W poszukiwaniu żydowskiej obecności – podróż Piotra Pytlakowskiego po wschodniej Polsce w Strefie niepamięci

Abstract

This article puts under scrutiny the latest reportage by the recently deceased Piotr Pytlakowski, entitled Strefa niepamięci [The Zone of Oblivion], in which he describes his journey along the trail of the cities of death, i.e. places where pogroms against Jews took place in 1941. The aim of the article is to investigate how the author constructs the eponymous zone of oblivion and what attempts he makes to restore lost memory. The first part of the discussion focuses on the polemics surrounding collective memory as well as its absence due to the politics of memory. The various reasons for the silence about the pogroms against Jews perpetrated by or with the complicity of the Poles are cited, ranging from communist censorship, through the trauma of war, to the patriotic-national discourse. In the second part, I analyze how the author restores the memory of the former Jewish inhabitants in the towns he visits. The structure of the book, the contexts, the source texts and its protagonists are scrutinized to show how, with each chapter, Strefa niepamięci [The Zone of Oblivion] becomes a literary lieu de mémoire dedicated to Polish Jews.