Characters from "A tomb for Boris Davidovich"

Cilj ovog kratkog prikaza je da predstavi primer dve biografije likova iz romana „Grob za Borisa Davidoviča“ autora Danila Kiša: Hane Kšiževske i Baruha Davida Nojmana i kako istorija ima tendenciju da se ponavlja i pokaže kako antisemitizam funkcioniše sa svojim okrutnim mehanizmom i logikom, imun na pravdu, nevinost, pol, vreme i mesto. Pisac Danilo Kiš dao je uvid u živote dvoje pojedinaca, njihove jedinstvene umove, uverenja, potencijale i borbu protiv velikog monstruma zvanog antisemitizam. Hana i Baruh su dve snažne i neustrašive osobe koje su bez opravdanog razloga korišćene kao žrtvena jagnjad za mržnju i dirljivo podsećanje na sve strahote koje je antisemitizam izazivao vekovima.The goal of this short display is to represent the example of two character biographies from а novel "A tomb for Boris Davidovich" by author Danilo Kiš: Hana Kšiževska and Baruh David Nojman and how history has a tendency to repeat itself and show how Anti-Semitism operates with its cruel mechanism and logic, immune to justice, innocence, gender, time and place. The writer Danilo Kiš gave a glimpse into the lives of two individuals, their unique minds, beliefs, potentials, struggles and fights against the big monster called anti-Semitism. The abovementioned Hana and Baruh are two strong-minded and fearless individuals who were used as sacrificial lambs for hatred without proper cause and a touching reminder of all the horrors that anti-Semitism caused for centuries.Pod pokrovitelјstvom "Claims Conference ( Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany)", Centar za studije sećanja Univerziteta u Kragujevcu - čiji je osnivač i rukovodilac prof. dr Katarina Melić - akademske 2021/2022. godine je dalekosežno pokrenuo Studije Holokausta. Jedan od realizovanih kurseva, "Istražni diskurs u književnosti" (prof. dr Dragan Bošković) održan je u zimskom semestru akademske 2021/2022. godine, i problemski je bio usredsređen na stvaralački opus Danila Kiša. Osim preispitivanja karaktera i smisla istražnog diskursa - elementarnog mehanizma epistemologije, naracije i poetike - glavna intencija kursa bila je analitičko percipiranje literarnih predstava Holokausta i antisemitizma u Kišovom delu, a kao jedan od rezultata rada na kursu bio je prezentacija Kišovih junaka-žrtava Holokausta. Tako su polaznici kursa izdvojili junake (likove-žrtve) iz "Porodičnog cirkusa", "Grobnice za Borisa Davidoviča", Kišovih drama i televizijske emisije "Goli život". Ispitujući (ili: oblikujući) njihove identitete, studenti su posebnu pažnju posvetili antisemitističkom belegu na njima, kao i njihovim tragičnim stradanjima. Uočivši simboličnu važnost realizovanih prezentacija, koje oslikavaju žrtve Holokausta u Kišovom opusu, došlo se na ideju preinačavanja power-point prezentacija u formu tekstova, i to tekstova nalik „ličnim kartama”. U želјi da sagledamo posledice Holokausta, kao i da predstavimo identitete žrtava i da čujemo njihov glas, tekstovi koji slede predstavlјaju omaž mrtvima - onima koji tek mogu da budu mrtvi onda kada progovore kroz literaturu, kroz diskurs. Progovorom kroz literaturu i kroz ove tekstove, mrtvi se samopotvrđuju kao žrtve, a tako i kao „besmrtni”. Stoga, ovaj temat - "Spomen-muzej žrtava Holokausta u opusu Danila Kiša" - prilog je narativnom otelotvorenju Kišovih žrtava koje, kako bi to rekao Pol Riker, „vape za odmazdom i prizivaju priču”. Ovaj mali tematski blok je, dakle, njihova i naša „odmazda”, njihova i naša „priča”. Ovaj tekst je jedan od šest tekstova čiji su autori doktorandi Filološko-umetničkog fakulteta Univerziteta u Kragujevcu, i ovo su prvi tekstovi ovakvog tipa u celokupnoj istoriji kišologije. O likovima-žrtvama Holokausta dati su uvidi u formi taksativno navedenih biografskih informacija, dok je posebna pažnja posvećena antisemitizmu i to u odelјku svakog teksta, naslovlјenom: „Znakovi i posledice antisemitizma/Holokausta”.Sponsored by "Claims Conference (Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany"), the Centre for the Study of Memory of the University of Kragujevac - whose founder and the head is prof. Katarina Melić, PhD, full professor - has, during the academic year of 2021/2022, issued forth the Holocaust Studies. One of the realized courses, "Investigative Discourse in Literature" (prof. Dragan Bošković, PhD, full professor) was held in the winter semester of the academic year of 2021/2022 and was focused on the creative work of Danilo Kiš through a problem-solving approach. Apart from re-examining the character and meaning of investigative discourse - the elementary mechanism of epistemology, narration and poetics - analytical perception of literary representations of the Holocaust and antisemitism in Kiš’s work represented the primary intention of the course, and one of the results of course activities was the presentation of Kiš’s characters-victims of the Holocaust. Thus, the attendees of the course sought to single out the heroes (characters-victims) from the "Family Circus", "A Tomb for Boris Davidovich", Kiš’s plays and the television show "Naked Life". Examining (or: shaping) their identities, the students paid special attention to the antisemitic mark on them, as well as their tragic sufferings. Having noticed the symbolic significance of the completed presentations, while concurrently depicting the victims of the Holocaust in Kiš’s oeuvre, there emerged an idea to transform power-point presentations into the form of manuscripts, and not just any, but manuscripts similar to “identity cards”. In order to appreciate the consequences of the Holocaust, as well as to present the identities of the victims and hear their voices, the following manuscripts represent a homage to the dead - to those who may be dead only after they have spoken through literature, through discourse. By speaking through literature and through these manuscripts, the dead assert themselves as victims, and thus as “immortals”. Therefore, this thematic issue - "The Memorial Museum of the Holocaust Victims in the Oeuvre of Danilo Kiš" - constitutes a contribution to the narrative embodiment of Kiš’s victims who, as Paul Ricoeur would say, “cry out for retribution and invoke a story”. This small-scale thematic issue is, hence, their and our “retribution”, their and our “story”. This is one of six manuscripts whose authors are PhD students at the Faculty of Philology and Arts, University of Kragujevac, and these are the first manuscripts of this type in the entire history of Kišology. Insights into the characters-victims of the Holocaust are provided in the form of exhaustive specifications of biographical information, paying special attention to antisemitism in a particular section of each manuscript, entitled: „Signs and Consequences of Antisemitism/Holocaust”