The Holocaust in Polish Popular Visual Culture 1945-1968
- Date
- Wednesday 27 March 2019
Join us for the latest in our research seminar series, with speaker Dr Tomasz Łysak of the University of Warsaw.
Even before VE-Day, the Polish press resumed its operation: the earliest cartoons in a satirical weekly Szpilki presented the imminent defeat of the Third Reich and blamed Adolf Hitler for war crimes (with Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka treated as symbols of depravity).
Interestingly, the accusation of the perpetrators is a common topic in the majority of cartoons published in three leading satirical weeklies in the period (Szpilki, Przekrój and Karuzela). The images appear as a visual commentary to trials of perpetrators (Nurnberg in 1946, Frankfurt trial of Auschwitz-Birkenau guards in 1963-1965, Adolf Eichmann's trial in Jerusalem), the statute of limitations on Nazi war crimes (1965), and German reparations for Israel.
In 1968, these weeklies participated in the party-orchestrated antisemitic purge with varying degrees of viciousness, exploring the accusations about Poles being complicit in the Holocaust. This talk will consider the visual conventions of representing the Holocaust and crimes against humanity in these cartoons.
The seminar takes place from 1 to 3pm in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies (seminar room 1.10).
It is free to attend and all are welcome.