The Ritual in Women’s Performed Radio „Majdanek”
The Ritual in Women’s Performed Radio „Majdanek”

Summary/Abstract: The article provides insight into the historical phenomenon of performed „radio broadcasts” conducted by the female prisoners of the Nazi concentration camp at Majdanek, Poland. Every day over a period of a few months, women played the role of radio announcers and recreated from memory the communication formulas of Polish Radio broadcasts. The prisoners associated the pre-war Polish Radio with a strong message of cultural heritage and humanist values. The re-enactment and listening of the broadcasts evoked positive emotions and stirred the imagination of the women. The „radio” united them and gave them the strength to survive the reality of the concentration camp, promoted adherence to cultural norms, brought back the works of poets and writers, and provided entertainment. The broadcasts became a ritual ordering the mental universe of the women, which gave meaning to the everyday, provided a sense of the continuity of time that confirmed the women’s identities, their sense of dignity and belonging to a community. The memory of the structure and aesthetics of an electronic broadcast gave the women a communication tool to construct and to preserve their own culture in a death camp. In the broadcasts they performed, the Polish female prisoners constructed a space where they were able to preserve their dignity and humanity.

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