Polish Film And The Holocaust Politics And Memory [Paperback]

During World War II Poland lost more than six million people, including about three million Polish Jews who perished in the ghettos and extermination camps built by Nazi Germany in occupied Polish territories. This book is the first to address the representation of the Holocaust in Polish film and does so through a detailed treatment of several films, which the author frames in relation to the political, ideological, and cultural contexts of the times in which they were created. Following the chronological development of Polish Holocaust films, the book begins with two early classics: Wanda JakubowskasThe Last Stage(1948) and Aleksander FordsBorder Street(1949), and next explores the Polish School period, represented by Andrzej WajdasA Generation(1955) and Andrzej MunksThe Passenger(1963). Between 1965 and 1980 there was an organized silence regarding sensitive Polish-Jewish relations resulting in only a few relevant films until the return of democracy in 1989 when an increasing number were made, among them Krzysztof Kie[lowskisDecalogue 8(1988), Andrzej WajdasKorczak(1990), Jan Jakub KolskisKeep Away from the Window(2000), and Roman PolaDskis?The Pianist?(2002). An important contribution to film studies, this book has wider relevance in addressing the issue of Polands national memory.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Acronyms and Abbreviations

Introduction

Chapter 1.Postwar Poland: Geopolitics and Cinema
Chapter 2.Wanda Jakubowskas Return to Auschwitz:The Last Stage(1948)
Chapter 3.Commemorating the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising inBorder Street(1949)
Chapter 4.Images of the Holocaust during the Polish School Period (1955-1965)
Chapter 5.Years lØ