Discussion “The Righteous and the Survivors in literary testimony”

In the discussion “The Righteous and the Survivors in literary testimony”, organized on the hundredth anniversary of the birth of the Righteous Karol Kuryluk, participated his daughter, writer and artist Ewa Kuryluk, the writer Wilhelm Dichter and Dr. Jacek Leociak, Holocaust scholar. The discussion was moderated by Anna Bikont from the newspaper “Gazeta Wyborcza”.

During the meeting Ewa Kuryluk spoke about her father, who saved Jews – among them her future mother – during the Second world War. She also described how in her books she tried to reconstruct the past that was never discussed in her family when her father lived.

Wilhelm Dichter mainly described his personal experience of being hidden by an Ukrainian and a Polish family in Borysław. Jacek Leociak shared with the audience his experiences connected with the act of writing a book about people who rescued Jews during the war.

The interlocutors emphasized the fact that both the rescuers and the rescued were often afraid not only of the Nazis, but also of other Poles, Ukrainians and Lithuanians, who could have denounced them. They were also afraid of children, who even unconsciously or for fun could have denounced the Jews to the Nazis – Wilhelm Dichter was really scared of such children.

During the meeting other problems were also discussed, such as the question gratitude and ingratitude of the Jews for the help they received and the issue of the shame of the Righteous and their reluctance to make their heroic deeds public – a reluctance that, as it turns out, often lasts until this day.

The full record of the debate will appear soon on the portal www.sprawiedliwi.org.pl. 

Ewa Kuryluk– artist, writer, art historian. She participated in about 40 individual and 60 collective exhibitions. Daughter of Karol Kuryluk– Righteous Among the Nations. Author of autobiographical books in which she copes with the Holocaust experience: „Goldi” (2004) and „Frascati” (2009), nominated to the Nike Literary Award.

Wilhelm Dichter– Survivor of the Holocaust, emigrant of 1968. Author of novels based on his own biography:„Koń Pana Boga” („God’s Horse”, 1996) and „Szkoła bezbożników” (“School of the Godless”, 1999), nominated to the Nike Literary Award. His novel „Lekcje angielskiego” („English Lessons”) was published in 2010.

Jacek Leociak– Assistant Professor in the Institute of Literary Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IBL PAN). Director of the Holocaust Literature Research Center of IBL PAN, member of the Polish Center for Holocaust Research, editor of the annual “Holocaust Studies and Materials”, member of the team preparing the core exhibition of the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. His research focuses on the forms of recording border-line experiences (in particular from the time of the Holocaust).

Anna Bikont – Co-founder of the newspaper „Gazeta Wyborcza”, where she has been working since 1989 to this day. Author of numerous books, among others: „Wisławy Szymborskiej pamiątkowe rupiecie, przyjaciele i sny” („The Souvenir Junks, Friends and Dreams of Wisława Szymborska” written with Joanna Szczęsna, 2003); „My z Jedwabnego” (“We from Jedwabne”, 2004); „Lawina i kamienie. Pisarze wobec komunizmu”(„Avalanche and Stones. Polish Writers and Communism” written with Joanna Szczęsna, 2006).

The project “Polish Righteous – Recalling Forgotten History” is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the program Civic Initiatives Fund, and is co-financed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland as part of the cyclical program "Promotion of knowledge about Poland".