Teatr pamięci wystawiony na próbę? Całkiem zwyczajny Żyd w świetle teorii Y. Michala Bodemanna
Putting the Theatre of Memory to the Test?: Just an Ordinary Jew and the Theory of Y. Michal Bodemann

Summary/Abstract: According to Y. Michal Bodemann, contemporary memo-ry politics in Germany and German-Jewish relations aresubordinated to the so-called theatre of memory. A filmthat seems to oppose this is Just an Ordinary Jew (Ein ganzgewöhnlicher Jude, dir. Olivier Hirschbiegel, 2005), which isbased on a monodrama by Charles Lewinsky that is criti-cal of German politics of memory. It is worth consideringwhether this work criticizes the politics of memory in Ger-many only on a declarative level (through the monologuedelivered by the protagonist) or also through the film form.The theoretical framework of this article is provided byreferences to theories in the field of memory studies, inparticular to Bodemann’s publications. A contextual analy-sis of the film is crucial due to the numerous referencesto German debates about the past. An analysis of selectedaspects of the film form describes the role of filmic meansof expression in the process of (de)constructing Jewishnessand the theatre of memory.

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