Arkadiusz Morawiecz
(University of Łódź)
13 May 2026 (Wednesday) at 10:00 CET
Institute of World Literature SAS + online, in English and Polish
The lecture is organized as part of the VEGA project Narrative of history in 21st century hungarian literature in the context of (central) european literature.
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The lecture examines works of Polish literature that address the theme of Polish (communist) camps operating between 1944 and 1956. These camps are usually referred to as “labor camps”, although they also served for concentration, deportation, and repression. Unlike German and Soviet camps, these remain – for various reasons – on the margins of Polish collective memory. The lecture discusses novels and short stories and refers to the most important reportages, examining them within the broader contexts of history, politics, and ideology.
Arkadiusz Morawiec is a professor at the Faculty of Philology at the University of Łódź and a literary critic. His research interests focus primarily on the history of 20th and 21st century Polish literature, in particular literary representations of totalitarianism, genocide (including the Holocaust), concentration and extermination camps. He also explores literature as a medium of memory. He has published nine books, including Literatura w lagrze, lager w literaturze. Fakt – temat – metafora (2009), Polityczne, prywatne, metafizyczne. Szkice o literaturze polskiej ostatnich dziesięcioleci (2014), Literatura polska wobec ludobójstwa (2018), Polish Literature and genocide (2022), and Polish Camp Literature (2025). He has also edited eleven monographs, including: The Literature in/after Concentration and Death Camps (2017), Lager, łagier, obóz – zapis. Obszary (2017), and Zagłada wobec innych ludobójstw (2020).