Niewidoczni świadkowie Zagłady – biedni Polacy patrzą na Polaków
Invisible Witnesses of the Holocaust

Summary/Abstract: Holocaust witnesses recognized the scale of Polish society’s hostility towards Jews. It was especially evident in the countryside, where violent acts were committed not behind ghetto walls but in the streets and at Jewish cemeteries. Kowalska-Leder examines testimonies by Stanisław Żemiński, Zygmunt Klukowski and Tadeusz Markiel, which thematize the Poles’ participation in the Holocaust – an image that continues to have traumatic potential. Anti-Semitic tendencies are deeply rooted in Polish culture. This is apparent not only in popular attitudes in the countryside but also in statements by outstanding intellectuals such as Maria Dąbrowska or Andrzej Bobkowski. Recently published passages from their diaries testify to their hostility towards Jews and their lack of empathy towards the victims of the Holocaust.

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