(Nie)pamięć o podlaskich Żydach w kontekście polityki Zagłady: relacje Mordechaja Canina i Samuela Pisara

Abstract

The paper examines the issue of memory and oblivion of the Jews of Podlasie in the context of Holocaust policy. The author analyses the presence of the Jewish diaspora in the memory of the inhabitants of Białystok and smaller towns located in the Podlaskie Province. The issue addressed concerns the population living in the immediate post-war period, after 1945, who (for the most part) directly experienced the subject of war and the Holocaust. Another issue brought up by the author is the presence of literary traces commemorating this community in the spaces of cities and towns. The author’s considerations are based on the accounts of Mordechai Canin (Przez ruiny i zgliszcza. Podróż po stu zgładzonych gminach żydowskich w Polsce (Through ruins and rubble. A journey through one hundred exterminated Jewish communities in Poland)) and Samuel Pisar (Z krwi i nadziei (From Blood and Hope)) from their trip to Poland. The paper demonstrates that the collective memory of the inhabitants of Podlasie is not uniform – Jews are rarely and reluctantly mentioned, while post-war Białystok, just as the entire Podlasie, were not places that were conducive to nurturing the memory of the Jewish diaspora.