Návraty, Križovatky a Cesty: Holocaust v slovenskej dráme v období 1945-1949
Returns, Crossroads, and Paths: The Holocaust in Slovak Drama 1945-1949

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses two Slovak plays that deal with the experience of the Holocaust, namely Peter Karvas' Return To Life (staged in 1946, published in 1949) and Juraj Vah's Silence (published in 1948 and staged in 1949). Both plays contain elements typical for post-Holocaust thinking, such as issues of identity, memory, guilt, time, space, and others. Since they both appeared shortly after World War 2, they also show how experience was gradually transformed into a literary stereotype. The paper also refers to performances of these plays between 1945 and 1949, and shows a shift in the perception of the Holocaust in Slovak society. Since both playwrights wrote for other genres, the paper mentions how writing radio plays and fiction influenced the form of these plays.

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