Tomasz Szarota about the bounds of historical reenactment shows

In this year there is a 65th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising outbreak. As gazeta.pl writes, a one of the Warsaw historical reenactment group plans to prepare a performance showing fights of Jewish Military Union (Żydowski Związek Wojskowy, ŻZW) and Jewish Combat Organization (Żydowska Organizacja Bojowa, ŻOB) against german soilders.

Tomasz Szarota, historian, professor at the Historical Institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences in the interview by Tomasz Urzykowski is asked about his attitude to the historical reenactment ideas.

“Killed” soliders in the reconstruction of liberation of Chełmno from the nazi occupation by the Red Army. Photo (CC) by Kriz Dux

Szarota says that the conception of reconstructing may have a sens because of showing the patriotic behaviour, for example by presenting the episodes from the November Uprising (1830-1831), when young cadets attacked the Belweder Palace in Warsaw. For Szarota events from the far past, when there are no living witnesses and no living memory, can be commemorate by such initiatives. But when they tells about history still vivid in the memory of witnesses and theirs families, the situation is completely different: The Warsaw Uprising is still to close in the time and too tragic. It was a terrible massacre and organizers of the performances make from it a delightful happening.

Summarized history?

Very similar opinions could be heard according to the project from a few years, when two groups commemorated the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising by the paintball play. That was a question, if there was anything more than the game:

Does the popularity of historical reenactment shows results from our need for living historical images, better for us than books and scholar discussions? Perhaps such initiatives may have mostly not educational and entertainment potential, but first of all give audience (like sometimes a historical cinema movies) an easy version of the historical representation, without any questions nor doubts (why it happened, how it happened etc.). In such situation, history may be summarized to the few minutes of attractive fireworks, like in the music video.

To rebuild the memory

But sometimes representation and memory are met themselves very intensively: During one of the Warsaw Uprising reenactment shows old polish insurgent Stanisław Sieradzki talked with young Tomasz Sarnecki, who plays the role of Sieradzki in this performance. Old man almost fainted, when he saw another performer – Paweł Krzywicki, who remembered him a friend killed during the Uprising – Jan Kajus Andrzejewski. Sieradzki shaked hand with a young actor asking why his friend had to die. Krzywicki, very touched, told: For this [such feelings] we make it.

Photos from this meeting can be reached here.

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Kategorie: Formy upamiętnienia / In english / Świadomość historyczna