Polish Literature and Genocide

Polish Literature and Genocide presents the attitude of national literature to the twentieth-century acts of genocide. This volume examines the reflection of the Holocaust and the massacre in Srebrenica in a rich, detailed, and comprehensive way, challenging former ideas.

Arkadiusz Morawiec is a professor at the Faculty of Philology at the University of -ód- and a literary critic. His research interests primarily include the history of Polish literature of the 20th and 21st centuries, in particular literary texts representing totalitarianism, genocide (including the Holocaust), concentration and extermination camps. His research also concerns literature as a medium of memory. He has published six books: Poetyka opowiadä Gustawa Herlinga-Grudzi-skiego. Autentyzm -- dyskursywno-- -- paraboliczno-- [The poetics of Gustaw Herling-Grudzi-ski's short stories: Authenticity -- discursiveness -- parables] (2000), Seweryna Szmaglewska (1916-1992). Bibliografia [Seweryna Szmaglewska (1916-1992): Bibliography] (2007), Literatura w lagrze, lager w literaturze. Fakt - temat - metafora [Literature in concentration camps, concentration camps in literature: Fact -- theme -- metaphor] (2009), Polityczne, prywatne, metafizyczne. Szkice o literaturze polskiej ostatnich dziesi-cioleci [The political, the private, and the metaphysical: Essays on the Polish literature of the last decades] (2014), Zofia Romanowiczowa. Pisarka nie tylko emigracyjna [Zofia Romanowiczowa: More than an émigré writer] (2016), and Literatura polska wobec ludobójstwa [Polish literature on genocide] (2018). He has edited eleven monographs, including: The Literature in/after Concentration and Death Camps (2017), Lager, -agier, obóz -- zapis. Obszary [Konzentrationslager, gulag, obóz -- records: Research areas] (2017), Lager, -agier, obóz -- zapis. Lektury [Konzentrationslager, gulag, obóz -- records: Texts] (2018), and Zag-ada wobec innych ludobójstw [Holocaust in the face of other genocides] (2020).

List of Figures Introduction: The Holocausts Prologue: Echoes of the Armenian Genocide 1 "Disinfection": The Extermination of the Mentally Ill 2 W-adys-aw Szlengel (in the Warsaw Ghetto) 3 The Locomotive (to Be--ec) 4 The Death Brigade (Leon Weliczker's) 5 Not Only Asfitz: The Destruction of the Gypsies 6 "History Rounds Off Skeletons to the Nearest Zero": The Extermination of the Soviet Prisoners of War 7 "Professor Spanner" by Zofia Näkowska and "Soap from Human Fat" 8 Tadeusz Ró-ewicz's Excursion to the Museum (and Library) Epilogue: "It Repeats Itself Before Our Eyes" -- Srebrenica Bibliography Index of Names