The Politics of Trauma and Memory Activism: Polish-Jewish Relations Today

by Janine Holc

Overview

This book analyses four case studies of Holocaust memory activism in Poland, contextualized within recent debates about Polish-Jewish relations and approached through a theoretical framework informed by critical theory. Three cases are advocacy groups, each located in a different region of Poland—Lublin, Kraków, and Sejny—and each group is presented with attention to the local context and specific dynamics of its vision and strategy. The fourth case study is the state, which has emerged as a powerful memory actor. Using research based on extensive fieldwork, including interviews and direct observation, the author argues that memory activism must grapple with emotional attachments to identity if it is to move beyond a reconciliation paradigm. Drawing on works from semiotics and critical trauma studies, the volume analyzes the assumptions each memory actor makes about three dimensions of Holocaust memory: 1) the relationship of the individual to Polish national identity; 2) the possibility of a reconciled Polish-Jewish history; and 3) the assignment of traumatic suffering to a particular group or event.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783319633398
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan
Publication date:	08/21/2017
Series:	Memory Politics and Transitional Justice
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	79
File size:	238 KB

About the Author

​Janine Holc is Associate Professor of Political Science at Loyola University Maryland, USA.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction .- 2. Memory Activism Challenging the Reconciliation Paradigm.- 3. Memory Activism in a Historic Borderland.- 4. Memory Activism in a Porous Field.- 5. The State as Context and Competitor in Memory Politics.- 6. Conclusion: Memory Beyond History.