Wynalezione ocalenie. Pamięć o katastrofie cystern z chlorem w Białymstoku w prasie, literaturze i kulturze

Abstract

The article presents a way to use the memory of the 1989 Białystok chlorine tank car disaster for a new interpretation of the city’s history. Based on this example and using Hobsbawm’s concept of “invented tradition,” Kochanowski is the first to present the process of creating a new narrative of Białystok in cultural texts. This narrative emphasizes the merits of the Catholic Church in saving the city from the catastrophe’s aftermath, thus erasing the traces of Jewish history in Białystok. The article draws on texts’ interpretations and contemporary research in the anthropology of memory (including theories by Pierre Nora and Aleida Assmann) and reflections on the meaning of catastrophes in culture by Urlich Beck, Milton Friedman, and Marek Bieńczyk.