Abstract
This chapter analyzes the experience of Kraków’s Center for Jewish Culture. Originally an organization aimed at the architectural preservation of the city’s Jewish section, Kazimierz, the Center gradually became an advocate for the creation of “civic space.” The Center began to define this space as space for the questioning of Polish anti-Semitism and its prevalence in the Catholic Church. The Center’s evolution was in part, this chapter argues, a response to competitive memory actors, who intentionally or unintentionally created pathways to the Jewish past that emphasized tourism. These actors included the annual Festival of Jewish Culture, centered on international klezmer musicians, and tours based on Steven Spielberg’s film, Schindler’s List. For the Center and it allies, attachment to Polish innocence must be ruptured.
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Holc, J. (2018). Memory Activism in a Porous Field. In: The Politics of Trauma and Memory Activism . Memory Politics and Transitional Justice. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63339-8_4
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