Page 17 - Centrum Dialogu im. Marka Edelmana w Łodzi. Time of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Film images.

Time of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Film Images

— Tomasz Majewski

Pierre Norra, an outstanding French historian, often em-
phasized that it is not visible and tangible physical ob-
jects that connect and oblige our memory, creating what
he called lieux de memoire [sites of memory], but certain
images, relics, traces and entire cultural landscapes
which we recognize as having symbolic meaning. The ex-
termination of the Jews was an unprecedented event.
Numerous thinkers have ascribed it to the opposite
trend: the 'extermination of meaning', lack of form, help-
lessness in terms of one's attempts to express it. 'Lack
of representation' and 'unwitnessed event' are well-
known definitions which connect 'the duty of remem-
brance' to this disturbing consequence of the times of
organized homicide. The memory of the Holocaust, al-
luding to Norra, 'has no place' (non-lieux de memoire).
There are, however, specific places where the Holocaust
took place. One of them is the Łódź ghetto. This confined
district for Jews remains largely untouched to this day;
many buildings, frontages and quarters still exist. This
topography enables us to contextualize the location of
the images and accounts of the ghetto experience con-
veyed by the victims and survivors.
The documentary films we would like to present to you
gather different forms of remembrance which intersect
in the words, photographs and songs of the Łódź ghetto.
They are intertwined – or even tangled – threads rather
than distinct places of memory. Articles written by Ewa
Ciszewska, Bartosz Zając and the undersigned will help
you to untangle some of the more detailed questions
about the films presented. Getting to know the world of
the Łódź ghetto, seeing it through the eyes of children
and survivors brought to Łódź from Western Europe, lis-
tening to their emotions expressed through music,
makes us want to ask: what do these songs and images
want with us? I would dare to answer cautiously: they
want us to experience them. If it happens, we will surely
remember it.
Time of the Litzmannstadt Ghetto. Film images 15