Universidade De São Paulo Faculdade De Filosofia

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Universidade De São Paulo Faculdade De Filosofia UNIVERSIDADE DE SÃO PAULO FACULDADE DE FILOSOFIA, LETRAS E CIÊNCIAS HUMANAS PROGRAMA DE PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO EM ESTUDOS JUDAICOS E ÁRABES THAILY VIVIANE ANDRÉ As crianças no gueto de Łódź: Vidas e mortes no segundo maior gueto judeu da Polônia ocupada, 1941-1944 São Paulo 2018 THAILY VIVIANE ANDRÉ As crianças no gueto de Łódź: Vidas e mortes do segundo maior gueto judeu da Polônia ocupada, 1941-1944 Versão original Dissertação de Mestrado apresentado ao Programa de Pós-graduação em Estudos Judaicos e Árabes da Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas da Universidade de São Paulo, como parte dos requisitos para obtenção do título de Mestre em Letras. Área de Concentração: Estudos Judaicos Orientadora: Profa. Dra. Marta Francisca Topel São Paulo 2018 Autorizo a reprodução e divulgação total ou parcial deste trabalho, por qualquer meio convencional ou eletrônico, para fins de estudo e pesquisa, desde que citada a fonte. ANDRÉ, Thaily Viviane. As crianças no gueto de Łódź: Vidas e mortes do segundo maior gueto judeu da Polônia ocupada, 1941-1944. 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras) – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2018. Aprovado em: Banca Examinadora: Prof(a). Dr(a).: Instituição: Julgamento: Prof(a). Dr(a).: Instituição: Julgamento: Prof(a). Dr(a).: Instituição: Julgamento: Dedico o presente trabalho ao jovem idealista Dawid Sierakowiak, cujo diário inspirou a escolha do tema de minha pesquisa de mestrado, e a todas as crianças e jovens que viveram e sofreram no gueto de Łódź na espera de um futuro que nunca veio. Que suas vidas e seus sofrimentos não tenham sido em vão. AGRADECIMENTOS Agradeço ao Programa de Pós-Graduação de Estudos Judaicos e Árabes pela oportunidade da realização do curso de mestrado. Agradeço à minha orientadora, a Profa. Dra. Marta Topel, por ter aceito o desafio de me auxiliar na concretização do meu sonho de pesquisar sobre o gueto de Łódź. Agradeço à Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal do Ensino Superior – Brasil (CAPES) pela concessão da bolsa de mestrado que me permitiu realizar o presente trabalho. Agradeço à minha família pelo apoio constante e pela paciência a mim devotada ao longo do mestrado e da realização dessa pesquisa. Sem eles, nenhuma linha desse trabalho teria sido escrita. “Pois nós só temos um objetivo: durar mais do que a crise e viver. Nós precisamos viver e ver o momento em que poderemos dizer: Tudo valeu a pena, tendo suportado todas as dificuldades e sofrimentos.... Nós queríamos ser as testemunhas de uma nova era e é isso que somos. Se não fosse por esse momento, então tudo que aconteceu (miséria, humilhação, fome, frio, doenças) teria sido em vão. O propósito de nossa vida, que eles queriam roubar de nós, é: viver esse momento. Todo o resto empalidece perto disso, é insignificante, efêmero. Esse momento até compensa pela morte de centenas de milhares, que morreram antes de serem redimidos. No lugar de todas essas coisas que não podermos dar a vocês, paciente, vocês devem substituir com fortaleza de espírito, resistência ao sofrimento, orgulho diário, e a consciência de ser inocente. De alguma maneira, algum dia, a libertação chegará. Isso é atestado pela nossa história e pela eterna máxima que reinou no mundo até agora: Justiça triunfa sobre a iniquidade. Portanto, é aconselhável ficar em silêncio, morder os dentes, sofrer, e estar preparado para esse momento...” Oskar Rosenfeld, 17 de fevereiro de 1942 (ROSENFELD, 2002, p. 3) “Tenho certeza de que uma vida maravilhosa e brilhante ainda está esperando por nós”. Dawid Sierakowiak, 30 de abril de 1941 (ADELSON, 1997, p. 187) RESUMO ANDRÉ, Thaily Viviane. As crianças no gueto de Łódź: Vidas e mortes do segundo maior gueto judeu da Polônia ocupada, 1941-1944. 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras) – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2018. A cidade de Łódź na Polônia abrigava a segunda maior comunidade judaica da Europa, somente superada pela capital Varsóvia. Ocupada pelas tropas alemãs em 8 de setembro de 1939, apenas uma semana após a invasão da Polônia, essa grande cidade industrial foi escolhida pelas autoridades alemãs para se tornar uma cidade digna de pertencer ao Grande Reich. Para tanto, foi feita uma reestruturação da cidade, renomeada Litzmannstadt, que incluía torná-la Judenrein, livre de judeus. A etapa inicial desse processo seria a criação de um gueto, uma medida temporária a ser empregada enquanto o futuro dos judeus de Łódź não fosse decidido. Contudo, a escolha de Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski como Judenälteste do gueto pelos alemães e sua tática de garantir a salvação de sua comunidade através do trabalho o tornou o gueto mais longevo do Holocausto. Em um gueto voltado ao trabalho, as crianças exerceram um papel central que oscilava entre a proteção e a exclusão, ambas de responsabilidade de Rumkowski, o homem que se dizia seu protetor e que acabou por deportá-las ao campo de extermínio de Chełmno. Essa deportação de crianças colocou o gueto de Łódź e seu líder Rumkowski no debate historiográfico, que acabou por marginalizar a história do alvo principal das deportações: as crianças. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo preencher essa lacuna historiográfica. Palavras-chave: Holocausto. Gueto de Łódź. Crianças. ABSTRACT ANDRÉ, Thaily Viviane. The children in the Łódź ghetto: Lives and deaths of the second largest jewish ghetto in occupied Poland, 1941-1944. 2018. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras) – Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, 2018. The city of Łódź in Poland housed the second largest Jewish community in Europe, only surpassed by the capital Warsaw. Occupied by German troops on September 8, 1939, just one week after the invasion of Poland, this great industrial city was chosen by the German authorities to become a city worthy of belonging to the Great Reich. To this end, a restructuring of the city, renamed Litzmannstadt, was made, which included making it Judenrein, free of Jews. The initial stage of this process would be the creation of a ghetto, a temporary measure to be employed as long as the future of the Jews of Łódź was not decided. However, the choice of Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski as the Judenälteste of the ghetto by the Germans and his tactic of securing the salvation of his community through labor made this the longest-standing ghetto of the Holocaust. In a work-oriented ghetto, children played a central role that oscillated between protection and exclusion, both of which were the responsibility of Rumkowski, the man who claimed to be his protector and eventually deported them to the Chełmno extermination camp. This deportation of innocent children placed the ghetto of Łódź and its leader Rumkowski in the historiographic debate, which ended up marginalizing the history of the main target of the deportations: the children. The present work aims to fill this historiographical gap. Keywords: Holocaust. Łódź Ghetto. Children LISTA DE IMAGENS Imagem 1 – Sinagoga reformada ao lado de mansão em Łódź (circa 1900)...............36 Imagem 2 – Homem posa diante da Grande Sinagoga de Łódź .............................. ..37 Imagem 3 – Membros do Conselho Judaico com Rumkowski ao centro (1940). ..... ..59 Imagem 4 – Placa anuncia a mudança de nome de Łódź para Litzmannstadt .......... ..61 Imagem 5 – Entrada do gueto assinalada com uma placa datada em 22 de abril de 1940 proibindo a entrada de poloneses e alemães no gueto....................................63 Imagem 6 – Hans Biebow posa diante de um carro com os dizeres Gettoverwaltung ....................................................................................................... 64 Imagem 7 – Polícia Judaica em 1940 com o chefe Leon Rozenblat ........................... 66 Imagem 8 – Stanisław Jacobson, presidente da Corte, em sessão em 25 de maio de 1942 .......................................................................................................................... 67 Imagem 9 – Placa na entrada do gueto ...................................................................... 68 Imagem 10 – Mapa do gueto de Łódź ........................................................................ 69 Imagem 11 – Dois funcionários do serviço postal do gueto entregando correspondências. .................................................................................................... 71 Imagem 12 – Rumkowski discursa perante uma multidão em 15 de junho de 1940 ... 75 Imagem 13 – Cozinha n° 452 do gueto ....................................................................... 83 Imagem 14 – Adolescentes puxam um carro de mão com pães para o gueto ............ 84 Imagem 15 – Funcionários de um centro de distribuição pesam alimento dos cupons. ..................................................................................................................... 85 Imagem 16 – Mulher do gueto carrega pedaços de madeira em suas costas. ............ 86 Imagem 17 – Himmler visita o gueto em 5 de junho de 1941 e recebe Rumkowski. ... 92 Imagem 18 – Entrada do campo cigano no campo de Łódź ....................................... 96 Imagem 19 – Selecionados para deportação aguardam na prisão central do gueto a ordem de partida (setembro de 1942). .................................................................... 102 Imagem 20 – Rumkowski discursa em cima de sua carruagem ............................... 127 Imagem 21 – Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski conversa com Hans Biebow ................ 131 Imagem
Recommended publications
  • Masterarbeit / Master's Thesis
    MASTERARBEIT / MASTER’S THESIS Titel der Masterarbeit / Title of the Master‘s Thesis „Gewalt auf Distanz. Zur Farbfotografie in der Shoah“ verfasst von / submitted by Eva Maria Pirker, BA angestrebter akademischer Grad / in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts (MA) Wien 2016 / Vienna 2016 Studienkennzahl lt. Studienblatt / A 066 835 degree programme code as it appears on the student record sheet: Studienrichtung lt. Studienblatt / Kunstgeschichte degree programme as it appears on the student record sheet: Betreut von / Supervisor: Mag. Dr. Friedrich Tietjen Inhaltsverzeichnis I Einleitung ................................................................................................................................. 2 II Forschungsstand und Methoden ............................................................................................. 4 III Die Farbfotografie als Element der Verflechtung von Industrie und Propaganda im Nationalsozialismus ................................................................................................................... 6 IV Die sogenannte „Endlösung“ – eine Demonstration einer Radikalisierung ....................... 17 V Walter Genewein – Dokumentation der ökonomischen „Effizienz“ des Holocaust ............ 21 V a. Das „Getto Litzmannstadt“ und dessen deutsche „Gettoverwaltung“ .......................... 22 V b. Die Entdeckung der Farbdias Walter Geneweins ......................................................... 38 V c. Die Bedeutung der Farbdias aus dem „Getto
    [Show full text]
  • Using Diaries to Understand the Final Solution in Poland
    Miranda Walston Witnessing Extermination: Using Diaries to Understand the Final Solution in Poland Honours Thesis By: Miranda Walston Supervisor: Dr. Lauren Rossi 1 Miranda Walston Introduction The Holocaust spanned multiple years and states, occurring in both German-occupied countries and those of their collaborators. But in no one state were the actions of the Holocaust felt more intensely than in Poland. It was in Poland that the Nazis constructed and ran their four death camps– Treblinka, Sobibor, Chelmno, and Belzec – and created combination camps that both concentrated people for labour, and exterminated them – Auschwitz and Majdanek.1 Chelmno was the first of the death camps, established in 1941, while Treblinka, Sobibor, and Belzec were created during Operation Reinhard in 1942.2 In Poland, the Nazis concentrated many of the Jews from countries they had conquered during the war. As the major killing centers of the “Final Solution” were located within Poland, when did people in Poland become aware of the level of death and destruction perpetrated by the Nazi regime? While scholars have attributed dates to the “Final Solution,” predominantly starting in 1942, when did the people of Poland notice the shift in the treatment of Jews from relocation towards physical elimination using gas chambers? Or did they remain unaware of such events? To answer these questions, I have researched the writings of various people who were in Poland at the time of the “Final Solution.” I am specifically addressing the information found in diaries and memoirs. Given language barriers, this thesis will focus only on diaries and memoirs that were written in English or later translated and published in English.3 This thesis addresses twenty diaries and memoirs from people who were living in Poland at the time of the “Final Solution.” Most of these diaries (fifteen of twenty) were written by members of the intelligentsia.
    [Show full text]
  • JUL 29 Poland Between the Wars BARBARA KIRSHENBLATT-GIMBLETT | Delivered in English
    MONDAY Coming of Age: Jewish Youth in JUL 29 Poland between the Wars BARBARA KIRSHENBLATT-GIMBLETT | Delivered in English During the 1930s, the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research organized three competitions for youth autobiographies. These extraordinary documents – more than 600 of them were submitted – are unique testimony to the hopes and dreams, as well as to the reality of those who were growing up in Poland at the time. Mayer Kirshenblatt, who was born in Opatów (Yiddish: Apt) in 1916, could well have been one of those autobiographers. Although he did not enter the competition, he did recall his youth much later during interviews recorded by his daughter during the last forty years of his life. This illustrated lecture will relate the youth autobiographies written in real time, by youth who had no idea of what the future would hold, with Mayer’s recollections in words and paintings many years later. The talk will include a short film about Mayer’s return to his hometown and how he was received by those living there today. Finally, the talk will consider the role of the youth autobiographies and Mayer’s childhood memories in POLIN Museum’s Core Exhibition. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett is Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and University Professor Emerita and Professor Emerita of Performance Studies at New York University. Her books include Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage; Image before My Eyes: A Photographic History of Jewish Life in Poland, 1864–1939 (with Lucjan Dobroszycki); and They Called Me Mayer July: Painted Memories of a Jewish Childhood in Poland Before the Holocaust (with Mayer Kirshenblatt).
    [Show full text]
  • Liberation & Revenge
    Episode Guide: Orders & Initiatives September 1941–March 1942 Jews from the Lódz ghetto board deportation trains for the Chelmno death camp. Overview "Orders and Initiatives" (Disc 1, Title 2, 48:27) highlights the crucial decision-making period of the Holocaust and reveals the secret plans of Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Reinhard Heydrich to annihilate the Jews. At a conference in January 1942, the Nazis plan how to achieve their goals. The first gas chambers are built at Auschwitz and the use of Zyklon B is developed. German doctors arrive to oversee each transport, deciding who should live and who should die. In the program's Follow-up Discussion (Disc 2, Bonus Features, Title 8, 7:18), Linda Ellerbee interviews Claudia Koonz, professor of history at Duke University and author of The Nazi Conscience (Belknap, 2003), and Edward Kissi, professor of Africana studies at the University of South Florida and an expert on international relations and human rights. Target Audience: Grades 9-12 social studies, history, and English courses Student Learning Goals • Citing specific events and decisions, analyze how the Nazi mission changed from September 1941 to March 1942, explaining the reasons for the changes. • Compare Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II (Birkenau) in terms of location, purpose, population, and living conditions. • Identify the incremental steps the Nazis used to isolate Jews and deport them from their home environments to death camps, and the effects on Jews, their neighbors, and the Nazis at each stage. • Summarize how and why many European nations collaborated with the Nazis, including their history of antisemitism.
    [Show full text]
  • Polish Jewry: a Chronology Written by Marek Web Edited and Designed by Ettie Goldwasser, Krysia Fisher, Alix Brandwein
    Polish Jewry: A Chronology Written by Marek Web Edited and Designed by Ettie Goldwasser, Krysia Fisher, Alix Brandwein © YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 2013 The old castle and the Maharsha synagogue in Ostrog, connected by an underground passage. Built in the 17th century, the synagogue was named after Rabbi Shmuel Eliezer Eidels (1555 – 1631), author of the work Hidushei Maharsha. In 1795 the Jews of Ostrog escaped death by hiding in the synagogue during a military attack. To celebrate their survival, the community observed a special Purim each year, on the 7th of Tamuz, and read a scroll or Megillah which told the story of this miracle. Photograph by Alter Kacyzne. YIVO Archives. Courtesy of the Forward Association. A Haven from Persecution YIVO’s dedication to the study of the history of Jews in Poland reflects the importance of Polish Jewry in the Jewish world over a period of one thou- sand years, from medieval times until the 20th century. In early medieval Europe, Jewish communities flourished across a wide swath of Europe, from the Mediterranean lands and the Iberian Peninsu- la to France, England and Germany. But beginning with the first crusade in 1096 and continuing through the 15th century, the center of Jewish life steadily moved eastward to escape persecutions, massacres, and expulsions. A wave of forced expulsions brought an end to the Jewish presence in West- ern Europe for long periods of time. In their quest to find safe haven from persecutions, Jews began to settle in Poland, Lithuania, Bohemia, and parts of Ukraine, and were able to form new communities there during the 12th through 14th centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS and SCHOLARLY ARTICLES 1. “Origins of the 'J' Passport,”
    In Re HOLOCAUST VICTIM ASSETS LITIGATION (Swiss Banks) SPECIAL MASTER’S PROPOSAL, September 11, 2000 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS AND SCHOLARLY ARTICLES 1. “Origins of the ‘J’ Passport,” 8 Weiner Library Bulletin, No. 3-4 (1954). 2. “Swiss Jews in Occupied Europe,” 18 Weiner Library Bulletin, No. 4 (October 1964). 3. “Swiss Refugee Policy, 1933-45,” 12 Weiner Library Bulletin, Nos. 1-2 (1958). 4. “Swiss Rescue Efforts in 1944,” 16 Weiner Library Bulletin, No. 2, (April 1962). 5. Abella, Irving and Harold Troper, None is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948 (New York: Random House, 1982). 6. Acheson, Dean, Present at the Creation: My Years at the State Department (New York: W. W. Norton, 1969). 7. Adler-Rudel, Salomon, “The Evian Conference on the Refugee Question,” 8 Leo Baeck Institute Year Book (1968). 8. Allen, Keith, Unpublished Manuscript. (Copy on file with Special Master). 9. Allen, Keith, “Swiss Subsidiaries of German Firms,” Unpublished Research. (Copy on file with Special Master). 10. Altshuler, Mordechai, “Escape and Evacuation of Soviet Jews at the Time of the Nazi Invasion Policies and Realties,” in Lucjan Dobroszycki and Jeffrey S. Gurock, eds., The Holocaust in the Soviet Union: Studies and Sources on the Destruction of the Jews in the Nazi-Occupied Territories of the USSR, 1941-1945 (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1993). 11. Altshuler, Mordechai, “The Unique Features of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union,” in Yaacov R’oi, ed., Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union (London: Frank Cass, 1995). 12. Aly, Gotz and Susanne Heim, “The Economics of the Final Solution: A Case Study from the General Government,” in 5 Simon Wiesenthal Center Annual (1988).
    [Show full text]
  • James T. Chiampi the EXEMPLARY CHAIM RUMKOWSKI in PRIMO LEVI's
    James T. Chiampi THE EXEMPLARY CHAIM RUMKOWSKI IN PRIMO LEVI’S “LA ZONA GRIGIA” n his essay “A Defnition of the Esthetic Experience,” Eliseo Vivas offers this Idescription of the signifying effect of art on the perceiving mind: “An esthetic experience is an experience of rapt attention which involves the intransitive apprehension of an object’s immanent meanings in their full presentational immediacy.”1 Vivas continues, [“Intransitive”] means to signify that attention is esthetic when it is so controlled by the object that it does not fy away from it to meanings not present immanently in the object; or in other words that attention is so controlled that the object specifes concretely and immediately through refexive cross- references its meanings and objective characters. And thus we may contrast esthetic with all other modes of attention by noting that other modes of atten- tion discover in objects not immanent but referential meanings, which is to say, meanings which carry us beyond the object to other objects or meanings not present upon it. (408–9) This experience of concentrated and contained attention is a creative fascina- tion in which meanings, detached from circumambient referential meanings, are reforged. In the novel, self- renewing literary artwork, the endless possible variety of meanings in combination and recombination, in their manifold dense allusivity, all present and absent even in a single reading—these “refex- ive cross- references”—set the esthetic object in unceasing semantic fow. Thus, only homonymy would bind the esthetic and extraesthetic word. Such mean- ings, which refuse reduction to the univocal, clearly cannot be captured all together at once either in the moment of consumption, or in retrospect.
    [Show full text]
  • Paper for B(&N
    International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Vol. 8 • No. 11 • November 2018 doi:10.30845/ijhss.v8n11p1 The Planning and Architecture of Deportation, Imprisonment and Death - Reflections on the Ethical Implications of the Holocaust for Built and Natural Environment Disciplines Richard Kötter Senior Lecturer in Economic /Political Geography Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences School of the Built and Natural Environment Faculty of Engineering and Environment Northumbria University Lewis Preston Formerly Senior Lecturer in Architecture School of the Built and Natural Environment Northumbria University Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 8ST. Abstract This paper is based on an exchange and dialogue between two academics on how the legacy of the Nazi period is relevant for built environment, planning and human geography disciplines.We argue that we should be reflecting on the conduct and utility of spatial and urban planning and design in the Nazi period from the perspective of professional ethics, not just as a historical reflection and remembrance but also to inform current and future generations of professionals. Keywords: National Socialist (NS / Nazi) spatial planning and urban design; professional conduct and ethics, Holocaust / Shoah / Porajnos 1, „tabula rasa“; Oswiecim / Auschwitz; German occupation of Poland from 1939. 2 1.0 Architecture and Planning‚ Post-Auschwitz‘? Taking their cue from Adorno„s text on „education after Auschwitz“ in the 1960s 3, a whole series of professions have asked this question for their respective field: what do the events of Auschwitz (as the central symbolic reference space) and the genocide in Europe more broadly perpetrated by Nazi Germany and her collaborateurs mean for the actors of the following generations ? 4 We shall restrict ourself to a consideration (informed by historiographies) of the disciplines of architecture and urban construction (Rose, 1993, Gutschow, 2001; Willems, 2000), spatial planning and urban design (Rössler, 1989 and 2001, in Szöllösi-Janze, M.
    [Show full text]
  • Commemoration Program
    COMMEMORATION PROGRAM The author of the drawing used as the logo for the commemorations, which represents a silhouette of the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - the tallest building on the terrain of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto - and the bridge on Zgierska, is Abraham Koplowicz. He was born on 18 February 1930 in Łódź, the only child of Mendel and Yochet Gittel Koplowicz. Taken from the ghetto along with his parents on the last transport to Auschwitz, he perished in the gas chamber in September 1944. Eliezer Grynfeld, whose mother married after the war Mendel Koplowicz, found after the dead of his stepfather several memorabilia, including a school exercise book with a hand-drawn illustration on the cover along with the title “Litzmannstadt-Ghetto 1943” and the words: A. KOPLOWICZ “HIS OWN WORKS”. Our thanks to Mr Eliezer Grynfeld for providing the illus- tration and family photographs. Litzmannstadt Ghetto (1940-1944) In February 1940 the German chief of Łódź police issued January 1942 saw mass deportations begin from Łódź to an order that a special district for Jews was to be created the Kulmhof extermination camp (Chełmno on Ner). Be- in the north of the city. Jews had to leave their homes tween January and September over 70,000 people were in other parts of Łódź to live in Bałuty and Stare Miasto murdered there by the Germans. The most important (the Old City). At the same time Poles and Germans were moment in the history of the ghetto was the so-called forced to move out of the area designated only for Jews.
    [Show full text]
  • Patterns of Anti-Jewish Violence in Poland, 1944-1946 David Engel
    Patterns Of Anti-Jewish Violence In Poland, 1944-1946 David Engel The story of the infamous Kielce pogrom of July 4, 1946, during which forty-two Jews were killed and forty more were injured, has been told and retold in popular and scholarly works to the point where the recent fiftieth anniversary of its occurrence prompted a public commemoration that made news around the world.1 A fair measure of controversy still exists, however, regarding the meaning of the murderous events. While the background to the outbreak of violence was a medieval blood libel, one central axis of disagreement is the manner in which the underlying cause of the violence should be represented. Certain depictions have given explanatory primacy to the immediate historical context in which the pogrom occurred - that of a fierce ongoing armed battle between passionate pro- and antigovernment forces, in which Jews assumed a highly visible and remarkably uniform pro-government position, in sharp distinction to the antigovernment attitudes of what was evidently a sizable majority of Polish society. Such an approach has made the events at Kielce appear mainly either as an instance of political protest - in which case the savage anti-Jewish overtones reflected an unfortunate but nonetheless real correlation between ethnicity and political behavior - or as one of cynical manipulation by a regime bent on exploiting that correlation to deflect or suppress potential opposition to 1 The most thorough and reliable treatment to date is Bozena Szaynok, Pogrom Zydow w Kielcach 4 lipca 1946 (Wroclaw: Wydawnictwo Bellona, 1992). Other narrations of the events include Stanislaw Meducki, "The Pogrom in Kielce on July 4, 1946,” Polin 9 (1996), pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Films on Jewish Culture, History, and Current Affairs
    SEVENTH ART RELEASING FILMS ON JEWISH CULTURE, HISTORY, AND CURRENT AFFAIRS Fall 2014 ABOUT 7TH ART NEW RELEASES FROM 7TH ART Seventh Art Releasing was founded in 1994 by Udy Epstein and Jonathan 50 CHILDREN: THE RESCUE MISSION OF MR. & MRS. KRAUS Cordish to distribute award-winning independent and foreign films to Directed by Steven Pressman 63 min. audiences in the United States and abroad. With a focus on Jewish culture, “Heart-wrenching, thrilling and above all history and current affairs, our films (including The Long Way Home, relevant.” —The New York Times Eyewitness, and many others) have been nominated for and received Gilbert and Eleanor Kraus never intended to become heroes. But in Academy Awards, Emmy Awards, and almost every major festival award. early 1939, as conditions were worsening for Jews living inside Nazi Germany, the Philadelphia couple embarked on a risky and improbable mission—an effort to rescue 50 Jewish children and bring Our films cover topics such as the Holocaust, Israel, Jewish culture, Jewish them to safety in the United States. music, important and influential Jewish figures, the Middle East, politics, social issues, conflict, comedy, children’s films, love and marriage, and The couple faced imposing obstacles. The United States government was largely indifferent to the plight of Jewish refugees. The Krauses, who were Jewish, also had to face the sports along with many films that defy categorization. risks of traveling into Nazi Germany and dealing with the Gestapo and other Nazi officials in their effort to carry out their bold rescue plan. 50 CHILDREN: THE RESCUE MISSION OF MR.
    [Show full text]
  • 285 Schriftzeugnissen
    Dokumentenverzeichnis Der Vorstand der Jüdischen Interessenvertretung in Bendsburg informiert die jüdi- sche Bevölkerung Schlesiens am . Juli !" über die Geltung der Rassengesetze in den eingegliederten Ostgebieten ! Das Landesernährungsamt in Posen legt am !. Juli !" die Lebensmittelrationen für die im Warthegau lebenden Juden fest " Eine slowakische Regierungskommission besichtigt am #. Juli !" verschiedene Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden in Oberschlesien # Shlomo Frank beklagt in seinem Tagebuch am #!. Juli !" die Deportation von Geisteskranken aus dem Getto Litzmannstadt $ In der Reichsstatthalterei in Posen wird am $. August !" die arbeitsrechtliche Be- handlung und Entlohnung der Juden besprochen % Die Treuhandstelle Danzig-Westpreußen gibt am %. August !" die Anweisung, die Grundstücke mit Synagogen und jüdischen Friedhöfen möglichst rasch zu verkau- fen & Die Zentrale der jüdischen Kultusgemeinden in Ost-Oberschlesien beschreibt am %. August !" die Organisation des Arbeitseinsatzes durch die Organisation Schmelt ' Der Vorstand der Jüdischen Interessenvertretung in Bendsburg informiert die jüdi- sche Bevölkerung in Schlesien am . September !" über das Aufenthaltsverbot in den Hauptstraßen ( Die Zivilverwaltung des Bezirks Bialystok gründet am &. September !" eine regio- nale Treuhandstelle und unterstellt dieser das Eigentum von Juden und Polen ) Ein anonymer Bericht für das Ringelblum-Archiv schildert das Leben der Juden im Dorf Rutki im Bezirk Bialystok und ihre Ermordung am '. September !" Der Judenrat von Białystok ruft am %. September !" zu Spenden für die Waisen- häuser, Kinderheime und Krankenhäuser im Getto auf ! Reichsstatthalter Arthur Greiser ärgert sich am #. September !" darüber, dass das Reichsinnenministerium ein Mitspracherecht bei den Maßnahmen gegen Juden verlangt " Der Amtskommissar in Strzemieszyce bei Bendsburg regt am $. September !" beim Landrat an, Juden die Benutzung von Fuhrwerken zu untersagen # Geto-Tsajtung: Der Judenälteste Rumkowski ruft die Arbeiter im Getto Litzmann- stadt am # .
    [Show full text]