Gostynin bez Żydów. Historia, etnografia, (nie)pamięć
Gostynin without Jews. History, Ethnography, (Non)Memory

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the following article is to reach Gostynin’s Jewish past, based on the analysis of historical sources and ethnographic interviews. The first part consists of a theoretical discussion on the mutual relations between history and memory, for the most part on the way historical discourse is constructed (there I primarily refer to Jerzy Topolski’s concept), as well as on the role that could be played by oral history sources available to ethnographers in creating narratives on the past. Moreover, Dominick LaCapra’s concept of memory-work is presented, essential in the case of such traumatic events as the Holocaust. The second part of the article focuses on research. Based on the analysis of urban spaces, historical sources and ethnographic interviews I attempt to reconstruct the place occupied by Jews in the old-time shtetl. In order to verify the conclusion, references are made to Jewish sources as well. The article ends with the question on how to create a narrative on the past without omitting the elements which are difficult to accept from the point of view of the national community, even though this narrative needs to be worked through in order to make it multifaceted and critical

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