”Grannar”)

Törnquist-Plewa, Barbara LU orcid (2003) In Historisk Tidskrift p.395-417
Abstract
The article analyses the stormy debate in Poland caused by the publication in 2000 of Neighbors, a book written by the Polish-born American scholar Jan Gross. The book, that deals with the war-time mass murder of the Jewish population in the Polish town Jedwabne, encouraged by the Nazi Germans but perpetrated by local Poles, brought about shock and created a challenge to Polish collective memory. Poles used to perceive themselves as victims of Nazi aggression, not anti-Semitic helpers or executors in the Nazi destruction machinery, and the Holocaust was seldom a topic of reflection in the Communist era in Poland. Using K-G Karlsson’s typology of different uses of history (scientific, moral, existential, political and ideological), the... (More)
The article analyses the stormy debate in Poland caused by the publication in 2000 of Neighbors, a book written by the Polish-born American scholar Jan Gross. The book, that deals with the war-time mass murder of the Jewish population in the Polish town Jedwabne, encouraged by the Nazi Germans but perpetrated by local Poles, brought about shock and created a challenge to Polish collective memory. Poles used to perceive themselves as victims of Nazi aggression, not anti-Semitic helpers or executors in the Nazi destruction machinery, and the Holocaust was seldom a topic of reflection in the Communist era in Poland. Using K-G Karlsson’s typology of different uses of history (scientific, moral, existential, political and ideological), the author of the article shows how the Poles responded to the challenge. She also discusses the timing and the circumstances of the Jedwabne debate. The underlying purpose of the study is to examine whether the debate has brought forth more profound changes in Polish historical consciousness, memory and self-perception. A considerably longer version of this article in English is found in Klas-Göran Karlsson & Ulf Zander (eds), Echoes of the Holocaust. Historical Cultures in Contemporary Europe, Lund 2003 (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to specialist publication or newspaper
publication status
published
subject
categories
Popular Science
in
Historisk Tidskrift
issue
3
pages
395 - 417
publisher
Svenska historiska föreningen
ISSN
0345-469X
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
d7bd18c8-d017-4af9-a892-f4eb5cfda5a3 (old id 130078)
alternative location
http://www.historisktidskrift.se/documents/Historisk-Tidskrift-fulltext-2003-3.pdf
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 16:17:13
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:40:12
@misc{d7bd18c8-d017-4af9-a892-f4eb5cfda5a3,
  abstract     = {{The article analyses the stormy debate in Poland caused by the publication in 2000 of Neighbors, a book written by the Polish-born American scholar Jan Gross. The book, that deals with the war-time mass murder of the Jewish population in the Polish town Jedwabne, encouraged by the Nazi Germans but perpetrated by local Poles, brought about shock and created a challenge to Polish collective memory. Poles used to perceive themselves as victims of Nazi aggression, not anti-Semitic helpers or executors in the Nazi destruction machinery, and the Holocaust was seldom a topic of reflection in the Communist era in Poland. Using K-G Karlsson’s typology of different uses of history (scientific, moral, existential, political and ideological), the author of the article shows how the Poles responded to the challenge. She also discusses the timing and the circumstances of the Jedwabne debate. The underlying purpose of the study is to examine whether the debate has brought forth more profound changes in Polish historical consciousness, memory and self-perception. A considerably longer version of this article in English is found in Klas-Göran Karlsson & Ulf Zander (eds), Echoes of the Holocaust. Historical Cultures in Contemporary Europe, Lund 2003}},
  author       = {{Törnquist-Plewa, Barbara}},
  issn         = {{0345-469X}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{395--417}},
  publisher    = {{Svenska historiska föreningen}},
  series       = {{Historisk Tidskrift}},
  title        = {{Mordet i Jedwabne – en utmaning för polackernas kollektiva minne. En analys av den polska debatten kring Jan Gross bok Sąsiedzi (”Grannar”)}},
  url          = {{http://www.historisktidskrift.se/documents/Historisk-Tidskrift-fulltext-2003-3.pdf}},
  year         = {{2003}},
}