Żyd całkiem zwyczajny. Historia i pamięć we współczesnym kinie niemieckim i polskim
A Jew Quite Ordinary. History and Memory in Contemporary Polish Cinema

Summary/Abstract: The article is a comparative analysis of the German film Aimée and Jaguar. Love Larger than Death by Max Färberböck from 1998 and the Polish film Keep Away from the Window by Jan J. Kolski from 2000. Both films are psychological dramas telling stories of intimate relationships between Jews and non-Jews during the Holocaust. In accordance with the rules of the genre, emphasis is put on the singularity of situations and events as well as on the complexity of individual experiences and choices. This facilitates emotional identification with the characters, offering the possibility of more universal interpretations in which national identities are no longer supposed to play a central role. However, when viewed in the context of nationally specific debates on the past in Germany and in Poland, the concept of “ordinary people” employed in each of the films produces a different message. While Aimée and Jaguar offers a narrative of German-Jewish reconciliation, Keep Away from the Window can be read as a reflection on the problem of Polish and Jewish conflicted memories of WWII

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