Open AccessShmuel Zygielbojm (1895–1943) as a Figure in Polish Historical Discourse
Author(s) -
Michał Trębacz
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
judaic-slavic journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2658-3364
DOI - 10.31168/2658-3364.2020.1.07
Subject(s) - the holocaust , opposition (politics) , judaism , staring , political science , antisemitism , public discourse , history , argument (complex analysis) , law , sociology , media studies , politics , archaeology , communication , biochemistry , chemistry
Szmul Zygielbojm, activist of the socialist Bund, member of the National Council of the Republic of Poland in London, on the night of May 11-12, 1943, committed suicide. It was a deliberate act of protest against „the inaction with which the world is staring and allowing the Jewish people to exterminate.“Quite early this universal act of opposition to evil became an argument showing Polish merits and non-Polish faults in informing the world about the Holocaust. How did historians and publicists talk about Zygielbojm? What role was assigned to him in the discourse about the Holocaust and Polish-Jewish relations? Why has the Bundist figure returned in contemporary debate?