| Popis: |
This chapter discusses the representations of the trauma of the perpetrators in the autobiographical narratives of the veterans of the Polish resistance movement during World War II. The category of trauma is discussed within the relationship between the public discourse and the autobiographies published over the last three decades by Polish Home Army diversants—the underground tribunals’ executioners. The author argues that the heroic-romantic model for presenting the wartime experience has been dominant in public discourse and academic historical writing during the entire communist period; and despite major political and cultural changes initiated in Poland in 1989, this model has recently only been strengthening and evolving toward the more commercial. Since the category of trauma does not fit into this scheme, all autobiographical narratives that represent it are excluded in various ways, as exemplified by the debate discussed in the text surrounding Stefan Dąmbski’s autobiography. |
