„MILCZEĆ NIE MOGĘ I ŻYĆ NIE MOGĘ” – WARSZAWSKI POMNIK SZMULA ZYGIELBOJMA NA TRAKCIE PAMIĘCI MĘCZEŃSTWA I WALKI ŻYDÓW 1940–1943

• Authors: Taborska Halina

Title variants

EN

„I CANNOT BE SILENT AND I CANNOT LIVE” – SZMUL ZYGIELBOJM WARSAW MONUMENT ON THE MEMORIAL ROUTE TO THE STRUGGLE AND MARTYRDOM OF THE POLISH JEWS 1940–1943

Abstracts

EN

The article briey describes e Memorial Route to the Struggle and Martyrdom of the Polish Jews 1940–1943 in Warsaw and, a¢er a short presentation of the life and political activities of Szmul Zygielbojm, provides a more detailed account of a memorial place dedicated to him. Situated in the Warsaw district of Muranów by, and partially on, the building at Lewartowskiego 6, it is made up of three components. The first of them, which arrived here as part of e Memorial Route, is a block made of dark grey Polish syenite stone with an inscription in Polish and English that reads: „Szmul Zygielbojm (1895–1945), Bund representative on the National Council of the Polish Government-in-Exile in London. Committed suicide on May 12, 1943, in protest against the passivity of the Allied Governments confronted with the massive destruction of the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto”. The second component – a shattered square stone tablet, measuring 2 × 2 metres, symbolising violence and destruction, is placed on the ground, and carries no words. e third – artistically most challenging – is a wall relief measuring 7 × 4 metres, executed in Swedish black granite, positioned on the front wall of the building. It contains the shadows of victims, and stylised ames, while its highly polished surface takes on the reections of passers-by, cars, trees and the facades of neighbouring houses. e tragic past and the present daily life of Warsaw meet here in an unsettling and memorable way. A poignant inscription, in Polish and Yiddish, carries only one sentence from Zygielbojm’s last letter: „I cannot be silent and cannot live while the remnants of the Jewish people perish in Poland”.

Keywords

EN

Warsaw Ghetto; The Memorial Route to the Struggle and Martyrdom of the Polish Jews 1940–1943; Szmul Zygielbojm; monuments

• Publisher: Polski Uniwersytet na Obczyźnie (PUNO) w Londynie
• Journal: Zeszyty Naukowe PUNO
• Year: 2018
• Issue: 6
• Pages: 89-102

Contributors

author

Taborska Halina

• Polski Uniwersytet na Obczyźnie (PUNO) w Londynie

References

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