Nowa ikona Auschwitz?
A New Icon of Auschwitz?

The Prisoner Photograph of Czesława Kwoka as an Emerging Modern Symbol of Polish Victimhood

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt of a critical analysis of the documentary photographs ofCzesława Kwoka – a teenager prisoner of Auschwitz – and above all a critical descriptionof the contemporary use and abuse of the image of the teenage victim of Nazism.I consider whether we are dealing with the phenomenon of the emergence of a newicon of Auschwitz and the child victim, and what dangers the strategy of iconisation orsymbolisation through the “production” of historical photographs entails, especially incontemporary media. I suggest that the photograph of Czesława Kwoka, though increasinglypopular and recognisable, is an example of an incomplete icon or a potential icon.

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