Neglected memory: the recollection of Jews among poles. A case study of a town in southern Poland

There are two general approaches towards the memory of Jews in contemporary Poland: collective remembrance and collective forgetting. These are presented as two extreme attitudes which represent the process of dealing with the memory of Jews in Poland. However, this division does not take into account a phenomenon which combines the two approaches. A case study of a small town in southern Poland, where Jews constituted a significant part of the pre-war population, illustrates the complexity of resurrecting memories of Jews in Poland. Nowadays, not only are there no Jews living in the town but also there is no visible evidence of any memory of them. Nevertheless, there is a neglected memory of the town's Jews. It exists in the collective memory preserved in the stories recalled by some of the citizens. The memory of Jewish inhabitants of the town is not intentionally hidden or renounced. The stories of Jews once living in the town are generally known by the vast majority of inhabitants and are passed from generation to generation. However, this remembrance is not incorporated into the collective memory and mythical foundations of the community. The meaning and importance of remembering the town's Jews is neglected and treated as a virtual rather than a real history of the community.
Memory of the past, as well as the manner in which communities deal with it, tells us more about the current condition of these communities than about the past itself. [...]