The Preposterous Reading Of Propaganda Images From The Holocaust

In the article, I discuss Mieke Bal's concept of a preposterous interpretation of works of art, which reverses the way that the history of art perceives the reciprocal influence of images. According to Bal, an inalienable intertextual aspect of an artwork's interpretation is that earlier images can influence those that come later and, in a seemingly ahistorical order, those that come later can influence earlier images, changing their meaning. Bal sees this, standard in art history, rejection of the influence as one‑way, as an opportunity for a more historically responsible interpretation. It also gives the researcher of the past a chance to gain self‑awareness of their position in the present and factors influencing the way of seeing the past. I use Bal's preposterous reading to analyse three cards from official propaganda albums commissioned by the Łódź Judenrat and made by Jewish artists working in the ghetto. I show how analysis that is aware of preposterousness allows a researcher to see the influence of post‑war Holocaust representations on the interpretation of documents from the Shoah and how it enables researchers to understand the albums from the Łódź Ghetto as a prefiguration of the fate of the victims