Incognito ergo sum. O wytwarzaniu obojętności
Incognito ergo sum: on indifference
Author(s): Joanna Tokarska-BakirSubject(s): History, Jewish studies, Recent History (1900 till today), WW II and following years (1940 - 1949)
Published by: Instytut Slawistyki Polskiej Akademii Nauk
Keywords: Jewish Poles; non-Jewish Poles; indifference; Holocaust; witnesses-perpetrators-victims
Summary/Abstract: The present article is an analysis of various types of indifference of non-Jewish inhabitants of Warsaw to the plight of Jewish Poles. The words of Krzysztof Dunin-Wąsowicz, a historian and “Żegota” activist, provide the vantage point for the analysis: Dunin-Wąsowicz claimed that around 75 per cent of the inhabitants of Warsaw “were indifferent to what was taking place behind the Ghetto wall”. Thomas Kuhne hypothesised that it was Germans’ indifference to the Jewish – not hatred – that legitimised the Nazi racial policies of the 1930s. This statement might also apply to the “75 per cent of the inhabitants of Warsaw”. The article is mainly based on articles published by ZWZ-AK, in particular Biuletyn Informacyjny.
Journal: Studia Litteraria et Historica
- Issue Year: 2013
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 394-411
- Page Count: 18
- Language: Polish