A Small History of a Great Cause. A few notes and reflections after reading Cover Image

Mikrohistoria o wielkiej sprawie. Kilka uwag i refleksji po lekturze Monika Sznajderman, Fałszerze pieprzu. Historia rodzinna, Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2016, 288 ss.
A Small History of a Great Cause. A few notes and reflections after reading

Author(s): Jacek Chrobaczyński
Subject(s): History, Recent History (1900 till today)
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Komisji Edukacji Narodowej w Krakowie
Keywords: Poles;Jews;mutual relations;economy;trade;education;Holocaust;memory and post-memory

Summary/Abstract: Monika Sznajderman’s book, reminiscent of a strange title, is a family saga devoted to Polish-Jewish and Jewish-Polish relations. The micro (family) perspective is only a starting point and point of reference for the analysis of phenomena with a much broader horizon of problems – economy, social, political or cultural relations, where family relations, named by name and surname, remain the essential context. The two most important epochs of these relations are clearly stressed in this work – interwar, war and occupation (the Holocaust). The author, the next generation, but also a great writer, with great talent, but also the insight of the gaze, analyzes difficult issues – semitism and anti-Semitism, wealth and poverty, attitudes and behaviors, difficult relationships. The title “pepper” is obviously the subject of trade, but also a contribution to hard work, solid education, existential reality, undoubtedly also wealth. Great reading not only for experts in Polish-Jewish and Jewish-Polish relations (this is not the same in my opinion), but also for those interested. Great language, many interesting, not easy, also for the author, threads.

  • Issue Year: 2017
  • Issue No: 4
  • Page Range: 194-202
  • Page Count: 9
  • Language: Polish