English
Polish
The Golden Mean Principle. A Handful of Comments on the Currently Dominant Discourse on ‘Polish-Jewish Relations’
Piotr Forecki
piotr.forecki@amu.edu.pl BioPiotr Forecki, assistant professor at the Faculty of Political Sciences and Journalism of the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, member of the Department of Anti-Semitism Studies of the Jewish Historical Institute. Author of the monographs Od „Shoah” do „Strachu”. Spory o polsko-żydowską przeszłość i pamięć w debatach publicznych (2010) and Reconstructing Memory. The Holocaust in Polish Public Debates (2013).
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8156-5326
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań
Anna Zawadzka
redakcja@holocaustresearch.pl BioAnna Zawadzka, doctor of sociology, works in the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw University Gender Studies lecturer, editor of Studia Litteraria et Historica, director of the Żydokomuna documentary. Author of, for instance: “„Żydokomuna”. Szkic do socjologicznej analizy źródeł historycznych” (Societas/Communitas 2 [2009]), “„Rzeczpospolita” jednego narodu” (in Analizować nienawiść. Dyskurs antysemicki jako tekstowe wyzwanie, 2011), “Polska walcząca” (in Wojciech Wilczyk (ed.), Święta wojna, 2014), “Wojna polsko-polska na terenie Izraela” (Studia Litteraria et Historica 1, 2012), “Zdzieranie masek. Sposoby pisania o żydowskich komunistach” (Studia Litteraria et Historica 2, 2013).
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6043-3321
Institute of Slavic Studies of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały, No. Holocaust Studies and Materials (2017), pages: 228-349
Publication date: 2017-12-06
Abstract
The article attempts to deconstruct the dominant Polish discourse regarding the ‘Polish-Jewish relations’. Its central ϐigures are: the logic of the golden mean as a tool to reach historical truth, symmetrisation of Polish and Jewish wrongs and faults, and hospitality as the prevalent attitude of Poles towards Jews. The authors show its opinion forming power using three examples: a review of Paweł Pawlikowski’s film Ida, the reception of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, and a discussion on the Righteous monuments, which were to be erected in Warsaw.
Keywords
anti-Semitism, Polish-Jewish relations, POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Ida, monument of the Righteous, dominant discourse
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0
Other articles by the same auhtor(s)
- Piotr Forecki, Closely Observed Books [Mirosław Tryczyk, Miasta śmierci i Drzazga; Paweł Piotr Reszka, Płuczki] , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 17 (2021)
- Piotr Forecki, April Talking. Polish flags over the Ghetto , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 10 (2014)
- Anna Zawadzka, Piotr Forecki, The Golden Mean Principle. A handful of comments on the currently dominant discourse about ‘Polish-Jewish relations , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 11 (2015)
- Piotr Forecki, The Museum of Reconciliation in Markowa , Zagłada Żydów. Studia i Materiały: No. 12 (2016)
